RETRO REPORT: From arena to dorm, The Convo does it all
Photo via Ohio University Library Archives
Since its opening in the spring of 1968, the Convocation Center has been a staple of Ohio University’s campus. The Convo hosted one of Led Zeppelin’s first concerts, has seen countless students graduate at commencement, is the home court for several Ohio U sports teams, and is literally the home to many students. The dome-shaped arena has a rich history in Athens, and the Convo wasn’t even its planned name.
The Blueprints
The Fred Beasley Center. Yep, that was the original name intended for Ohio U’s 13,080-seat Convocation Center when architects designed it in the late 1960s. Fred Beasley was one of the wealthiest men in Southeast Ohio, owning a car dealership and investing in coal mining mainly.
Vernon Alden, the 15th Ohio U President, reached out to Beasley for help with the cost of constructing The Convo. Beasley had pledged $1 million towards the project that ultimately cost $8.5 million when all was said and done. However, Beasley never sent the money for a reason that remains unknown to this day. According to Ohio U’s library archives, Beasley’s health rapidly declined and he was unable to make decisions.
There were two main reasons The Convo was even constructed in the first place. First, the arena project was a part of Alden’s last effort as president of Ohio U to increase enrollment, as Alden left Ohio U in 1969 just one year after the arena opened. Second, prior to The Convo’s existence, the basketball team played games in the 6,800-seat Grover Center.
Alden’s overall plan for bringing enrollment up was to put around $100 million worth of building construction and renovation into Athens with The Convo being a key piece in that strategy. However, Alden’s plan wasn’t fully successful and Ohio U’s enrollment continued to fall after The Convo’s construction and his leaving. According to the Ohio University Office of Institutional Research, 1974 was the first year that enrollment fell below 15,000 since 1965.
The arena was not always going to have the dual purpose of athletics and housing as it does today. Originally, the building was only supposed to house athletics with a track, Olympic-size swimming pool and a fieldhouse for the football team were all included in the original designs.
56 Years Later
Today, The Convo still sits as a gateway to the rest of Ohio U’s campus. The building has remained largely the same since its construction with the last major renovation going towards a part that wasn’t originally planned: the dorms.
In 2019, $3.5 million was put toward renovating the bathrooms in the living areas of The Convo. Students today have newer fixtures, plumbing, electrical and HVAC according to an article by The Post article from 2019.
As much as The Convo is also the beginning place for many Ohio U students, it also marks the end of undergraduates' time at Ohio U with it being the site of graduation.
Despite The Convo being planned as the home for many more sports teams, the facility “houses Ohio University Bobcat basketball, volleyball, and wrestling matches, and offices for Intercollegiate Athletics, including the baseball, basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, soccer, softball, track, volleyball, and wrestling programs, and part of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,” reads the Ohio U website.
