For years, Crawford Gym was the site of intense practices and pick-up games featuring Louisville’s best college and professional basketball players. The historic structure, built in 1963,will be coming down in mid-August to make way for a new academic building.
The facility also housed the Cardinal swim teams and served thousands of students who took classes and competed in intramural sports ranging from racquetball to volleyball.
UofL will pay tribute to Crawford Gym with an open house for former players and fans from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 4. Activities will include an 11 a.m. event in which Hall of Fame Coach Denny Crum and several former players will share memories of their days in Crawford. The open house is free and open to the public.
Fans can also share their memories of Crawford Gym in the comments section at uofl.me/crawfordgym. The university will collect the memories through Aug. 7, at which time the comments will be delivered to the University Archives.
Fans can own a piece of Crawford Gym in one of two ways. The university will sell a limited number of 8 x 10-inch pieces of the Crawford Gym floor for $50 apiece. Go to uoflalumni.org/crawfordgym for more details. Scoreboards, bleachers, goals and other items will be part of an online auction July 26-Aug. 5. The auction site is http://mcginnisauctions.hibid.com/auctions/current.
All proceeds will benefit the Denny Crum Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships for 100 Louisville-area students annually.