Halenbeck Hall

Halenbeck Hall is a multipurpose arena and athletic complex in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on the campus of St. Cloud State University. The arena sits over 6,400 and is home to the St. Cloud State basketball, volleyball, and wrestling teams. The facility also includes the Halenbeck Hall Aquatics Center, home to Swimming and Diving (capacity: 500), and the Halenbeck Hall South Fieldhouse, home of Women's Track and Field. The St. Cloud State Huskies are in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference of NCAA Division II.

History

In 1964, Halenbeck Hall was given its name after Dr. Philip L. Halenbeck, a St. Cloud-based physician. Dr. Halenbeck provided funds for St. Cloud State's first academic scholarships and also assisted in fundraising for the Atwood Memorial College Center which was completed in 1966. Halenbeck Hall replaced the 1,100-seat Eastman Hall, SCSU's basketball court from 1930-1965. Technical High School conducted their graduation exercise, which was the facility's first event, on June 3, 1965, with an estimated 4,000 in attendance. The original capacity of the venue was 8,000, although later estimates listed 7,500. The first men's basketball game was played on November 19, 1965, as the Huskies defeated Southern State (SD), 91–70, with an attendance of 3,838. The first intercollegiate swimming meet was held on January 21, 1966, between St. Cloud State and the Bemidji State Beavers, which also marked the beginning of the SCSU swimming program.

Halenbeck Hall has hosted many high school games and tournaments. It was home to the annual Granite City Classic, a concurrent high school and college basketball tournament, from 1965-1981. Halenbeck also served as the home venue for community college and semi-pro basketball teams. St. Cloud Technical and Community College began using Halenbeck Hall as their home basketball court in 1993. They moved to the Whitney Recreation Center in 2009. The St. Cloud Rock'n Rollers played their home games at Halenbeck for their lone 1995–96 season.

Halenbeck Hall received a $700,000 renovation that was completed in the summer of 2001. The new features included renovated bleachers (plus chair back seats), a new gym floor, a scoreboard, and a sound system.

1980 expansion

On February 25, 1976, the Minnesota Senate Financial Committee accepted St. Cloud's State's request for $4 million to expand Halenbeck, but rejected their request for $250,000 (later reduced to $150,000 by a legislative committee) to fund construction planning. The House Appropriations Committee later approved the request on March 17 but was not included in a Senate statewide building bill on March 22. The $150,000 request for expansion funding was formally struck down on April 5. Senator Norbert P. Arnold suggested St. Cloud State "...come back and ask again two years from now (1978)" and, in response to the inadequate amount of physical education space compared to the large student body, also stated: "...we will have less jocks per square inch in St. Cloud than at the other state universities." The 1976 proposed expansion would have added 94,500 square feet to Halenbeck, which at the time was a 67,000-square foot facility. In November 1976, the university upped the amount for expansion planning back to $250 thousand, but would not seek a request from state legislature until 1978.

Governor Rudy Perpich recommended in March 1977 that $3.55 million be allocated to spend on the facility's expansion, along with $250,000 on expansion planning, but the measure was not granted approval the following May. The expansion sought to include athletic facilities such as an indoor running track, women's locker rooms, and handball courts. The amount in expansion planning raised from $3.55 million to $4.11 million in October 1977. On March 23, 1978, state legislature approved a bill that would give St. Cloud State University $213,000 for planning funds on an 85,000 square foot addition to Halenbeck Hall; the bill also gave the university nearly $780,000 for other projects.

A bill funding the expansion was passed on May 21, 1979, in an amount exceeding $4 million. Construction on the new addition located south of the existing structure, which was originally listed as a 60,000+ square foot, $4.7 million expansion, commenced on August 8. Expansion features included a two-hundred-meter indoor running track, four basketball courts, six tennis courts, and the addition of women's locker rooms. A formal dedication was held on December 2, 1980, with Dr. George A. Sheehan attending as a guest speaker at the new facility expansion that was upped to $5 million and 86,900 square feet. The new facility was named Halenbeck Hall South.

Halenbeck Hall South Fieldhouse was resurfaced in 2007 and is currently the home of SCSU Women's indoor Track & Field.

Concerts and events

Concerts and speakers frequented Halenbeck Hall from the mid-1960s to the 2000s. Some of the bands who performed at Halenbeck include: The New Christy Minstrels, Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Hall & Oates, Cheap Trick, The Wallflowers (1997 and 2000), Bush, Everclear, and Evanescence. Noteworthy concerts from individual singers and musicians include: John Denver, Doc Severinsen (sellout), Elton John, Peter Nero, Martin Zellar, and Ne-Yo. Halenbeck has also hosted speakers, entertainers, and activists such as Ralph Nader, George Carlin, Bob Hope, Phil Donahue, Jesse Jackson, Spike Lee, and Magic Johnson.

The lack of concerts beginning in the 2010s were due in part to the lack of student interest and the economy forcing students to redirect their spending towards other expenses (including various student fees) considering university concert fees of previous decades were paid off from student fees and student ticket sales, according to SCSU's then-athletic director Heather Weems. House Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN) inquired about using the arena during the summer of 2024 for a Donald Trump rally and speech, but that request was shot down by Holly Schreiner, St. Cloud State Director of Athletics, as the aging Halenbeck does not have air conditioning. The rally was instead held at SCSU's Herb Brooks National Hockey Center on July 27.

On September 18, 1974, David Duke, then-national director of the Ku Klux Klan, spoke at Halenbeck Hall in front of 1,800 SCSU students. The hour-and-a-half-long speech drew both criticism and praise, with an estimated one-hundred protesters outside the arena. Duke discussed perceived issues regarding African Americans, Jewish people, communism, news media, US-Middle East foreign policy, crime rates, affirmative action, and White supremacy. $1,050 were paid to Duke via the university's Student Activities Committee (SAC). The SAC bylaws prohibited the funding of political activities, which was an oversight pointed out by a university senior who sought a charge of misappropriation of those funds. Duke returned to Halenbeck in 1997.

Attendance records

The highest recorded attendance for a basketball game at Halenbeck Hall occurred on March 3, 1977, in the Minnesota Region 8AA boys' semifinal game between Little Falls Community High School and Apollo High School with 7,252 spectators.

Men's basketball

Women's basketball

See also

* List of NCAA Division II basketball arenas

References

{{Reflist

Further reading

Halenbeck Hall (1965) - Building Profiles (stcloudstate.edu)Phillip L. Halenbeck Hall (1965) (St. Cloud State University Archives) - Historypin

External links

Halenbeck Hall
(Basketball, Volleyball, Wrestling)

Halenbeck Hall Aquatic Center
(Swimming & Diving)

Halenbeck Hall Fieldhouse and Fitness Center
(Women's Track & Field)

Halenbeck Hall Concerts and Events (master spreadsheet)

St. Cloud Rock'n Rollers Home Games (1995-96) (spreadsheet)

Buildings and structures in St. Cloud, Minnesota
Buildings and structures in Stearns County, Minnesota
College basketball venues in Minnesota
College volleyball venues in the United States
College wrestling venues in the United States
Indoor arenas in Minnesota
1965 establishments in Minnesota
Music venues in Minnesota
Sports venues completed in 1965
St. Cloud State University