Ivy League Sports





		Penn men's and women's basketball games, and volleyball and wrestling matches are played at the historic Palestra, the most storied gymnasium in the history of collegiate athletics. The Palestra has hosted more games, more visiting teams and more NCAA tournaments that any other facility. Located on the University of Pennsylvania campus, The Palestra was given its name by Greek professor Dr. William N. Bates, who felt the name logical because in ancient Greece, young men would compete in a variety of events in a rectangular enclosure attached to the gymnasium to the view of all who would come -- a Palestra. The name was widely accepted by the organizing committee for it fit the specifications: authenticity, dignity, descriptive, and novel. So, in 1927, "The Palestra" was opened. Since then, there have been many tributes to the gymnasium, but no one has fallen more in love with The Palestra than Dallas-based writer Joe Rhoads, who in 1985 traveled the country watching basketball games. "This is a place with magic in the air," Rhoades wrote. "The Palestra has the acoustics of a big bass drum. It's a basketball echo chamber where every sound is amplified, where 100 people sound like a thousand, where a thousand sound like 10,000, and where 10,000 sound like nothing you've ever heard before. When the bleachers are full and the games are good, this is the best place to watch a college basketball game in America. There are other great gyms, other great crowds. But they are not The Palestra. It is the best basketball gymnasium in the country - by far." Aside from more than 60 years of Penn basketball and more than 30 years of Big 5 doubleheaders, the building has hosted 50 NCAA Tournament games as part of 19 national championship competitions. In addition, The Palestra was a site of the first NCAA Championship in 1939. Most recently, the women's Eastern Regional was contested on the Pennsylvania hardwood in 1991.