The Rip Griffin Center is an indoor arena on the campus of

Lubbock Christian University Lubbock Christian University (LCU) is a private Christian university associated with the Churches of Christ and located in Lubbock, Texas. Chartered originally as part of a grade school called Lubbock Christian School in 1954, the institutio ...

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. The 1,950-seat arena opened in 2000 and is named in honor of former LCU board of trustees member Bobbie Ray "Rip" Griffin (1929-2017), a native of

Matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...

, Texas, who became a prominent Lubbock businessman and philanthropist. Griffin founded Rip Griffin Truck Stops, which began with a single operation in Lubbock and spread throughout the American West. The company expanded into the fields of fuel wholesaling and truck dealerships. He further served on numerous civic and bank boards and donated to academic and athletic programs at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

as well as LCU. A lifelong

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

enthusiast, Griffin is honored with the naming of the Rip Griffin Baseball Park on the Tech campus. The Geneva Griffin Center at the Children's Home of Lubbock is named in honor of Mrs. Griffin. For four decades, Griffin sponsored the Lubbock Hubber baseball club, a semi-professional team. Griffin once noted that hosting tournaments had varying consequences with more people visiting Lubbock and "they’re going to stay in our hotels, they’re going to eat in our restaurants, and best of all, they’re going to buy gasoline." Rip Griffin Center is the home court of the

Lubbock Christian Chaparrals The Lubbock Christian Chaparrals and Lady Chaps (also LCU Chaparrals and LCU Chaps) are the athletic teams that represent Lubbock Christian University, located in Lubbock, Texas, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division II rank ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

teams. While LCU was a member, the

Sooner Athletic Conference The Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Originally developed as a five-team conference of Oklahoma-based schools, the SAC now boasts 12 sc ...

was held at the arena. The NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship has been held at the arena since 2016.

Events

* NCAA Division II Women's Basketball South Central Regional (

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

) * NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship (

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

) *

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

Athletic Conference Basketball Championships

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Website
Basketball venues in Lubbock, Texas College basketball venues in the United States College volleyball venues in the United States Indoor arenas in Texas Lubbock Christian University Volleyball venues in Texas Sports venues completed in 2000 2000 establishments in Texas