1980 Men's Basketball
photograph courtesy of the Dickinson College Archives

The 1980 Dickinson college men's basketball team finished the season with a 19-8 record and the honor of being the last men's basketball team to play in the Alumni Gymnasium.  The following year, the Kline Center was opened and thus Alumni Gym would no longer be the site of men's basketball home games.The 1980 team had two coaches, Coach Evans and Coach Watkins.  During the course of the season, Dave Freysinger, though in a year plagued by injuries, set the single game scoring record when he recorded  47 points against Susquehanna University.

This photo was taken during the last men's basketball game ever to be played in Alumni Gym, against Western Maryland College.  The Devils lost the game by a score of 79 to 66.  Pictured here at the opening tip of the final match at Alumni Gym for the Devils are number 23 Dennis Crawford, the captain of the team and the rest of the starting lineup against Western Maryland. Freysinger is the Dickinson player, in white, most directly facing the camera. Following this match the team was invited to the NCAA Division III National Tournament where they lost in the first round.

The Alumni Gymnasium was built on the site of old South College and opened January 9, 1929 with a men's basketball game against The University of Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, as with the final game, Dickinson lost that match too, 37 to 28.  For several years Dickinson College had made futile attempts to raise the appropriate funds to build a new facility, but finally, with the revival and effectiveness of the General Alumni Association, such a project was put into action in 1928.  The new facility had a total cost of $284,794.39 of which only $88,500 were raised by loans to the college.  The Alumni Gymnasium housed facilities for physical education and indoor athletics.  In addition, the the gymnasium floor it had 5 offices, a swimming pool (25x75), exercise rooms, a locker room with 890 lockers and a shower room with 32 showers.  The College utilized the Alumni Gymnasium from 1929 until 1980.

Peter Schoonyoung



Resources:
The Dickinson College Microcosm (1980) ; The Dickinsonian (1980)
Alumni Gymnasium Prospectus (Dickinson College Archives)