The Florida Gymnasium (commonly known as the "Florida Gym" and formerly nicknamed "Alligator Alley") is a historic building located on the campus of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

(UF) in Gainesville. It opened in 1949 as a 7,000-seat multi-purpose

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 ...

and served as the home court of the

Florida Gators men's basketball The Florida Gators men's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in NCAA Division I's Southeastern Conference (SEC). Home games are played in the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Con ...

team and other UF indoor sports programs for over thirty years, acquiring the nickname of "Alligator Alley" during that time.Kevin M. McCarthy and Murray D. Laurie, ''Guide to the University of Florida and Gainesville'', Pineapple Press, Sarasota, Florida, pp. 171–173 (1977). The Stephen C. O'Connell Center replaced the Florida Gym as the university's main indoor facility for intercollegiate sports upon its opening in 1980. The old gym was gradually repurposed for use by the

University of Florida College of Health and Human Performance The University of Florida College of Health and Human Performance is an academic college of the University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a s ...

(HHP) in the following years, with a series of renovations and rebuilding projects converting most of the interior space into modern classrooms, laboratories, offices, and other educational facilities by the mid-1990s. The center of the gym still features a basketball court which is used for small assemblies and HHP classes and activities.

History

Earlier facilities

The University of Florida's first indoor sports facility was the University Gymnasium, a narrow brick building that opened in 1919. The school's men's basketball team used the University Gym for practices and games, but since the building had been designed primarily for student recreation, there was little room for spectators. By the mid-1920s, the university had decided that it was not suitable for hosting intercollegiate sports programs and a larger gymnasium was needed. The university's funding declined with the onset of the Great Depression, making the construction of a new brick gymnasium cost prohibitive. Instead, a wooden facility officially dubbed "Building R" but commonly referred to as the "New Gym" was built directly adjacent to the University Gym as a temporary home for the school's indoor sports teams. However, an ongoing lack of funds throughout the 1930s resulted in Gator basketball teams using the New Gym for over 20 years.

The Florida Gym

Design work on a larger gymnasium was started in the early 1940s by university architect

Rudolph Weaver Rudolph Weaver (April 17, 1880 – November 10, 1944) was an American architect, university professor and administrator renowned for various buildings that he designed in Florida, Idaho and Washington, many of which are academic. Early life, wo ...

, but the project was postponed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Plans were completed by

Guy Fulton Guy Chandler Fulton (October 27, 1892 – October 15, 1974) was an American architect known for his work on numerous buildings at the University of Florida while he was State Architect of Florida. Early life Fulton was born in Warsaw, Illinois ...

soon after the war, construction began in 1947, and the Florida Gymnasium finally opened in 1949 at total project cost of $1.6 million. The university became

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

about the same time, and the old University Gymnasium became the Women's Gymnasium while the "New Gym" was converted into a rehearsal space for the university's

marching bands A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...

. The Florida Gymnasium was the second large indoor venue on campus after the University Auditorium and was the only space large enough to host the entire student body, which numbered about 10,000 when the facility was completed. Around the central arena, offices in the building housed the university's athletic administration along with the College of Physical Education, Health and Athletics. The court at the Florida Gym also became the site of student class registration at the beginning of each semester.

Alligator Alley

As a sports venue, the Florida Gym soon gained a nickname: Alligator Alley. It could be an intimidating place for opposing teams because the seating was very close to the court and, when full, the noise level was "deafening". However, it also had few amenities and no air conditioning, and the court had to be shared by all UF indoor sports programs. Over the years it came to be seen as small and outdated; observers likened it to a "dismal and dreary old high school gym" rather than a major-college arena. By the early 1970s, Florida was the only school in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

without a modern basketball facility, which hampered the recruiting of top players and held back the growth of its long-mediocre basketball program. The university initiated plans to build a large multi-purpose sports arena in the mid-1970s, and the

O'Connell Center The Stephen C. O'Connell Center, also known as the O'Dome, is a 10,500-seat multi-purpose arena located on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. The facility is named for the sixth president of the university, Stephen C. O' ...

opened in December 1980 as the new home for all of UF's indoor athletic programs.

Later uses

The Florida Gymnasium was gradually adapted to other uses during the 1980s. The basketball court and adjoining areas were used for student recreation and occasional events and assemblies while a series of minor renovations modernized the facilities of the re-named College of Health and Human Performance. The gym continued to be the site of class registration until the early 1990s, when an automated phone system and then online registration made in-person registration obsolete. The Florida Gym was no longer needed for student recreation after a modern fitness center was constructed directly behind the gym in 1990 and the much larger Southwest Recreation Center opened across campus in 1994. The gym underwent a major renovation and repurposing project in the mid-1990s that removed the last of the original bleachers and converting much of the interior space into modern classrooms, laboratories, offices, and meeting rooms. The basketball court remained at the center of the building and is still used for College of Health and Human Performance activities and small events. In 2008, Florida Gymnasium became a contributing property in the

University of Florida Campus Historic District The University of Florida Campus Historic District is a historic district on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The district, bounded by West University Avenue, Southwest 13th Street, Stadium Road and Gale Lemeran ...

which was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on April 20, 1989.

References