Bearcat Arena is a 2,500 seat multi-purpose arena in

Maryville, Missouri Maryville is a city and county seat of Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. Located in the "Missouri Point" region, As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,633. Maryville is home to Northwest Missouri State University and Northwes ...

. It was completed in 1959 at a cost of $500,000"New $500,000 College Gym"
Maryville Daily Forum, December 18, 1956, front page. and renovated in 1993. It is the home of the

Northwest Missouri State University Northwest Missouri State University is a public university in Maryville, Missouri. It has an enrollment of about 8,505 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis Worl ...

basketball and volleyball teams. Seating primarily consists of moveable bleachers for 1,200 on the east and west side which can retract flat against the walls. It has the second smallest capacity in the

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...

basketball arenas. The Arena is in Lamkin Activity Center, a part of the Ryland Milner Complex and is sandwiched between

Bearcat Stadium Bearcat Stadium (formerly Memorial Stadium and Rickenbrode Stadium) is the football stadium of the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats in Maryville, Missouri and is the oldest continuous site for any NCAA Division II school. It has a ca ...

on the west and the Martindale Gymnasium on the east. The Arena was originally called Lamkin Gymnasium (popularly called "Lamkin Gym") and was named for former school president

Uel W. Lamkin Uel Walter Lamkin (January 18, 1877 – September 16, 1956) was president of Northwest Missouri State University from 1921 to 1945. Lamkin was born in California, Missouri. He attended the private Clinton, Missouri Academy run by his father. ...

. Northwest first games were played in the Administration Building then in 1926 were played in what is now named 1,300 seat Martindale Gymnasium (named for Nell Martindale Kuchs an early women athletics faculty member). Martindale was used for women's sports and Lamkin for men's sports. The two structures were connected by a tunnel going to the pool in the lower level of Martindale. In the 1993-94 academic year the Arena had $6 million renovation and enlargement which changed the front south facade and expanded it to the north (Northwest Student Recreation Center) which, houses a suspended jogging track, three basketball courts and five racquetball/handball courts. Changes on the south side included a new fitness center, lobby and weight-lifting, dressing rooms, coaches offices, and athletic training facilities. The entire building was renamed the Uel W. Lamkin Activity Center with the basketball court area called Bearcat Arena. However, in common usage the whole building is now referred to as Bearcat Arena.

References

External links

Bearcat Arena website
{{Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association basketball venue navbox Northwest Missouri State Bearcats men's basketball Basketball venues in Missouri Buildings and structures in Nodaway County, Missouri Sports venues in Missouri