Jaime Gilmour May 2005
Click here for interesting facts about construction of UCLA sports facilities
Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion first opened its doors in June of 1965. Although the pavilion wasn’t constructed until this time, alumni and administrators had been contemplating various options for a sports facility for over a decade and at one point a surplus World War II blimp hanger was even considered. In the 1960s, a group of five alumni finally decided to take action and began to seriously study and organize the construction and fundraising of a pavilion with the help of Coach John Wooden and the Director of Athletics, Wilbur Johns. After much hard work the UCLA alumnus succeeded in raising $5,174,437, two million of which came from state funds on the basis that the pavilion would be used as a facility for the physical education major offered by the school at this time. This money was originally planned for the construction costs of four buildings that would make up the Memorial Activities Center, however only three of these buildings were constructed. Pauley Pavilion was designed as MAC building “A”, “MAC-B” is now the Morgan Center, and “MAC-D” was built as a football locker and is now the Acosta Center. “MAC-C” was intended to be a recreational facility adjacent to Pauley Pavilion in the space that is now occupied by the West Alumni Center. It was eventually concluded that this arrangement would be illogical considering the limited acreage available for the recreation center, thus leading to the construction of the John Wooden Center about a decade later.
At the June 1965 commencement ceremonies
Chancellor Murphy dedicated the building to UC Regent Edwin Pauley. Although
Pauley was a Berkeley graduate, he was a southern California businessman
and owned a petroleum company based in century city. His generosity is
manifested through buildings on both the UCLA and Berkeley campuses, and
it was because of his one million dollar donation that the dream of a basketball
pavilion was fully realized. This 13,000-seat arena continues to be the
center of athletic activities and is regarded as one of the finest collegiate
facilities in the nation.
Interesting fact: John Wooden led the UCLA basketball team to a 149-2 record won in this pavilion, however, he had some regrets about constructing Pauley Pavilion on top of the Joey Brown Baseball Field. Although Coach Wooden had an amazing talent and obvious passion for basketball, his favorite sport had always been baseball and he never felt right about taking over the field for the basketball facility.
For more information about the Basketball Program during this time period click here.
Interesting Fact: Around this time Murphy was also pushing
for the creation of
a
50,000-seat football stadium. However, when this proposal was brought to the
UC Regents,
the plan
was rejected due to politics. Dorothy Chandler of the Times Mirror Corporation
was a Regent, and at the time was in the midst of fundraising for a music center.
Many of the donators for this center would have been upset by the advent
of a football stadium because of the large amount of traffic it would cause in
the area. As a result, Dorothy Chandler personally prevailed upon enough Regents
to change the plans. Instructions were then given to Murphy to create a 12,000-seat
track stadium, thus leading to the construction of what is now Drake Stadium.
Although the rejection of the football stadium is often attributed to the protests
regarding increasing student fees at the time, the same amount of student fees
that would have been used for the football stadium went towards the construction
of the track stadium.
Home Academics Architecture Athletics Speeches
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Works Cited:
Hamilton, Andres, and John B. Jackson. UCLA on the Move. The Ward Ritchie Press, 1969. 95-96
Sandbrook, John. Personal Interview. 17 May 2005.
Images:
"Official Athletic Site of the UCLA Bruins, Pauley Pavilion". Google Images. 22 May 2005