Saint Joseph's shows off new Ramsay Basketball Center
If you have been in other "basketball centers" that have gone up around the country as the collegiate arms race has heated up, you might not be completely dazzled by the new Ramsay Basketball Center at Saint Joseph's. However, if you had ever spent any time in the old "facilities" on Hawk Hill, you would have no choice but to be dazzled.
In advance of this afternoon's dedication, Hawks coach Phil Martelli conducted a tour of the building attached to the Fieldhouse (soon to be the Hagan Arena). There is the "Tom Wynne (1963) Hall of Fame Room" just inside the front lobby, a plush area that Martelli says will be for "special gatherings," an "exclusive" room for serious donors, something that nobody really knew they had at St. Joe's.
DAVID M. WARREN / Staff photographer
Saint Joseph's men's basketball coach Phil Martelli in the new locker room.
Well, they do now. The new practice court (unveiled last fall), the remodeled arena (opening this fall) and the newly named basketball center did not come cheaply. Money needed to be raised. Donations needed to be made.
The Hall of Fame room is so exclusive that Martelli does not have keys. Those serious fans - those with the requisite cash, anyway - will be able to hang out there before games and then walk right into lobby of the arena.
"The Delonte West Players' Lounge" is right next to "The Jameer Nelson Locker Room." Nelson and West, the Hawks' great backcourt for two seasons, are now starting in Orlando and Cleveland, respectively. West has pledged a six-figure sum to have his name on the lounge. Nelson's commitment was finalized last year.
There was no lounge when those two played. And the locker room could barely be described as functional. Now, visiting teams that used to tromp up a flight of stairs to their tiny locker room will use the old SJU locker room.
And the Hawks will be in a spot that is as nice as anything you would see at any major program anywhere - wide open space, large lockers, comfortable, relaxing, big time.
"The biggest fear that I have is we develop a sense of entitlement," Martelli said while standing in the locker room. "We've got to remember where we came from."
Where they came from was a head coach's office that could have doubled as a small walk-in closet, another small office shared by the assistant coaches and nothing that suggested big time.
Down the hall from the lounge and locker room is a theater where players will watch film with coaches. It will also double as an interview room after games.
Martelli has not visited any other basketball centers, but said they "can't be any better than this."
A few steps away from the theater is a door that will lead down a short hall to midcourt where the players will emerge for games.
The Ramsay Center has actually been open for 6 weeks. It still has the look of a new house with more than a few pictures and mementos leaning against walls, waiting for the right spot to be found.
The coaches' offices are upstairs. Martelli has gone from that low-ceilinged closet without windows to a maybe five-times bigger corner office with windows overlooking the Overbrook Avenue tennis courts.
"So, this is the office," said Martelli, still seeming a bit bewildered to have escaped the dungeon on the other side of the arena.
The school's two Atlantic 10 Tournament championship trophies are on the floor. A place will be found soon enough.
"I am still trying to figure out where to put everything," Martelli said.
Martelli even has a conference room off his office in case he needs it. That room is also much bigger than his old office.
Everything the men's team has on one side of the facility the women's team has on the other.
So, what does this mean for the future of St. Joe's basketball? Looking back, this probably does not happen without the momentum generated by the 2003-04 team that West, Nelson and teammates got within seconds of the Final Four. There had been talk about better facilities for years, but no action.
Martelli figured it would happen someday, but that the "next coach" would have his office there. It happened faster than he thought.
All the improvements, however, are not going to change the essential fact of what St. Joe's basketball is about.
"It's not like the 'Field of Dreams,' " Martelli said.
It is not, he said "a Noah's Ark" where two of everything walks off - power forwards, shooting guards . . .
But these are bells and whistles that St. Joe's never had. It could help in recruiting. It will help the players already there and just gives a different feel to the program.
Jack Ramsay's name just went up on the building this week. The Hall of Fame coach made Saint Joseph's a national name in the late 1950s and 1960s. He did not invent basketball, but he was about 20 years ahead of his time. And nobody who knows the history of St. Joe's basketball has ever forgotten that.
"The very best coaches are teachers of basketball and life," said Bill Walton, the star of Ramsay's 1977 NBA champion Portland team. "Jack Ramsay is a Hall of Famer at both. We all loved playing for Dr. Jack, but we loved being with him even more. I can imagine how revered he is at Saint Joseph's where it all began."
Dr. Jack will be there this afternoon for the dedication of the 20,000 square foot facility.
"There was only one name that belongs on this building," Martelli said. *
