Alumni Hall (Providence)
Encyclopedia
Alumni Hall is the on-campus basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 gymnasium
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...

 at Providence College
Providence College
Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...

 in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

. It was built in 1955 and was the home court for the school's men's basketball
Providence Friars men's basketball
The Providence Friars men's basketball team represents Providence College in NCAA Division I competition, in which they are a founding member of the Big East Conference. They play their home games at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island...

 program until 1972. The gymnasium has hosted the Providence College women's basketball team since its inception in 1974.

History

Alumni Hall was built in 1955 to suit the needs of the men's basketball
Providence Friars men's basketball
The Providence Friars men's basketball team represents Providence College in NCAA Division I competition, in which they are a founding member of the Big East Conference. They play their home games at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island...

 program, under the direction of then-college president Rev. Robert J. Slavin, O.P. The team had previously played either off-campus or in a small gymnasium in the basement of Bishop Harkins Hall (a space which would later become the Blackfriars Theatre). It was dedicated to those alumni who had fought in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

For its first seventeen years, it was the home of the burgeoning men's basketball program, which won the 1961 and 1963 NIT championships under coach Joe Mullaney. In 1972, the men's team moved to the new Providence Civic Center
Dunkin' Donuts Center
The Dunkin' Donuts Center , is an indoor arena, located in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States...

 downtown, which later became the Dunkin' Donuts Center. In 2001, the gymnasium was named the Mullaney Gymnasium in honor of Coach Mullaney.

In 1974, the women's basketball team began playing there, where they currently reside. The gymnasium has hosted several Women's NIT
Women's National Invitation Tournament
The Women's National Invitation Tournament , formerly the National Women's Invitation Tournament, is a college basketball tournament with a preseason and postseason version played every year...

 games throughout its tenure, as well as the 1983 (inaugural) and 1993 Big East Women's Basketball Tournament
Big East Women's Basketball Tournament
The Big East Women's Basketball Tournament determines the Big East Conference champion and the winner of the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Since 2004 the tournament has been held in the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the XL Center .Starting in 2009, the tournament expanded to...

s.

Seating over 2,600, bleacher seating is available on the main level while theater seating is available on the upper level. When the men's team played there, Alumni Hall's upper level was traditionally reserved for season ticket holders while the bleacher seating was generally filled with students.

On October 31, 2009, the men's basketball team played an exhibition game against Merrimack, its first game in Alumni Hall since January 22, 1978, an exhibition game against the Russia national basketball team
Russia national basketball team
The Russian national basketball team represents Russia in international basketball matches. The team came into existence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its powerful basketball team. It has won 2 silver medals in the FIBA World Championships...

.

Other uses

The upper levels of the building now house the athletic department's offices. These spaces, along with the locker rooms and playing surface of the gymnasium were renovated in the mid-2000s, including an expansion to house a new training room, the Canavan Sports Medicine Center, on the Cumberland Steet side of the building. In 2007, the Concannon Fitness Center opened on the other side of Alumni Hall, along with a glass lobby (the Ruane Atrium) which serves as common entrance for the fitness center, the Slavin Center, Alumni Hall, and the adjacent Peterson Recreation Center.

There is a cafeteria in the bottom level which is connected to the Slavin Center student union building. The cafeteria was expanded in 1997, including an area formerly used as a mini-mall. For many years the Alumni Hall cafeteria was known as the "day hops" cafeteria. At one time half of the student body commuted to campus every day and most ate their lunch and spent between class time in this cafeteria (commuter students were popularly known as "day hops"). A cafeteria for the on-campus resident students operated and continues to operate out of Raymond Hall. Alumni Hall also housed the on campus post office. It served as the campus student union and was the center of campus activity prior to the construction of the Slavin Center. A part-time Hospital Trust Bank branch also operated near the ticket sales area in the foyer of Alumni Hall. The Slavin Center which is conjoined with Alumni hall opened in 1971 as the student union and many of the Alumni Hall facilities were relocated to that building.

The alumni hall cafeteria was also the site for many on-campus mixers during the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s when girls from all-women Catholic colleges in the region like Emmanuel College
Emmanuel College
Emmanuel College may refer to one of several academic institutions:in Australia* Emmanuel College, University of Queensland, part of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia...

, Anna Maria College
Anna Maria College
Anna Maria College is a coeducational Catholic liberal arts college in Paxton, Massachusetts.-History:Anna Maria College is a private, coeducational Catholic College founded in 1946 by the Sisters of Saint Anne. The school's original campus was in Marlboro, MA...

, Regis College
Regis College
Regis College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts and sciences college located in Weston, Massachusetts. Founded as a women’s college in 1927, Regis became co-educational in 2007.-History:...

, Salve Regina University
Salve Regina University
Salve Regina University is a university in Newport, Rhode Island. Founded by the Sisters of Mercy, the university is a Catholic, co-educational, private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of Rhode Island in 1934. In 1947 the university acquired Ochre Court and welcomed its first class...

, Albertus Magnus College
Albertus Magnus College
Albertus Magnus College is a small private liberal arts college in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. It is located about two miles from the central campus of Yale University in a residential area near the border with Hamden. The neighborhood is on Prospect Street just above Edgerton park and...

 and Saint Joseph College would be bussed in for the dances. The school went co-ed in 1972. The hall also hosted many concerts that featured such musical artists as The Association
The Association
The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival...

, the Young Rascals, The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...

, Diane Warwick, Flip Wilson and the Happenings, Judy Collins
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...

 and many other popular artists of the day. The upper floors of Alumni hall housed the studios of WDOM
WDOM
WDOM is a radio station licensed to Providence, Rhode Island, United States. The station is currently owned by Providence College.-Station history:...

AM & FM which were the campus radio stations staffed by students.

External links

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