The Brick Breeden Fieldhouse is a multi-purpose indoor
arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...
located on the campus of
Montana State University
Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...
in
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...
. It is the home of the
Montana State Bobcats
The Montana State Bobcats are the varsity athletic teams representing Montana State University in Bozeman in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors thirteen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, skiing, tennis, a ...
of the
Big Sky Conference
The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...
; the primary venue for
men's and
women's basketball
Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...
and indoor
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
.
The arena regularly has numerous tournaments, concerts, plays, speaking engagements, and trade shows throughout the year; it annually hosts the
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
all-class state
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 Summ ...
tournament and the MSU Spring
Rodeo
Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...
. The Big Sky
men's basketball tournament finals were played here in 1988,
1996,
and 2002,
and the
women's
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...
in 1993.
On the south side of campus, its
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
at street level is above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
.
History
![BrickBreedenFieldhouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/BrickBreedenFieldhouse.jpg)
The building was the inspiration of architect Oswald "Ozzie" Berg Jr. and Montana State College (MSC) president
Roland Renne
Roland R. Renne (December 12, 1905 – August 30, 1989), an Agricultural Economics Professor, served as President of Montana State College from 1943 to 1964. Dr. Renne was also active in Washington D.C. and United States overseas agricultural econ ...
, who dreamed of an indoor facility large enough for
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
games. Though there was not enough funding to build it big enough to house a full-sized football field, the fieldhouse was the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world, since surpassed by other buildings such as the
Walkup Skydome
The J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome is an indoor multipurpose stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona. It is primarily used as the home of the NAU Lumberjacks foot ...
in
Flagstaff, Arizona
Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has ...
, and the
Tacoma Dome in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...
.
Opened in 1957 as the MSC Fieldhouse, it was named for longtime basketball coach
John "Brick" Breeden in 1981.
The main arena was named Worthington Arena in 1985 in honor of Max Worthington, a starting guard on Montana State's
1928-29 national championship team.
[Naming the fieldhouse]
/ref> Both were members of the 1929 "Golden Bobcats" basketball team,[ named national champions by the ]Helms Foundation
The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...
. Breeden later coached the Bobcats basketball team and served as athletic director, and Worthington, also a former coach, served as a school administrator and longtime booster.[
From 1959 to 1960, the fieldhouse hosted indoor ]Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization[National Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...]
middleweight
Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional
In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to .
Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...
title bout between Gene Fullmer
Lawrence Gene Fullmer (July 21, 1931 – April 27, 2015) was an American professional boxer and World Middleweight champion.
Professional career
Fullmer began his professional career in 1951 and won his first 29 fights, 19 by knockout. His mana ...
and Joey Giardello
Carmine Orlando Tilelli (July 16, 1930 – September 4, 2008) was an American boxer who was the world middleweight champion from 1963 to 1965,. He adopted the name Joey Giardello (the name of a cousin's friend) in order to join the U.S. Army whil ...
on April 20. It was the first title fight held in Montana in 37 years, since the infamous Jack Dempsey vs. Tommy Gibbons
The Jack Dempsey vs. Tommy Gibbons fight was a bout for boxing's world heavyweight title. It was held on July 4, 1923, in the town of Shelby, Montana, USA.
Before the fight
In 1922, oil was discovered in Shelby, making it the only city in no ...
heavyweight bout, which bankrupted the small town of Shelby in 1923. With a national television broadcast guarantee of $100,000 and a sellout attendance of 12,122, the fight, declared a draw, was a tremendous financial success.
Rodeo
The College National Finals Rodeo {{Unreferenced, date=October 2021
The College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR), sanctioned by the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA), is held every June. Since 1999, the CNFR has been held at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper, Wyoming. B ...
was annually held in the fieldhouse from 1970 to 1996, with the exception of 1979, when it was in Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcasieu ...
. MSU's annual Spring Rodeo takes place in the arena in April.
Renovations
The main floor was originally dirt, which was not uncommon for a collegiate multi-purpose field house in that era; Hec Edmundson Pavilion
Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion (formerly and still commonly referred to as Hec Edmundson Pavilion or simply Hec Ed) is an indoor arena in the northwest United States, on the campus of the University of Washington in ...
in Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
long had an unfinished earthen floor. With its usage as a rodeo venue, the dirt surface in Bozeman was practical at the time.
A portable raised basketball court was assembled in the center of the space and wooden boardwalks led spectators from the entrance to the concession stand and bleachers. Basketball players were obliged to wipe their feet after emerging from the dressing rooms and before stepping up to the court.
In 1980, the entire arena floor was covered with a hard tartan (polyurethane
Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) refers to a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethan ...
) surface and new folding bleachers were installed on the main level. Other than the new floor, the facility changed very little in its first forty years.
In 1998, a $13.2 million renovation was completed that transformed the building into a modern multi-purpose arena. A new main entrance was constructed on the south side that brings spectators into the arena at the mezzanine level. Elevators and other features were added to make the building handicapped accessible. Old bleacher and chairback seats were replaced. The building's mechanical systems were upgraded, and additional fire, life-safety, and seismic features were added to bring the building up to modern codes. The renovation also featured new administrative and coaches offices, locker room improvements, better concession stands, new reception areas, and a new Hall of Fame. The arena can be converted quickly from athletic events to concerts, to theater performances.
See also
* List of NCAA Division I basketball arenas
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
External links
*
Montana State University Athletics
– Facilities
{{Authority control
Basketball venues in Montana
College basketball venues in the United States
Montana State Bobcats basketball
Buildings and structures in Bozeman, Montana
Tourist attractions in Gallatin County, Montana
Sports in Bozeman, Montana
Indoor arenas in Montana
Music venues in Montana
Indoor track and field venues in the United States
College indoor track and field venues in the United States
1957 establishments in Montana
Athletics (track and field) venues in Montana
Sports venues completed in 1957