The Kennel | |
Full name | Charlotte Y. Martin Centre |
---|---|
Former names | John F. Kennedy Memorial Pavilion (1965–1987) |
Location |
Gonzaga University Spokane, Washington |
Coordinates | 47°39′56″N 117°24′02″W / 47.6655°N 117.4005°WCoordinates: 47°39′56″N 117°24′02″W / 47.6655°N 117.4005°W |
Owner | Gonzaga University |
Operator | Gonzaga University |
Capacity | 4,000 |
Construction | |
Broke ground | June 3, 1964 |
Opened | December 3, 1965 52 years ago |
Renovated | 1986 |
Construction cost | $1.1 million ($8.36 million in 2017) |
Tenants | |
Gonzaga Bulldogs - NCAA (1965–present) |
|
Website | |
Martin Centre |
Charlotte Y. Martin Centre is an athletics center in the northwest United States, on the campus of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Its multi-purpose arena has a seating capacity of 4,000.
Ground was broken 53 years ago in June 1964 on the $1.1 million center, which opened in late 1965 as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Pavilion, with a capacity of 3,800 for basketball. The center included a 6-lane 25-yard (23 m) swimming pool. The dedication ceremony on November 21 was attended by 6,000 and included the late president's brother, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. The first varsity event on December 3 was a basketball game against Washington State, won by the visiting Cougars 106–78 before an overflow crowd of 4,300.
Charlotte Martin, the daughter-in-law of former governor Clarence D. Martin, donated $4.5 million in 1987 for the renovation of the complex and it was renamed for her as part of Gonzaga's centennial celebrations on March 17. Mrs. Martin died less than eight months later, at age 68.
The Martin Centre is the home court of the women's volleyball team, and was home of men's and women's basketball teams until the fall of 2004, when the adjacent $25 million McCarthey Athletic Center (MAC) opened. An exception was the partial hiatus in the 1979–80 season when the men's team returned to its former home of the Spokane Coliseum for WCAC home games only, The Pavilion was affectionately known as The Kennel, a reference to the enthusiastic capacity crowds for Bulldog basketball, a nickname which transferred to the MAC.