Colgate University Athletics

 

Huntington Gymnasium

Huntington Gymnasium occupies a central role in the ongoing development and delivery of Colgate athletics. It was completed in 1926 at a time when Colgate’s enrollment was roughly 600 men. It was named in tribute to Dr. Ellery Channing Huntington, Instructor in Physiology and Hygiene and Director of the Gymnasium. This was also a period of expansion for the academic and student life programs when several other large and impressive buildings were erected on campus.

Today Huntington is home to the following:

 - Administration of the intercollegiate, club, intramural and recreation departments including the Director of Athletics, staff, Compliance and Athletic Communications
 - The Colgate University Athletic Hall of Honor gifted by the class of 1927 and dedicated June 2, 1979
 -  Football and rowing coaches’ offices
 -  Rowing training center
 - The basketball court which hosted the Raiders varsity program until 1966
 - Four racquetball courts and the Angert Family Climbing Wall
 - Five squash courts named in honor of President Neil R. Grabois, M. Peter Madsen ’69, Joseph A. Mangin ’50, Jacques S. Theriot ’57 and Richard S. Van Cleave III ‘58
 - Varsity Golf Indoor Studio
 - The Helen K. Persson Dance Studio and workout areas for spinning and the martial arts
 - Locker room and meeting facilities for students, faculty, staff and visitors

Huntington has experienced significant alterations with the growth of the Colgate student body to today’s 2,900 students and the advent of coeducation in the 1970s. For example, the four lane swimming pool, a gift from James Colby Colgate and completed in 1927 and used until the Lineberry Natatorium was commissioned in 1974, was transformed into the Wm. Brian Little ’64 Fitness Center in 1994. Then in 2011 the space was transformed into the Mark P. Buttitta ’74 Varsity Weight Room. The addition of the Trudy Fitness Center, also in 2011, which connects to Huntington Gymnasium, supports the university’s vision for the allocation of resources in support of the wider community’s wellness and recreational needs.