OT: Pitt Pavillion?

[HailToPitt725]

Recently, I’ve been on a wild goose chase to learn more about Pitt Pavillion, Pitt basketball’s first facility located in the bowels of Pitt Stadium. All I’ve been able to find is that it was situated underneath Gate 2 and had room for approximately 4,000 people. Also, the only picture I’ve discovered is this one:

Since this was way before my time, does anyone know where I can find more information about the Pavilion, or perhaps where I can find more images of it? Does anyone know what happened to it after they moved over to the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse? Anyone on the Lair actually there before? I know it’s a long shot, but for some reason this underground gym has always piqued my interest. This might be a thread for @CrazyPaco ...

 

[CaptainMurphy]

That's the only picture I've ever seen, either. I went down the rabbit hole looking for more info years ago and never found much. I believe that space was filled in with the Duratz Center in the 90s.

I know John Wooden played there as a player and it was notorious for being cold. Visiting teams got changed across the stadium and had to walk across the field and down the steps on the visitors side to get to the Pavilion.

 

[thom67]

I played intramural basketball in that arena while at Pitt.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

I also think there were bleachers erected right on top of the dirt behind the basket. Could be wrong.

 

[HailToPitt725]

I played intramural basketball in that arena while at Pitt.

That’s pretty cool. It seems like they kept it around for student/recreational purposes until the 90s then?

 

[CrazyPaco]

Recently, I’ve been on a wild goose chase to learn more about Pitt Pavillion, Pitt basketball’s first facility located in the bowels of Pitt Stadium. All I’ve been able to find is that it was situated underneath Gate 2 and had room for approximately 4,000 people. Also, the only picture I’ve discovered is this one:

Since this was way before my time, does anyone know where I can find more information about the Pavilion, or perhaps where I can find more images of it? Does anyone know what happened to it after they moved over to the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse? Anyone on the Lair actually there before? I know it’s a long shot, but for some reason this underground gym has always piqued my interest. This might be a thread for @CrazyPaco ...

There are plenty of images in the old Pitt yearbooks at documenting.pitt.edu

I was in there in the early 90s...probably 1992. No seats at that point, just a court surrounded by the mounds of dirt that Pitt Stadium was built into. Pitt used it as alternative courts for basketball camps at least in 1992. They courts came out in 1994 when they renovated the football stadium the next year for the Duratz complex.

 

[BFo8]

If you have access to Jim O’Brien’s excellent book “Hail to Pitt” there is a really cool photo of Pitt playing Westminster at the Pavilion on page 198.

 

[JD1976]

I remember watching a Pitt game on ABC back in the mid-80s (might actually have been that game against Miami that was soaking wet) and the sideline reporter did a piece on Pitt Pavilion. It was the first and only time I ever heard of that place.

 

[JD1976]

Found it! Go to about 1:46:00 mark and the reporter, Al Trautwig, gives a quick glimpse.

 

[HailToPitt725]

I remember watching a Pitt game on ABC back in the mid-80s (might actually have been that game against Miami that was soaking wet) and the sideline reporter did a piece on Pitt Pavilion. It was the first and only time I ever heard of that place.

Talk about a great memory! You are correct. I was able to find the game on YouTube and you can see the segment at 1:45:46

Edit: Whoops, looks like we had the same idea.

 

[str61166]

Found it! Go to about 1:46:00 mark and the reporter, Al Trautwig, gives a quick glimpse.

View embedded media

Nice find. And then Pitt’s run D got shredded by a guy who shares a name with a department store right after the segment ended.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I played there during Pitt Basketball Camp. The court was green. I remember thinking what a dump it was even as a kid and being upset we had to play there for whatever that session was. For some reason, I can remember the coach of the Gauchos AAU team giving a talk to us campers there.

 

[H2PisIT]

SMF...I would've guessed you were in your 20's. No offense.

 

[levance2]

SMF...I would've guessed you were in your 20's. No offense.