2026-09-29T23:28:11+00:00 Zend_Feed_Writer https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/ Rattlers Remember https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org 2019-12-12T04:29:09+00:00 2019-12-16T02:52:27+00:00 https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/items/show/29 Harold Johnson The Bill Greehy Arena opened in 2000 as a part of the sprawling Alumni Athletics & Convocation Center. The state-of-the-art arena was the first NCAA Division II facility in the country to have video screens to maximize viewing of the action on the court. The technological advancements have led to the area being host to a variety of major sports events such as the FIBA Americans U18 Championship and the Division II Women’s Basketball Elite Eight in 2013. Before St. Mary’s began its official collegiate basketball history, they played against local teams and held intramural basketball games. Without a home court to call its own, they played in various facilities around the city. In 1926, St Mary’s began playing other schools and in their inaugural season of playing they posted a 12-7 record. St. Mary’s basketball had a knack for finding quality players and posted winning records in many of its early seasons. In early 1929, all basketball games for the season were cancelled when St. Mary’s was unable to find a basketball court to host games. This led to the construction of Alumni Gym in March 1929. However, the gym had to delay the installation of a wooden floor until 1937 due to the Depression. To keep money coming in, St. Mary’s rented the gym to an aerial circus act known as The Flying Codonas who were quite popular throughout the southwest and Mexico. Once the court officially opened in 1938 for basketball, the Alumni Gym showcased players with awesome nicknames like Jack “Tricksie” Allen and Alfred “Rosy” Vorphal. One without a cool nickname, Robert Reid, went on to a great career in the NBA. The team reached the NAIA National Tournament for the first time in 1964, and the Rattlers defeated Grambling University. That team was led by All-American and NBA Legend Willis Reed, so the monumental upset was the talk of the campus. Success on the court continued for St. Mary’s, especially with the hiring of Buddy Meyer. Under Buddy Meyer, the Rattlers won the Big State Conference title in his first year. In 1989, after a decade of stellar seasons where they were just a game or so away from winning the championship, the Rattlers won the NAIA national basketball tournament. They finally brought home the James A. Naismith trophy. The girls-basketball team would compete in their first NAIA National Tournament game in 1995 and would keep this dual success of male and female basketball greatness throughout the nineties. Buddy Meyer coached his final and 27th season at St. Mary’s in 2005 and he went out in style, winning a share of the Heartland conference title. He would retire with 16 conference titles. The basketball court inside the Greehy Arena is named “Buddy and Anna Meyer Court” in honor of the legendary basketball coach and his wife. The court was dedicated in 2007. Sixty-two years of intramural and intercollegiate basketball action at Alumni Gym ended with a win against Texas Lutheran University in the final home game of the 1999-2000 season. According to Brother Paul Metzger the action on the court was only rivaled by the action and entertainment the under bleachers. The Greehy Arena has seating built on concrete, but the old Alumni Gym had bleachers that students could walk under. Brother Metzger fondly recalls the laughter and comradery beneath the stands. Today, his eyes light up as he laughs about avoiding the drinks that would fall from above, on him and his friends. Reflecting on how he and his friends would go to every home game and then drive around to the games in the area, you can really get a sense of what the old gym and the Rattler team means to him. As the team and the Greehy Arena race toward future athletic success, Brother Metzger reminds us it’s not the technological advances of the new arena that make it shine, it is the brilliant spirit of the Rattler faithful. For more (including 4 images and 2 sound clips), view the original article. 2019-12-08T03:45:20+00:00 2019-12-16T02:48:10+00:00 https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/items/show/25 Edgar Velázquez Reynald A dirt floor welcomed visitors when Alumni Gym first opened its doors in 1938. Designed as a multi-use facility, the St. Mary’s College Alumni Association first proposed the building in 1927, the year of St. Mary’s diamond jubilee. Then in its twenty-fifth year, the Alumni Association sponsored a financial campaign to build the gymnasium, intending to provide students’ with proper athletic facilities. A committee attained the proper funds to begin construction in 1928. Architect, Leo Dielmann, drafted the blueprints and contractors Falbo and Guido began construction. The students of the 1928-1929 school year waited in anticipation for the new gymnasium to open. Unfortunately, the gymnasium never opened during their schooling at St. Mary’s. The gym remained closed for nearly a decade, seeing several students come and go without stepping foot into its dirt floor. While construction began in March of 1929, the gym remained unfinished for almost ten years. The Great Depression hit St. Mary’s University as hard as the rest of the country, and so the University delayed construction on the Alumni Gym several times. Finally, in 1938, St. Mary’s officially opened Alumni Gym by hosting its first basketball game. On February 22, 1938, the crowd filled the 1,500 seats gym to watch the Rattlers play against West Texas State Teachers College. The Rattlers lost 33-38. Despite the loss, the Alumni Association’s dream of providing Rattlers with a proper facility for athletic events soon became a reality. Alumni Gym housed many memorable games and events throughout the years. Rattlers celebrated Homecoming events, pep rallys, and “Campus Carnivals” in the gym. It even housed the “Great Codonas,” a flying trapeze troupe during their winter training sessions. Celebrated authors, such as Erskine Caldwell, and former alumni, such as Edward A. McDermott, director of Emergency Planning for President Kennedy, held speeches within the gym. Coach Buddy Meyer, a St. Mary’s alumni, led the Men’s Basketball team to several milestones in Alumni Gym. On March 8, 1989, the Men’s Basketball team beat Texas Wesleyan 74-60. With this victory, the Rattlers qualified for the NAIA National Championships, which they won later that year. After many memories and victories celebrated within the gym, Rattlers prepared to say goodbye to Alumni Gym at the turn of the century. A new gym adjacent to Alumni Gym began construction in 1999 with a completion date of late 2000. As Alumni Gym’s history came to a close, the Rattlers gave it a proper sendoff with various victories. On February 26, 2000, the Men’s Basketball team said goodbye to Alumni Gym by defeating Texas Lutheran University in the final home game of the 1999-2000 season. The Women’s Volleyball team won all nine home games that season and won the Heartland Conference Volleyball Championship. The Women’s Basketball officially wished their goodbye to Alumni Gym by defeating Southwestern Baptist University on November 21, 2000. With all these victories, the Rattlers honored Alumni Gym for its 62 years of service to St. Mary’s University. At the beginning of the fall 2000 semester, the Rattlers started a new chapter for St. Mary’s. The new Bill Greehey Arena of the Alumni Athletics and Convocation Center officially opened with the Men’s Basketball team defeating Texas A & M on November 27. The new gym seats 3,500 people at capacity, more than twice the amount of people that could fit in Alumni Gym. For more (including 5 images and 1 sound clip), view the original article.