Fordham’s modest but historic gym is one of college basketball's jewels

Whether it's historic Madison Square Garden, the state-of-the-art Barclays Center and the iconic blacktops of "The Cage," New York has no shortage of marquee basketball venues.

One that often gets overlooked is tucked away on Fordham University’s picturesque campus in the Bronx.

Fordham’s 3,200-plus seat facility is tiny compared to the behemoth arenas teams play in nowadays, but the Rose Hill Gym is one of college basketball’s crown jewels. It opened in 1925, making it the second-oldest facility in the country behind only Northeastern University’s Matthews Arena and the oldest still in regular use.

Fordham won its first game in what at the time was a marvel in on-campus gymnasiums, beating Boston College 46-16 on January 16, 1925. Rose Hill was so impressive that it earned the nickname “The Prarie” for the massive amount of floor space it held. Since then, the Fordham Rams have called the Rose Hill Gym home for nearly a century, and the only time the gym was not used for athletics was during World War II, when it was utilized as a barracks.

“It’s one of the unique college basketball experiences in the world,” Fordham coach Tom Pecora said. “It reeks of tradition. It’s a cool venue, it’s a beautiful building architecturally, you can feel the energy and the heat. It’s a reflection of New York, a bunch of small communities coming together to form this monstrous city. Our little gym is just like a small neighborhood, we’re an important part of this big city.”

Rose Hill is where the city has hosted its CHSAA high school basketball tournament for decades and was where Lew Alcindor, better known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, played his final high school game for Power Memorial Academy in 1965. Rose Hill was even named one of ESPN’s Four Cathedrals of College Basketball alongside Philadelphia’s Palestra, Yale’s Payne Whitney Gym and Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse.

“Rose Hill is a special place,” Pecora said. “It’s awesome. When you walk in, it’s almost like a time-warp. If you threw everybody in old-school uniforms, it could be 1970 and that’s a cool thing I think.”

Over the past two decades however, as Fordham’s men’s basketball team has struggled to adjust to the intense competition of the Atlantic 10 conference, the Rose Hill Gym has become somewhat of an afterthought, a forgotten relic in a city that houses two professional NBA teams, Big East contender St. John's and mid-major powers Iona and Manhattan.

Nontheless, Rose Hill has produced some memorable moments in recent years. On December 11, 2010 Fordham erased a 21-point second-half deficit to defeat St. John’s in a thrilling battle between two New York teams. The following season Fordham rattled off three consecutive home wins, capped off by a 60-54 upset of No. 22 Harvard on January 3, 2012.

The history is even recognized and respected by opposing coaches as they enter the gym. In Butler’s only season in the Atlantic 10 [2012-13], the Bulldogs – who happen to play in Hinkle Fieldhouse – traveled to Rose Hill and then-coach Brad Stevens marveled at the atmosphere.

"I love Rose Hill Gym. I think it's one of neatest places I've coached in," Stevens said at the time. "It is right up my alley. I was reminded of the movie 'Hoosiers' when I walked in."

Fordham recognizes that advantage and continuously looks to capitalize on it.

“If we’re playing well and drawing well it’s a place that can be a great home court advantage and a tough ticket to get [in New York City],” Fordham Athletic Director Dave Roach said. “I look at it a lot like [Duke’s] Cameron Indoor Stadium. Everybody’s always said to Mike Krzyzewski ‘Don’t you want a bigger, newer arena?’ and he says ‘No, I love it the way it is’ because it’s a huge advantage.”

But for Fordham to truly make Rose Hill Gym special and create that advantage on a nightly basis, its men’s basketball program, which hasn’t made an NCAA tournament since 1992, will need to mirror the success of its football and women’s basketball programs.

“When you look at what’s happened with the football program, we’ve had 1,800 to 2,000 students at home games [at Jack Coffey Field]. You ask yourself, ‘Why are they there, even when it’s cold out?’ It’s because Coach [Joe] Moorhead has done a great job with building a winning program. Students want to follow that. So if the same thing happens with men’s basketball, those same students will come out even more.”

Despite its age, there has been an effort to modernize recently. Rose Hill underwent its biggest renovation in more than a decade prior to last season, when the school added two massive video boards. While the school prides itself on its history there is a realization that without updating some of the facilities, it will become increasingly more difficult to draw fans.

“I thought there could be a few things done to it to make it a tougher atmosphere for visiting teams to come into, that’s why we put in the two video boards,” Roach said. “It’s something that allows us to really connect with our fans and this year with our technology we can do even more in-game stuff with students and fans. Nowadays, the interaction between the fans and the game atmosphere on the boards is tremendous.

“We want to bring an architect in to look at the Rose Hill Gym and the Lombardi Center to see how we can better utilize our space, how we can [continue to] remodel and modernize.”

Although there has been modernization efforts, television cameras and the Rose Hill experience being as majestic and unique as it is, the facility does sometimes work against the men’s program when it comes to scheduling and recruiting.

“There are a lot of schools we talk to about setting up home and homes and they say ‘When we come to you we’re playing at Barclays or the Garden,’” Pecora said. “There’s a profile for the young guys that we recruit for. We want guys who are mature enough to understand it’s not about brick and mortar. [Sometimes it’s hard to] find an 18-year-old that’s going to buy that.”

But as tough as it may be to sell to opposing teams and even some recruits, the pitch is very simple if you’re a college basketball junkie.

“Come to a place that has a lot of tradition,” Roach said. “It’s going to be rocking and rolling in a tremendous college atmosphere, not where you’re sitting back in the comfortable, cushy seats and everybody is looking at their cellphone.”