Harmon's Greatest Games | Final Thoughts of Harmon

Harmon -- It's History And Legacy

It has hosted some of the world's great athletes, from Hank Luisetti, Wilt Chamberlain and Jason Kidd, to Lisa Leslie and John McEnroe.

It has seen some of the nation's premier coaches such as Pete Newell and John Wooden work its sidelines. It has hosted lectures from some of the world's greatest minds such as J. Robert Oppenheimer and its walls have resounded to some of the finest voices in the universe, such as Marian Anderson and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. It's been the home of some 919 men's basketball games and 623 women's games along with countless other events -- from volleyball and tennis matches and gymnsatics meets to convocations, band concerts and final examinations.

It's stood witness to social protests of several eras and withstood natural disasters that have caused widespread destruction to nearby areas. While parts of the Bay Bridge came shaking down during the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, Harmon stood firm with just a few shudders.

Whether you refer to it as the Men's Gym (which was its first name when it opened over six decades ago), Harmon Gym (which it was dubbed in 1959) or even Harmon Arena (marginally popular in the mid-1980s), the building has been a cornerstone of the California campus for much of the University's history.

And now, it is time for yet another transformation of the Grand 'Ole Lady. The Golden Bear basketball team will play the 1542nd and final intercollegiate basketball game in the building on March 6, 1997 against Arizona State. Within days, scores of workers will arrive to remove the roof and almost everything inside and begin constructing the new $40 million Haas Pavilion which will open its doors at the end of 1998.

It is a measure of respect and even reverence that when it came time to provide a bigger venue for more fans, a decision was made to keep the framework of the original building rather than tear it completely down and build one of those ultra-modern architectural wonders, devoid of any character.

If there is one thing that Harmon has, it's character. Not only is there a palpable sense of tradition there, but the building seems to have had a special relationship with the fans over the years. Maybe it's the intimacy, the proximity to the playing court. Perhaps it's the informality of a facility that has bleachers rather than individual seats. Possibly it's just the familiarity of the place, for the same fans seem to come back year after year, decade after decade. For many of them, Harmon Gym is as comfortable as their own living rooms.

Harmon's character seeps through as you make your way up the bleacher steps. It is even evident hours before the actual game action, when the mechanical cranks ease down the baskets on pulleys from the ceiling.

Luxury boxes may be a staple of any athletic facility built in the modern era, but Harmon thrives on just the opposite: intimacy not exclusivity. You can't help but know the fans around you -- their elbows are in your chest, their knees in your back.

Even with all of that, a building like Harmon still is not significant without significant events and memories of successful games, successful eras.

Memories are really what gives a building character Without them, the Boston Garden was nothing more than a rat-invested, poorly ventilated barn with a funny-looking parquet court, Yankee Stadium nothing more than a decaying concrete structure with strange outfield perimeters in a bad part of the Bronx.

And Harmon should rightfully take its place among the great indoor athletic venues of the 20th century. It stands up to all the tests of a great arena -- longevity, ambiance, historical significance, famous people, successful athletic eras.

The Roots of Harmon

While the current building was finished in 1933, the true roots of Harmon go back 118 years when the University of California was in its infancy and the sport of basketball had not yet been invented by Dr. James Naismith.

It was 1878, and the Cal campus didn't have a single facility where more than 350 people could congregate indoors. All athletic activities had to be held outdoors even during the chill of winter months. The same scenario held for other public events such as school rallies or public meetings.

Oakland financier A.K.P. Harmon was persuaded to donate $15,000 in 1878 to build the university's first indoor athletic facility. It was his son-in-law Col. George C. Edwards, then a member of the Cal faculty as well as a big sports fan, who convinced Harmon to contribute the large sum for the building which would serve as both the school's gym and official auditorium. In fact, until Wheeler Hall was built 39 years later in 1917, Harmon served as the only auditorium on campus.

It was constructed under the supervision of Harmon and then presented to the Regents in January of 1879 and was, at the time, the largest auditorium on the Cal campus. The final cost of the project was $20,057, a figure that may seem inconsequential now, but was a substantial amount in the 19th century. The original Harmon was built just north of Sather Gate, where the south wing of Dwinelle Hall is now located on campus.

Harmon was an octagon-shaped wooden building that could hold as many as 1,400 people for a game or speech. It was considered the finest indoor arena on the west coast and was the home to countless significant events. On election night in 1912, telegraph facilities were set up in Harmon and hourly reports were given to a packed group of observers who were able to lear before they headed off to sleep that Woodrow Wilson had been elected President of the United States. Right before the original building closed for good, legendary coach Knute Rockne was convinced by good friend Bill Ingram, then football coach at Cal, to come to Harmon and give a speech to the Golden Bear athletes.

The building itself went through a few different transformations. In 1886, Harmon was separated in the middle and a section was added to change the shape of the building and increase its size. Still later, in 1897 and 1900, other sections were added.

California's first organized yell was led in Harmon by William Nat Friend, Class of 1896, in the building and, periodically, the gym was used for campus dances.

In accordance with the era's customs, women were allowed only one hour per week for exercise in the gym and that lack of access prompted Phoebe Hearst to donate the money to build a women's gym in 1901.

By the mid 1920's, Harmon was too small for a major institution like Cal. The xxxx capacity, once spacious by earlier era standards, was now considered tiny. Plus, the wooden structure was a major fire danger. Students and the public began calling for a new gym and the California Alumni Association began an effort in 1924 to raise close to $1 million to build a new facility.

In fact in the years preceding the completion of the new gym, several Cal games were played in the Oakland Auditorium where as many as 5,000 fans (check) would watch the Bears play rivals such as UCLA, USC and Stanford.

Present Harmon Began as Men's Gym in 1933

After several years of investigating funding sources, a legacy from Ernest V. Cowell was combined with money from the Associated Students of U.C. and the state legislature to build a new gym in 1933. The Cowell bequest was $485,000 while the students gave $100,000 from athletic ticket revenue that they supervised, and the state made up the rest of the cost. As soon as the new facility was completed, the old gym was razed in 1934.

University officials decided that the new facility should be known informally as Men's Gym. Designed by architect George W. Kelham, the building occupied 167,700 square feet and was considered the Rolls Royce of West Coast gyms for the next few decades. The price tag ended up being $727,500, an exorbitant cost during America's depression years. Bronze plaques of Cowell and Harmon were placed in the entrance to the new building, but nobody as yet had a name for the building.

The location was moved about 400 yards to the southwest of the old Harmon and construction took xxx months.

First Game Starts With a Come-from-behind Victory

The first game ever played in the men's gym was on January 13, 1933 against Pacific Coast Conference rival UCLA. Anticipation was high and preparation for the unveiling went down to the wire. The baskets, themselves, had not been hung from the ceiling and so the portable variety had to be trucked in from the Oakland Auditorium.

When people entered the new building for the first time they were awed its size. It was a major shock for people who were used to the previous 350-seat gym.

"It was like going to Disneyland compared to the old Harmon," remembered forward Jack Crowley, who is one of just seven Cal players alive today who played in the first game.

While 7,500 fans jammed into the gym for the game, several other thousand were denied admission. They remained until the end of the game when the gym was opened for an hour for open viewing.

Many remember the first humorous moment inside when the Bears came on the court for the first time and popular substitute guard Steve McGaffey promptly slipped and fell unceremoniously on his bottom. After a slow start in the game, Cal emerged with an exciting 40-37 victory over UCLA in what was the first conference game of the 1932-33 season. The Bears went on to win their first seven games played in the Men's Gym and posted a 9-1 home record in the building's inaugural season.

Harmon / Men's Gym a Palace in '30s and '40s

In its later years, Harmon was known as a "pit," a small, dingy gym in an era of pavilions, activity centers and arenas. But during the first quarter century after it was built, it was as fine a athletic venue as there was on the West Coast.

"When I played, Harmon was the best place in the Southern Division of the PCC," said Wayne Hooper, Class of '44. "Stanford and UCLA had these little "cracker box" gyms that only seated about 2500 and I've still got wood slivers from the Shrine Auditorium in L.A. where USC played. Harmon was like a palace in those days."

And there was some very good basketball played during the early years of Harmon. Head coach Nibs Price was as much of an institution as the facility, coaching the basketball team for the first 21 years of the Men's Gym's existence. In those 21 seasons, his teams finished either first or second in the PCC Southern Division 11 different times.

The first great Cal player ever to play in Harmon was Hal Eifert who lettered from 1932 to '34 and racked up first team All-America honors as a senior, averaging 9.7 points a game.

"The basketball games were very popular in those days and a lot of it had to do with Hal," said Ted Ohashi, a three-year letterman from 1931 to '33. "He was just a great all-around player and he came from a local high school in Oakland, so people would come out to see him and our team play."

Just a few years later, fans in Harmon were treated to several appearances by Stanford's Hank Luisetti, considered by many to be the greatest player in the first half century of basketball. Another notable visitor to the gym in the early 1940s was UCLA's Jackie Robinson who wowed the Harmon crowds with his amazing athletic ability.

Harmon was home to its next Golden Bear All-American five years later in 6-1 forward Andy Wolfe, regarded as one of the top offensive players of his time. He starred as a sophomore in 1946, leading the Bears in scoring with a 13.4 ppg average and helping the team make it all the way to New York where Cal finished fourth in the NCAA Tournament. One of the memorable moments in Harmon history happened on March 9, 1946, when Cal's PCC playoff game against Idaho was held up for almost 30 minutes because of a light failure in the gym.

Whether it was the light failure delay or not, Cal didn't play well that night and lost a 28-23 decision to force a third and deciding playoff game.

"There were auxiliary lights, but they were so weak they had us return to the lockerroom and wait until the lights came back on," said Wolfe. "Unfortunately, the lights never came back on for our team that game and we played poorly. Some of us would like to blame it on the light delay, but really we had no excuses. I'm just glad we came out with fire in our eyes in our next game." Cal exploded in the deciding game two days later, scoring 34 points by halftime and rolling to a 55-36 thrashing of Idaho.

The last great player of the Nibs Price era was Bob McKeen who lettered his first three years under Price and then helped usher in the Pete Newell era as a senior in 1954-55. As a 6-7 center who dominated offensively, McKeen had several impressive games in Harmon. He fondly remembers becoming the first freshman at Cal ever to start as a varsity player and the Straw Hat Band playing Happy Birthday to him to mark the occasion on November 30, 1951 when he not only turned 18 years of age, but went on to draw a starting assignment in Cal's 70-58 victory over San Francisco State.

As a senior, he played on Pete Newell's first team in a rebuilding scenario. While Cal won only a single conference game that year, McKeen remembers the victory very well. On February 11, 1955 with just seconds left in the game and the Bears down by a point, McKeen hit a game-winning shot from midcourt, giving Cal a dramatic 58-57 win. He was promptly carried off the floor by teammates and fans. "I knew I didn't have time to do anything but jump and throw the ball at the basket and it was fortunate it went in," said McKeen. "It was one of my great memories because I never had seen anybody carried off the court at Harmon."

McKeen said that while the fans at Harmon were more disciplined then than later, it was still a tough place to play. "Our fans were fabulous," he said. "They were high class fans, but they rooted hard. And with the fans right down on top of you, it was an intimidating place for opponents."

The Golden Years under Pete Newell

Clearly it was Pete Newell, who orchestrated the Golden Bears of Harmon Gym during the mid to late 1950s. It was not just his coaching strategy and training techniques, but his superb gamesmanship and his full utilization of all that made Harmon unique, that created Cal's most successful basketball era.

It was then that support for Cal, always strong during the '30s and '40s, became fanatic. After gradually building the program in his first two years, going 7-17 in PCC action, Newell's teams suddenly became dominant in the conference. After a 10-6 PCC mark in 1955-56, Cal had consecutive 14-2, 12-4, 14-2 and 11-1 league records the next four seasons. From December 27, 1958 through December 16, 1960, the Bears won 26 consecutive games in the gym, the longest winning streak in school history..

Harmon was truly someplace special then. While a Cal fan could still get tickets to most games by ordering ahead, almost all of the games saw capacity crowds. Students, always a major part of the Harmon environment, became even more rabid. The Straw Hat Band turned out in force for all the home games. Both the student section and the band were warmly embraced by Newell who knew the value of a true home court advantage.

"As far as I'm concerned student support and the Straw Hat Band were both synonymous with Harmon," said Newell. "They played a huge role in our success."

Guard Bob Dalton said Harmon was like no other place in the country to play basketball. "It was the intensity," he said. "It was like you were in a room that could only accommodate 20 people and there were six or seven thousand people in there. I can always remember the noise level would send a tingle up your spine."

"I think the crowd's support meant at least six points a game, particularly in our type of game because we pressed. We were the first ones that actually pressed. When we would get on a roll and steal the ball three or four times, you could see the anguish on the opponents' faces because the noise level would get so loud."

"Pete would use the crowd as a sixth man," said Nad Permaul, a campus historian. "His last two years here, Cal led the nation in defense and was close to the lead in turnovers forced per game. If you fell behind Cal, it was like a death sentence because the crowd really got into it and the team played such tenacious, man-to-man defense. Cal would hold teams to just awful shooting percentages."

The Harmon mystique during the Newell years was not solely built on game nights. The physical conditioning in Harmon during Newell's pre-season workouts was legendary, and many players' memories of Harmon began with the coach's "hands-up" drills where players would need to move in whatever direction the coach pointed, with their hands above their heads at all times. Occasionally, those drills would last as long as 20 minutes or more. Needless to say, the players were totally exhausted after many of those drills.

"Pete didn't need to cut very many people because the work that was required separated the serious player from the wanna-bes real fast," said Cal All-America center Darrall Imhoff.

While Newell got his teams in top physical condition, he was a master strategist. Much of his thinking came during practice sessions where he'd be on the sidelines with a cigarette in his hand.

"I almost burned down the gym one afternoon," recalled Newell. "There were many holes in the gym floor for volleyball standards and other stuff and - I always used one of those holes as my ashtray. One time, I guess I forgot to put out the cigarette and there were some papers stuffed down inside the hole. The paper started a fire and the accumulation of the many butts and the unsmoked tobacco created a nicotine smell that's hard to describe. A manager finally put it out, but nobody could rid the court of the cigarette smell for days."

There were several memorable games during the Newell years, but the one that attracted the most national attention was in late January of 1956 when a solid Cal team hosted powerful USF, with standouts such as Bill Russell and K.C. Jones.

The Dons were riding a 39-game winning streak and looked invincible, but Newell came up with some innovative defensive schemes prior to the game. "Our practices were always open, but Pete closed the gym for the week we were preparing for the USF game and we set up different defenses, depending on where K.C. Jones went during the game." remembered forward Larry Friend.

Cal made it a close game through halftime, but USF looked like it was going to take control with 16 minutes left when center Duane Asplund fouled out. Newell then decided to call for the most memorable stall in Harmon history. He inserted Joe Hagler into the line-up and instructed him to stand at midcourt with the ball until the Dons came out and guarded him. Russell, fearful of backdoor tactics, stood his ground, and the stall was on.

"I collected 10 minutes of nationally televised time," laughs Hagler. "They said I was shaking like a leaf from the nerves, but it was really that damn drafty gym."

With about six minutes remaining, Newell made the choice to resume action. However, a long shot by Bob Washington went in-and-out and USF went on to a 33-24 victory. Still, people were talking for a long time about the stall tactic employed by Newell.

"It was like fighting Rocky Marciano," said Friend during a recent conversation. "Would you want to fight three or 15 rounds? In 15 rounds, he's probably going to tag you, but in three you might get lucky."

"I'd do the same thing under similar circumstances," commented USF coach Phil Woolpert after the game.

Newell was also present at the only contest ever forfeited in mid-game when unruly Cal fans finally got the best of referee Al Lightner. Cal was trailing USC 77-64 on January 7, 1956 when Bear fans just couldn't contain their anger at the officiating any longer. Tin foil from ice cream bars were rolled into balls by several fans and thrown onto the floor. One hit the referee in the eye. A cautionary public address announcement didn't entirely stop the bombardment, and Lightner called the game to a halt, saying later "I'm not willing to risk my sight for an official's pay."

Newell remembers Lightner telling him he had to call the game because he was hit by one of the balls. "I told him he was lucky it wasn't an anvil the way they called that game. He didn't laugh."

While prankish Cal fans sometimes tosseds hot pennies on the court for unsuspecting officials to pick up or dropped dead ducks from the ceiling at the halftime gun, Harmonites were known mostly for their cerebral approach to goading opponents. They would do their research on opposing stars and make comments that were not often appreciated.

"One image I still have is of Dave Gambee, the great Oregon State forward, charging about six rows up at the south end of the stands after someone who had commented about his lack of defensive ability," said Joe Hagler. "Dave averaged 20 points a game that year, but not against us."

While Stanford's Hank Luisetti and Cal's Hal Eifert were the headliners during the 1930s and Andy Wolfe may have been the best player to perform at Harmon during the following decade, the Newell era saw several other high profile players come to Harmon. Probably the biggest name was Kansas' Wilt Chamberlain who played there in December of '56. The Cal fans were obviously curious to see the 7-3 behemoth.The gym was even packed for an 11:00 a.m. Kansas practice session the day of the game. Later that night during the actual game, the Bears used an assortment of back-door plays to give Cal a seven-point lead in the second half, but eventually Chamberlain and his teammates prevailed before a huge crowd at Harmon.

Harmon Still an Exciting Place Despite Lack of Success in '60s and '70s

The success of the Pete Newell era evaporated in a heartbeat as Cal went from the dominant position in the Pacific Coast Conference to also-ran status within months of Cal's loss in the NCAA finals in March of 1960. Pete Newell, who had previously announced his intention to retire and move into the Athletic Directors job, vacated the head coaching position after the '59-60 season and long-time assistant Rene Herrerias attempted to keep the magic alive, but to no avail. Better athletes were emerging at other schools and the trademark Cal teamwork and tough defense wasn't enough to keep the Bear program from falling on a dry spell that would last almost three decades.

While Cal wallowed in mediocrity over the next 25 seasons, averaging 12 wins and 14 losses during that span and not earning a single post-season tournament berth, Harmon retained a loyal following. Although the constant sellouts of the 1950s began to wane and empty seats were often the norm among the upper bleachers, there remained a solid and loyal following that continued to come to Harmon, game-in, game-out.

Even in years where attendance was sporadic, the special intimate visual and acoustic qualities of Harmon made it a fun place to watch the game of basketball.

The student population, which had turned its attention more to the political issues of the day and campus protests than group yells in Harmon, still maintained a very visible presence at Cal's basketball games during the '60s and '70s.

"Although there was a lot of political turmoil all over campus, Harmon remained a place where students would come on the weekends for a release," said San Francisco Chronicle columnist Bruce Jenkins, who attended Cal during the height of student unrest. "It wasn't like the Pete Newell years, but it was still a lot of fun with some good basketball. Harmon still had that aura where the fans would really get into the games, the Straw Hat Band would get things cranked up and everybody felt like something special could happen on any given night, even if the team was a big underdog."

Cal had more than its share of great players at Harmon in those years, including Russ Critchfield, Charlie Johnson, Phil Chenier, Rickie Hawthorne, Gene Ransom and Mark McNamara.

Critchfield remembers vividly the second game he ever played at Harmon on the varsity, when the Bears upset No. 10 ranked Nebraska, 87-71, on December 10, 1965. "We were in the shower and the Straw Hat Band came just blazing down the stairs and playing their music as both our team and the other team were showering," said Critchfield. "It was just great."

Ransom was one of the crowd favorites during the mid-'70s, taking the razzle-dazzle tactics he learned while growing up in the streets of Berkeley to new heights in Harmon Gym. His career high 36 points in a win over Oregon on February 10, 1977 were scored in the longest game ever played in Harmon Gym. The game started innocently enough between two middle-of-the-pack teams, but by the time it all ended -- some 65 minutes and five overtimes later -- history was made. It was not only the longest game in Cal history but also the longest game in Pacific-10 annals as well.

Rather than celebrate his sensational performance, Ransom said after the game, "All I want to do is go home and jump in bed."

The biggest games in Harmon then were inevitably with UCLA and Stanford, always sure sellouts. While Cal constantly came up short against UCLA, there were several exciting near-misses, and fans would love to see the Bruins array of stars come to Harmon. It was a constant parade of Bruin All-Americans from Walt Hazzard to Gale Goodrich, to Lew Alcindor, to Sidney Wicks, to Bill Walton, to Marques Johnson, and there were always plenty of Harmon spectators to view their talents.

In 1964, Cal almost pulled off the biggest upset of the college basketball season by taking a UCLA team, that would go on to post an undefeated season, to the final minute of play before falling, 58-56, when a shot by the Bears' Chris Carpenter went awry as time ran out.

In 1968, UCLA center Lew Alcindor scored 44 points in a 94-64 win over the Bears in Harmon, but was accidentally poked in the eye by Cal reserve Tommy Henderson. A week later, the Bruins traveled to Houston for a colossal game against Elvin Hayes and the Cougars. However, because of the eye problem, Alcindor was largely ineffective while wearing protective goggles and Houston scored a 71-69 victory before over 50,000 fans in the Astrodome.

Led by Charley Johnson, Jackie Ridgle and Bob Presley, Cal took a 29-1 UCLA team to overtime before losing in March of 1969.

Another close loss to UCLA in Harmon came 15 years later when Kevin Johnson hit a baseline jumper at the end of regulation on February 16, 1984 to send the game into overtime before the Bruins again survived.

Women Move from Hearst to Harmon

Until the early 1970s, the Cal women played intercollegiate volleyball and basketball in Hearst Gym. However, as members of the fledgling Nor Cal Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, they had obvious problems. "Hearst didn't have high enough roofs for volleyball and there was no seating for either sport," said Joan Parker, who was coach of both teams as a physical education instructor then.

In 1973, both women's volleyball and basketball moved into Harmon for good. While each team enjoyed modest success, attendance was relatively sporadic in the next decade, even with All-Americans such as Colleen Galloway and Karen Smith in basketball and Sylvie Monnet in volleyball playing.

There have been some memorable women's games in Harmon, but clearly the most significant in the 1980s was when an underdog California team upset national powerhouse Old Dominion, (coached, incidentally, by current Bear mentor Marianne Stanley), 78-70, on Jan. 14, 1984. "It was an absolutely fantastic game, back and forth," remembers Karen Smith. "We were expected to be blown out, but we ended up beating them."

The biggest women's upset at Harmon came on Jan. 10, 1992 when Gooch Foster's Cal team knocked off undefeated Stanford, 74-65 before one of the largest crowds ever to witness a women's game in the facility (2,510).

The 80's and Bid to Resurrect Old Success

The roots of Harmon's resurrection as an honored basketball facility came in the mid-'80s when then Athletic Director Dave Maggard convinced a vibrant, loquacious Italian named Lou Campanelli to leave James Madison University and take on a rebuilding job at Cal.

When he brought Campanelli to Berkeley, the prospective head coach was impressed with the beauty and vitality of the campus. However, on the second and final day of his visit with Maggard, Campanelli still hadn't been shown the gym.

Maggard was embarrassed to show the aging building to the new coach, but Campanelli wouldn't leave without seeing it.

"We walked up the stairs and you know you're in trouble when outside the gym door it says Room 100," said Campanelli. "I said to myself 'You've got to be kidding me'."

But once inside, Campanelli's imagination took over and he turned to Maggard and said "Hey, this is great, this place can be a pit. We can make this the toughest place to play in the Pac-10."

Maggard drew a sigh of relief and shortly thereafter signed Campanelli to revive Cal's basketball fortunes.

However, while Campanelli fulfilled his pledge to make Harmon a very tough environment on game night, he also wanted to present a different image to prospective recruits. Not only were new offices and locker rooms constructed to spruce up the place, but Campanelli decided to change the name pretentiously to Harmon Arena.

Cal's official athletic publications referred to the building as Harmon Arena, but few of the media and none of the traditionalists bought into the new nomenclature. Nobody can blame a coach who wanted to compete in the flashy recruiting game, but the name never really seemed quite right. The cast iron letters in the building's east exterior spelling out Harmon Gym never changed and provided reassurance that nothing really was different inside the venerable structure.

What the new era did bring back in grand fashion was the excitement of sellout crowds. Working with holdover guards Kevin Johnson and Chris Washington, whose lightning-like quickness created enough excitement to attract big crowds on their own, Campanelli's teams put together back-to-back win totals of 19 and 20 in 1986 and '87, earning NIT berths each season.

In the process, his teams captured the hearts of the student body and the Bay Area sports fans. The Bears began a streak of home conference sellouts that has now extended for some 11 years. During the current decade, there hve been 78 straight sellouts, including tonight's finale.

It wasn't a long process to bring the fans back to Harmon because from the time Campanelli was hired, fans were focusing on one date as the lightning rod for the Cal Basketball resurgence. It came just 17 games into Campanelli's debut season when the hated UCLA Bruins were scheduled in Harmon. Campanelli promised the day of his first press conference that a 52-game winning streak that UCLA had over California would end during his first year.

That was a lot to promise, but it proved to be a stroke of genius as all eyes were turned to the Cal campus that warm Saturday afternoon. Sports Illustrated sent a reporter and photographer and NBC televised the game. Cal students were camped out at the doorsteps several hours before the game, many of them in blue and gold war paint.

The atmosphere reminded old-time observers of some of the crucial games of the Newell era. "When I walked on the court, I've never felt so much electricity in my life," recalls Campanelli.

It was a close game throughout, but Cal pulled away in the final four minutes and the fans stormed on the court for a post-game celebration that lasted nearly two hours. Maggard came on the court and put Campanelli on his shoulders with adoring fans surrounding the two at midcourt.

It was a game that many consider the most exciting in all of Cal history, but certainly there were others that had similar drama through the years.

Dedication of Pete Newell Court

With tens of thousands of physical education classes being held in the building through the years, the floor area of Harmon Gym had always been known (as Campanelli observed) as "Room 100." However, in an attempt to both spruce up the playing area and pay tribute to the Golden Years of Pete Newell, the athletic department renamed the playing surface as Newell Court.

The dedication ceremonies came on December 21, 1987 before to a Cal-UCLA basketball game. Newell was there and a plaque commemorating the event was presented to the coach by Chancellor Ira Michael Heyman and Athletic Director Maggard. Fittingly, a Golden Bear team that would win only nine games that season, rose to the occasion and ambushed the Bruins 83-70.

Memorable Individual Performances

One of the most memorable scoring performances in Harmon history happened over 40 years ago when Bob McKeen poured through a school record 40 points during a 95-63 rout of visiting Utah on January 30, 1954. That may not sound like an unusual point total in this era of run-and-gun basketball, but it was an amazing figure back in the days of black-and-white television. Players rarely averaged as many as 20 points then (the Pac-10 scoring leader in 1953-54 was Russ Lawler of Stanford with just 17.5 points a game) and the Cal team itself averaged just 64.6 points that year.

Believe it or not, that served as the best scoring performance by a Cal player in almost a quarter of a century. It was March of 1977 before a sweet-shooting 6-5 forward named Ray Murry broke it with a 41 points in his senior farewell performance while helping Cal post a 101-91 win over Stanford. Remembered most for his feather-soft touch jumper, Murry did it all that night with an assortment of shots, the most notable being a vicious one-handed tomahawk slam over Stanford's Kimberly Belton to put the game on ice with less than two minutes to play.

The greatest scoring performance in Harmon history came during a high-scoring game between Cal and New Mexico State on January 17, 1972 when John Williamson bombed away on almost every possession to finish with 48 points. Although he hit just xx of his xx attempts, he did help his team to an exciting 91-89 victory. (GET MORE INFO FROM RUPE RICKSEN)

Perhaps the greatest player to ever play in Harmon Gym was Cal's own Jason Kidd. A homegrown product who spurned offers from virtually every school in the land to play at Cal, Kidd played his best in the most crucial contests against big-name opponents. Unfortunately, the school moved most of those games away from Harmon into the Oakland Coliseum, where more people could enjoy his performances.

However, among those games that Harmon aficionados will remember the best are...(USC game, record 14 assists vs. richmond, note his great passes.

Traditions That Developed in Harmon

The character of Harmon Gym has been shaped by the traditions developed there through the years. From a rabid group of vocal supporters and the Straw Hat Band to the countless lines on the playing surface and familiar faces in the crowd, Harmon has always had a comfortable feel to it for both players and spectators.

The rooting section at Harmon has always enjoyed a reputation for boisterousness. As far back as the early 1940s, Andy Wolfe remembers the impact the rooters had on an opponent. "They were a raucous bunch, that's for sure," said Wolfe. "I remember one game when somebody threw a tennis ball at one of our opponents. The students had a rowdy reputation and sometimes they needed to be chastised for their behavior both at Memorial Stadium and at Harmon, but they still were the best fans a team could have."

The reputation of Cal's fans reached a new level during the Pete Newell era. The combination of an enthusiastic throngg with the ability to focus in on opponent weaknesses, and Newell's aggravating fullcourt press made life miserable for visiting teams.

The Harmon crowds in the 70's also had many a fine day, in terms of getting under an opponent's skin. It's unlikely Reggie Miller will ever forget the games he played in Harmon when Cal fans would serenade him with melodic chants of "Cheryl" for long periods of time, in reference to his sister who, at the time, had a bigger name as a women's basketball star.

The Cal fans would also chant a similar melody for a relatively unknown Arizona State guard named (Mike) "Redhair" whenever he was dribbling the basketball in the late 1980's. When he passed the ball to ASU's top scorer Issac Austin, who sported a shaved scalp, somebody would chant, "No Hair" and the entire Harmon crowd would join in. Pretty soon, the chant would alternate between "Red Hair" and "No Hair. Even the ASU bench found it hard not to keep from laughing.

Opposition coaches have always been an easy target for Harmon fans and while some haven't taken kindly to the razzing, others have enjoyed it. During his 19 years as a coach at Washington State and USC, George Raveling came to relish his interaction with the Cal fans.

"I actually liked playing games at Harmon," said Ravelling. "The thing that made it tough was that the first row of spectators was right behind the bench and they'd lean over and listen in and make suggestions. The fans were always big on making coaching suggestions. They'd be yelling to take a player out if he made a mistake, mostly just to annoy you and your players, and you couldn't help but hear them. I'd always try to turn it into a humorous situation to let them know they weren't getting to me.

"I remember one guy kept yelling for me to run a different type of offensive play and I turned around to him and said 'You draw something up and I'll use it.' I thought that might shut him up, but the son of a gun wrote something up and handed it to me right in the middle of the game. Only in a place like Harmon."

University administrators have always been extremely visible spectators at basketball games in Harmon. Bob Sproul, president of the University from 1930 to 1958, would rarely miss a game, and his voice could be heard all over the gym. In fact, when he was being wooed to take the top job at Columbia in the spring of 1947, it was in Harmon that he announced to cheering crowds he was staying in Berkeley.

Sproul wasn't bashful in voicing his opinions on officiating decisions, either. One of the premier officials during the '50s was Lou Batmall, who also served as the President of San Francisco State. After one particularly questionable call during the Newell era, many remember Sproul's booming voice coming forth with "Lou: you're blind as a Bat ... Mall." The players and Harmon crowd broke into hysterics.

Glenn Seaborg, Chancellor at Cal from 1958 to '61, was another who tried to attend each and every game. He still claims that many of his fondest memories as the campus' top administrator came in Harmon watching Pete Newell's teams dismantle opponents.

In recent years, the peripatetic Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien who has served from 1990 to the present, would always occupy a seat behind the Cal bench and lead"Go Bears" cheers.

Without question, the oldest tradition in Harmon is the unique look of the playing floor with countless lines painted over the entire court. This is hardly a recent development. Jack Crowley, who lettered in 1932 and '33, remembers those lines being painted on the floor soon after the building was opened.

As a multi-use building, Harmon required boundaries for two half-court intramural courts, six badminton courts and three volleyball courts. As Dick Kuchen, head coach from 1978-85, commented, "The basketball officials, opposing teams and even our own players became confused at times where the basketball court began and ended."

Actually, during most of Harmon's long history, the court itself began and ended in confusion. When the baskets were first hung in 1933, construction workers accidentally put the baskets in the wrong place -- thus making the court 97 feet, instead of the regulation 94 feet. Because of the costs of replacing the standards, they stayed that way until the school made the alterations in 1985.

A more recent tradition began just 11 years ago, when Lou Campanelli and his coaching staff began making the first practice of the season open to the public on midnight of the first allowable practice date. Schools at basketball hotbeds such as Kentucky had been staging such late-night promotions for years, but the midnight show was a rather unorthodox event at Cal.

However, Cal students and other fans took to the first "Midnight Madness" like ducks to a pond and the gym was packed to the rafters during that first event in October of 1985. The festivities continued to draw capacity crowds for the next 11 years.

If there's one memory of Harmon that stands out beyond all others, it has to be the Straw Hat Band. While the band has always been a precise and formal marching band for football games in Memorial Stadium, it's been an irreverent and fun-loving bunch in Harmon Gym.

The practice of wearing straw hats began in 1947. A band member named Bill Fay found a straw hat in the closet of his fraternity house in the summer of '46, took a liking to it and started wearing it at any opportunity. Later that summer, he and four or five of his fellow band members happened to see similar hats on sale at the state fair in Sacramento. Immediately the other members bought their own. When that group started wearing the hats to basketball games, pretty soon every band member had to have one, and a tradition was born.

The Straw Hat Band's stirring renditions of "Big C" and "Hail to California" at every game as well as the group's long-standing tradition of identifying a particular opposing player as a "tuna" are inextricably tied to Harmon history.

Cal mascot Oski also began appearing at Cal basketball games in the mid-1940's and has likewise been an irrepressible character at nearly every game. Usually his antics are harmless, but he was disciplined following an incident at Harmon in January of 1990 when he threw a cream pie into the Oregon State visiting section and hit, of all people, Beaver star Gary Payton's father and family. A melee nearly ensued before security ushers calmed the scene. Still, the incident was talked about for years afterward.

It was during the 1954-55 season under Pete Newell that the Cal team began the tradition of stopping warm-ups and facing the Straw Hat Band while it played "Hail to California." That tradition continued into the 1980s when pre-game routines were altered and the squad was required to be in the locker-room for final coaching instructions at the time the song was normally played.

Identifying a hated opposition player and then loudly chanting "Hey No. --, you're our tuna for tonight, Tooon-Uh" is a tradition the band renews every game in Harmon. It all began in 1972, when the Straw Hatters began yelling at a nervous UCLA player who wore the number 42. During his three years with the Bruins, the Cal band would shout "forty-twooo" every time he touched the ball. By his final year, it had evolved into "forty-toooo-na" and a new tradition was borne. Obviously, it's been a disconcerting trick on opponents ever since.

As Harmon Fades Into Sunset, Haas Pavilion Arrives

And so as the final chapter of the Harmon saga ends with memories that will be cherished for lifetimes, another new era is about to begin. With the announcement on January 19, 1995 that Walter A. Haas Jr. had pledged $10 million for the seed money to begin constructing a new activities center, plans were set in motion to make the building a reality.

The choice was made to keep the exterior walls of the existing Harmon Gym intact and then construct an entirely new facility inside. The capacity of the new building will be nearly doubled to 12,000 seats. The architects, however, were given the mandate to preserve the cozy, intimate ambiance of Harmon.

"While we needed a bigger and newer facility, we wanted to keep the things that have made Harmon such a special place over the years," said Cal Athletic Director John Kasser. "We believe the new building will be a great tribute to the legacy Harmon has left."

It is only fitting that Harmon's memorable past should be caried into the future.

Who is A.K.P. Harmon

Little is known of the early life of Albion Keith Paris Harmon, other than he was born in Maine and that early in 1849, at age 27, he traveled on the steamer Oregon to the state of California.

With the rewards of successful enterprises that he was involved in San Francisco and Sacramento, Harmon invested in the Washoe mining district in Nevada. These investments brought even larger returns.

His daughter, Marietta Harmon married Colonel George C. Edwards (Class of '1873) in 1878. Shortly after their marrage, the elder Harmon asked Edwards what the University needed most. When Edwards said it was a new gymnasium, Harmon donated the great bulk of the money needed for the building.