In case you haven’t heard, M&T Bank bought the naming rights to the University of Connecticut’s iconic Gampel Pavilion, renaming it M&T Bank Center at Gampel Pavilion. At least some of the arena’s original name remains.
Today, the Life section is sharing what they would rename Gampel if they had both the opportunity and the funds to purchase the Basketball Capital of the World.
Jaylyn Davis, Staff Writer, she/her/hers, iue25001@uconn.edu
For the longest time, Gampel Pavilion has been home to the University of Connecticut men’s and women’s basketball teams. Because of that, you’d think Harry Gampel, the person the pavilion was named after, was associated with basketball. However, Gampel had nothing to do with basketball; he was an industrialist who worked with Martin Luther King, Jr, according to Wikipedia.
If I bought Gampel Pavilion, I’d rename it after an iconic figure in UConn basketball history. There are many eminent UConn basketball figures to choose from, including Paige Bueckers, Dan Hurley, Sue Bird and Geno Auriemma. If I had to pick one for Gampel Pavilion, I’d choose Sandra Hamm.
If you don’t know who Hamm is, she was the very first UConn Women’s Basketball coach. She may not be as famous as Auriemma but I find it important to honor those who led the first season of a specific sport. Plus, there aren’t many campus buildings named after women. The only one I can think of is Susan V. Herbst Hall. So, renaming Gampel Pavilion would not only be symbolic to the history of UConn Women’s Basketball but it’d also laud female representation and leadership.
Hope Melk, Correspondent, she/her/hers, hope.melk@uconn.edu
If it were up to me, there would be no rules to life. Everything, including the renaming of our beloved Gampel Pavillion, would be whimsical and silly with no real purpose other than to elicit a smile from passers-by here and there.
With this in mind, I wouldn’t call it M&T Bank Center at Gampel Pavilion. I would instead bestow upon it the esteemed title of “Gampelwarts,” a nostalgic ode to my favorite cinematic universe, “Harry Potter.”
Instead of creating a massive, undying symbol of capitalism and positioning it smack in the middle of our campus, “Gampelwarts” would symbolize belonging, friendship, tradition, academia and a shared Husky identity.
Just as Hogwarts is invisible to Muggles or as Hagrid would describe them “non-magic folk,” the magic that happens inside Gampel is unknown to non-UConn fans, which makes “Gampelwarts” the most fitting name for the Basketball Capital of the World.
Alex Klancko, Campus Correspondent, he/him/his, ivb24001@uconn.edu
There have been many amazing names for stadiums across history. Coors Field, Gillette Stadium and Oracle Arena are all iconic names that make the stadiums themselves iconic. But one name stands above the rest when it comes to the best named stadium in the world: Acrisure Stadium, and hopefully soon, Acrisure Park. The Acrisure name makes the Steelers home a force to be reconned with and Gampel Pavilion needs that tenacity.
Acrisure Gampel Pavilion is the best name for UConn’s iconic on-campus stadium not just because the name sounds cool but for the aura it brings. Just like Acrisure, UConn’s opponents will non-compete. Plus, the money Acrisure would pay for the name would be astronomical and UConn can use that for the better.