Groniger Arena, formerly known as Lantz Arena, is a 5,400-seat multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

Charleston, Illinois Charleston is a city in and the county seat of Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,286, as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon, Illinois, Ma ...

. It is home to the

Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University (EIU) is a public university in Charleston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradual ...

(EIU) Panthers men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...

s and to the women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team. Completed in 1967, the Lantz Arena Complex also houses the offices of the EIU athletic department, the Lantz Indoor Fieldhouse, and the Ray Padovan

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

Pool. The building replaced the Health Education Building (now known as McAfee Gymnasium), which was built in 1938 and is now on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The arena complex is named for

Charles Lantz Charles Phillip Lantz (December 14, 1884 – May 6, 1962) was an American football, basketball, baseball coach and college athletics administrator. He was the sixth head football coach at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, serv ...

, longtime football, basketball, and baseball coach of the Panthers.

References

College basketball venues in Illinois College swimming venues in the United States College volleyball venues in the United States Swimming venues in Illinois Volleyball venues in Illinois Eastern Illinois Panthers basketball 1967 establishments in Illinois Sports venues completed in 1967 {{Illinois-sports-venue-stub

See also

References