A century ago today, on Jan. 16, 1925, the Fordham Rams defeated Boston College, 46-16, in the first-ever game at Rose Hill Gymnasium, the oldest continually used NCAA Division I gym in the nation.
Since that first game, Rose Hill Gym, on Fordham’s campus in the Bronx, has been used as an athletic facility except for the 1943–1944 academic year, when it was converted into a U.S. Army barracks during WWII.
Its seating capacity is 3,200, but in 1927, when New York City was the epicenter of college basketball, Rose Hill Gym had 6,000 fans pack the building to watch the Rams defeat CUNY’s City College, 32-17. It is the site of the final high school game that then-Lew Alcindor — later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — played for Power Memorial Academy, winning the Catholic High School Athletic Association Championship on Mar. 7, 1965.
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At the time it was constructed, Rose Hill was one of the largest on-campus facilities in the country, thus nicknamed “the Prairie.” ESPN named it one of the “Four Cathedrals of College Basketball” along with Philadelphia’s Palestra, Yale’s Payne Whitney Gym, and Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse. Its intimacy is reflected in there being no bad seat in the house. When fans are energized, it is a unique atmosphere with ear-thumping loudness.
I was at Rose Hill Gym on Jan. 3, 2012, when the Rams defeated Harvard, ranked No. 22 in the country, 60-54. Fordham had not defeated a ranked team on campus since Feb. 28, 1978, when they upset No. 18 Georgetown, 63-59. Today, playing in the Atlantic-10 Conference, the Rams, helmed by 2023 A-10 Coach of the Year Keith Urgo (now in his third year as the team’s head coach), were 8-9 overall and 0-4 in conference play when they hosted UMass last night at Rose Hill.
The St. John’s Red Storm, led by Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino, are on the cusp of cracking the top 25 rankings. They were 14-3 and 5-1 in Big East play when they hosted Georgetown on campus at Carnesecca Arena on Tuesday. They will face Seton Hall at the Prudential Center in Newark on Saturday (8:00 p.m. Eastern) and victories over both should put them in the top 25 when the new rankings are revealed next week.
Junior guard RJ Luis, who scored 30 in the 80-68 home win over Villanova at Madison Square Garden last Saturday, led the Red Storm in points per game before meeting Georgetown at 17.4 points, He was also grabbing 6.6 rebounds per outing.
Center Zuby Ejiofor was also an anchor with averages of 14.7 points and a team high 8.1 rebounds.