The time that Grambling got a new arena

Nick's note: With basketball season -- and the first games played at Grambling's long-awaited new arena -- upon us, here is a look back at the facility's long and winding road to completion.

A welcome addition
Arena will offset gym's deficiencies at Grambling State
June 11, 2005

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - Grambling State basketball coach Larry Wright looks around Memorial Gym, and he sees history.

Too much history.

"My coach played in this building - and I'm 50," said Wright, the Southwestern Athletic Conference's 1975-76 Player of the Year under legendary former coach Fred Hobdy.

He says the aging gymnasium, even with a sweeping remodel in 2002, is dragging down recruiting efforts.

"Renovation here is just like putting a Band-Aid on cancer," said Wright.

In fact, Memorial looms over the program, even though the men won eight of their final 10 games in 2005 to earn a SWAC Tournament berth - a finish that ranked Grambling as one of the hottest teams in the conference.

"The renovations have held up," said Wright, "but most high school kids have buildings that are better than this one."

His next comment is telling: "When I am recruiting a kid, I try to do it without him ever visiting this facility."

Wright hasn't made any prospect announcements during this late signing period. Yet, he finds hope for the future in a long-awaited new basketball building, which is finally taking shape behind Robinson Stadium on campus.

The project - envisioned more than 20 years ago during the administration of Joseph Johnson, who served as GSU president from 1977-1991 - will be capable of seating 7,500 for sports events, and as many as 9,000 for other occasions.

"A new building would help," said Wright. "At least the kids wouldn't choose based on a raggedy building. Not only will it help basketball, it will help the university as a whole. We just had graduation outside. That's not just an athletic issue. It would be nice to have parents to come in and sit in an air conditioned building for commencement."

The 135,000-square-foot facility, to be known as the HPER building, will feature an arena to accommodate sporting and nonsporting events alike. The men's and women's basketball teams will play and practice there, but the building will also include classrooms, administrative offices, banquet areas and faculty offices - as well as locker rooms, weight rooms, storage areas and offices for supporting services.

Meanwhile, Wright struggles to attract players who don't have traditional connections with Grambling.

Take starting junior guard Brion Rush, who averaged 17.6 points and nearly 31 minutes of playing time per game last season.

"It didn't make a difference about the facility, because his coach went to school here," said Wright. "We were able to get him for that reason. That trust. But those kids who don't have that history, we couldn't have gotten them."

Memorial isn't to blame for every lost recruit. Wright points to coveted West Ouachita prospect Anthony Ford, who signed with conference foe Alcorn State last week.

"We thought we had a shot at him. We really did," said Wright. "It seemed to me he just wanted to leave. I guess he wanted to get away from home."

Three years ago, Grambling installed a new heating and cooling system, plumbing system, and locker rooms in Memorial - at a cost, according to vice president of finance Billy Owens, of $2 million.

That simply slowed the inevitable, said Wright. A new facility, with modern amenities, is a standard facet in the recruiting process of today's young people.

"When I came to Grambling, years ago, I didn't care what I played in," Wright said. "I could have went to school anywhere, but I was coming to Grambling. Kids are not like that anymore. Let's face it, integration came and Grambling will not get the same kids that Grambling used to get. Willis Reed isn't coming. But the new building makes you feel better. At least you know you have a chance now."

Next spring - the targeted opening date of GSU's first new basketball facility in generations - can't come soon enough.

"I drive by it," Wright said, "and I know, somewhere, Coach Hobdy is very happy."

GSU program seeks area recruits
Grambling State was in the running for West Ouachita's Anthony Ford, though he eventually signed with Alcorn State last week. Texas Tech's Bobby Knight also lured Ouachita's Jay Jackson two seasons ago, then Richwood's Terry Martin Jr. this past off-season.

Still, GSU men's coach Larry Wright, a Richwood High product, has had his own local successes.

He signed Bastrop guard Marcus Watson - a member of The News-Star/Glenwood SportsCare All-Northeast Team - last year and has both Wossman forward Jamar Lewis and West Monroe guard Donte Gordon on the squad as seniors for next season. Vidalia senior Ron Ellis just finished his eligibility last year.

"We have talented players here, and we're going to continue to try to get them to Grambling," said Wright, a former assistant at Ouachita Parish High before taking over his alma mater's basketball program in 1999. "We hope to sign a couple of kids who are pretty good athletes. What we've got to do is bring in kids and keep them for four years - and hopefully, toward the ends of their careers, they have improved."
- Nick Deriso, nderiso@thenewsstar.com

g g g
Building momentum
March 17, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling men's coach Larry Wright loses his best player with the graduation of do-it-all guard Brion Rush.

So why's he so optimistic about next season? The answer is slowly rising behind Robinson Stadium.

GSU's long, long, long-awaited Health, Physical Education, Recreation Building is all but done. (The project has been talked about around Grambling since the 1970s.)

In addition to housing the HPER department, this 134,573-feet facility will become home to the university's basketball programs and serve as a multi-purpose assembly center for hoops and community events.

Wright expects to tip off in the new gym next fall. He also expects to make the building a cornerstone in recruiting efforts in the meantime.

"They no longer can say we don't have the facility," said Wright. "That's part of building this program back to respectability."

Constructed by Lincoln Builders at a cost of about $19 million, the HPER building will have game-seating capacity of 7,500 - and approximately 9,000 for other events like graduation, which has traditionally been held outdoors.

g g g
At long last, a new beginning for Grambling hoops
August 6, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Larry Wright was recruited into Grambling State back in the 1970s with the promise of a new basketball facility.

Thirty years later, he was still talking about the proposed building when he took over as the GSU men’s coach.

In many ways, Wright didn’t know if it would ever happen.

He’d played at Memorial Gymnasium for the late legendary former GSU coach Fred Hobdy. Since 1999, he’s coached every one of his own home games there.

So the long-awaited 160,450-foot facility that’s slowly been rising on the western side of campus was all the more remarkable.

"It’s a dream come true, to see Grambling have a good facility like everybody else," Wright said. "Years ago when I came to Grambling, that facility was in the works. They were talking about it even back then."

A ribbon cutting and official dedication ceremony for the new basketball arena is set for 1 p.m. today.

"Finally," Wright says, still marvelling, "we get to see it open."

The project was envisioned during the administration of Joseph Johnson, who served as GSU president from 1977-1991, but it didn’t pick up steam until 1994 — when legislation was finally passed to issue $1 million in bonds.

Work never began. Another decade passed before $17 million in top-priority bonds was approved in 2004 to fund construction, with another $6.75 million set aside for use when needed.

The Shreveport-based Newman Marchive Partnership firm then began consctruction two years ago.

It’s about more than basketball, though. The arena also houses the university’s kinesiology sport and leisure studies department, faculty offices, the athletic ticket office, a weight room, dance studio, concessions areas and the team store.

A crowd of more than 6,000 was given a sneak preview of the facility during local memorial services for the GSU’s late former football coach Eddie Robinson last month.

So finally will the next group of Grambling hoops recruits, a long-made promise turned real.

"When you go into a kid’s home, you can talk to them about the school, the tradition of your school, and everything else," Wright said, "but in the end that kid wants to see where we are going to play. To have to take a kid to our former gym, it was not up to par with what everybody else has. At one time, Memorial was one of the best facilities in our conference. But now it’s the worst. We are just glad to have a new one."

g g g
It's home, sweet home for GSU basketball teams
Ribbon-cutting for new facility set to be held today
May 19, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING -- Larry Wright was recruited into Grambling State back in the 1970s with the promise of a new basketball facility.

Thirty years later, he was still talking about the proposed building when he took over as the GSU men's coach.

In many ways, Wright didn't know if it would ever happen.

He'd played at Memorial Gymnasium for the late legendary former GSU coach Fred Hobdy. Since 1999, he's coached every one of his own home games there.

So the long-awaited 160,450-foot facility that's slowly been rising on the western side of campus was all the more remarkable.

"It's a dream come true, to see Grambling have a good facility like everybody else," Wright said. "Years ago when I came to Grambling, that facility was in the works. They were talking about it even back then."

A ribbon cutting and official dedication ceremony for the new basketball arena is set for 1 p.m. today.

"Finally," Wright says, still marveling, "we get to see it open."

The project was envisioned during the administration of Joseph Johnson, who served as GSU president from 1977-1991, but it didn't pick up steam until 1994 — when legislation was finally passed to issue $1 million in bonds.

Work never began. Another decade passed before $17 million in top-priority bonds was approved in 2004 to fund construction, with another $6.75 million set aside for use when needed.

The Shreveport-based Newman Marchive Partnership firm then began construction two years ago.

It's about more than basketball, though. The arena also houses the university's kinesiology sport and leisure studies department, faculty offices, the athletic ticket office, a weight room, dance studio, concessions areas and the team store.

A crowd of more than 6,000 was given a sneak preview of the facility during local memorial services for the GSU's late former football coach Eddie Robinson last month.

So finally will the next group of Grambling hoops recruits, a long-made promise turned real.

"When you go into a kid's home, you can talk to them about the school, the tradition of your school, and everything else," Wright said, "but in the end that kid wants to see where we are going to play. To have to take a kid to our former gym, it was not up to par with what everybody else has. At one time, Memorial was one of the best facilities in our conference. But now it's the worst. We are just glad to have a new one."