There was a great discussion going on in the recap thread of the Illinois game that I wanted to bring to the forefront because as a younger Penn State fan, it's very interesting to me.
I was a little kid when Penn State played it's last game at Rec Hall, so the stories jesse. and some others told are really all I know about that era of Penn State basketball. This afternoon I sifted through 30 pages of Google Images searches and found NO pictures of Rec hall in action during a basketball game. The only one I've ever seen hangs in CC Peppers on Atherton Street near Wal-Mart. In that one, at least, the place is packed, but it's hard to gather from one image what, exactly, the place was like for a game.
The man who designed Rec Hall is the same man who designed the Palestra,Charles Z. Klauder, according to Wikipedia.
I've never been to a game there, but you can clearly see how similar the two appear to be architecturally.
They look pretty similair from the inside, too, although the Palestra is obviously much bigger.
Rec Hall
The Palestra
Has anyone out there been to both? Is this a fair comparison? Also, if anyone has any old Rec Hall stories, please, feel free to share them here. I, for one, am profoundly interested in these types of sports history things, and I'm sure there are plenty of BSD fans out there who feel the same way, so don't be shy.
Also, seeing as both the Mellon Arena and the Spectrum in Philly are both heading toward dates with the wrecking ball, feel free to use this thread to reminisce about those old barns as well.