Recreation Building, often referred to as Rec Hall, is a

field house Field house or fieldhouse is an American English term for an indoor sports arena or stadium, mostly used for college basketball, volleyball, or ice hockey, or a support building for various adjacent sports fields, e.g. locker room, team room, coac ...

on the University Park campus of the

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, within the borough limits of

State College State College is a borough and home rule municipality in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a college town, home to the University Park campus of The Pennsylvania State University. State College is the largest designated borou ...

. The building was opened on January 15, 1929, and remains in active use. Penn State's

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

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 ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

teams compete in Rec Hall. The university's 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 ...

teams moved to the Bryce Jordan Center in 1996.

History

20th century

Prior to the opening of Rec Hall in 1929, Penn State's indoor

sports teams A sports team is a group of individuals who play a team sport together. The number of players in the group depends on the sport. The highest level of a sports team is a professional sports team. In professional sports, the athletes are very t ...

played in a building known as the Armory, which was razed to allow expansion of the Willard Building. The

Nittany Lion Shrine The Nittany Lion Shrine is a large mountain lion sculpture carved by Heinz Warneke located at the University Park, Pennsylvania, University Park campus of Pennsylvania State University. History 20th century The Nittany Lion Shrine at Pennsyl ...

is located nearby the building. The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, commonly known as THON, was held in Rec Hall from 1999 to 2006, but was subsequently moved to the Bryce Jordan Center. The architect was Charles Z. Klauder, who designed the University of Pennsylvania's

Palestra The Palestra, often called the Cathedral of College Basketball, is a historic arena and the home gym of the Penn Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. Located at 235 So ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The Georgian design of Rec Hall was chosen to harmonize with other new structures on campus. Rec Hall has undergone several renovations over its history. In the 1990s, the drop ceiling that was installed in the 1960s was removed, and the building's original roof line was restored, exposing the open steel truss ceiling and upper windows. Along with this, lighting and building acoustics also have been improved.

21st century

In 2005, electronic LED scoreboards were installed and lower seating bowl bleachers were replaced. Renovation of Rec Hall's south wing was completed in 2006, including expansion of the student fitness center. The largest crowd in Rec Hall history, 8,600, witnessed the men's basketball team defeat

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

93–68 on December 5, 1973. Three other notable men's games were: a 74–71 loss to Jerry West-led West Virginia Feb. 15, 1958 (WVU had been AP No. 1 for much of the 1957–58 season), the 1991

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

men's basketball tournament championship, won by Penn State, and a double overtime 88–84 loss to No. 1-ranked Indiana, coached by Bob Knight, Feb. 9, 1993. Rec Hall is also known as a classic home court advantage, as the women's volleyball team holds the NCAA volleyball record for home match winning streaks (94), which ranks in the top five of any home court winning streak for any sport, men or women's, and is only outranked by the basketball trio of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, 1943–55 (129); St. Bonaventure, 1948–61 (99) and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, 1970–76 (98). Penn State teams have won five national championships in Rec Hall, including in boxing in 1929 and 1932, in wrestling in 1953, and in men's gymnastics in 1960 and 2007. The men's basketball team has played sporadically in the Rec Hall since leaving, playing once in 2013, twice in 2015, and once in 2024. The women's basketball team returned to the Rec Hall for one game in 2024.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1929 establishments in Pennsylvania College volleyball venues in the United States College wrestling venues in the United States Defunct college basketball venues in the United States Penn State Nittany Lions and Lady Lions basketball venues Pennsylvania State University campus Sports venues completed in 1929 Sports venues in Pennsylvania Wrestling venues in Pennsylvania