Past Tense—Remembering PSU’s first gym, the former Lincoln High basement WHEN RAPS MEMBERS TOURED the newly renovated Peter W. Stott Center last September, they were mightily impressed with the scope and quality of the $52-million project. The facility bears little resemblance to the Health and Physical Education Building constructed on that spot in the 1960s. The centerpiece of the renovation is the new Viking Pavilion, a 3,000-seat arena where the Vikings play basketball and volleyball and where graduation ceremonies, concerts, and other public events are held. It’s a far cry from the original gym Portland State acquired in 1952 when it moved into the former Lincoln High School on the corner of SW Broadway and Main. Known first as Old Main and now as Lincoln Hall, the building housed the entire operation of Portland State. Located in the southeast corner of the basement, the gym was dubbed “the Black Hole of Calcutta” because of its darkness, low ceiling, and lack of fresh air. The low ceiling was especially problematic for basketball games, giving new meaning to the term “low overhead.” An arcing long shot launched by a player was more likely than not to hit a light fixture. Charlie White, professor emeritus of history, recalls a game in the old gym in the early to mid-1950s that pitted faculty against students. (Remember, this was a time when the faculty were not much older than the students.) The game was a fundraiser for United Way. Rather than charging admission, the organizers simply stopped the game a couple of times to pass the hat for donations. Sharkey Nelson was one of the coaches for the faculty. Although Charlie played basketball in high school, he was too short to be a serious contender but he could run fast. Mindful of Charlie’s abilities, Sharkey advised him to slow the progress of the students as they ran down the court by grabbing the waistbands of their gym shorts from behind. Today the space in Lincoln Hall where the gym used to be is part of the Music Recital Hall for the School of the Arts. The late Gordon Solie, emeritus professor of music, wrote about that remarkable transformation in a Past Tense article appearing in the RAPS Sheet in May 2011. —Dawn White On left, original PSU gymnasium at Old Main from Portland State, a History in Pictures;on right, current PSU Viking Pavilion from the PSU Athletic Department website. —Photomontage by Dawn White Past Tense features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. 6
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz