This year marks a century since the groundbreaking of Colgate University’s Huntington Gymnasium in 1924. The new facility replaced the old gymnasium, which was struggling to accommodate the rapidly growing student population of approximately 600 men.
With goals of reaching an enrollment of 1,100 men by 1928, Huntington quickly became a central hub for athletic life at Colgate. The state-of-the-art space met the needs of the University’s increasingly dynamic student body and athletic programs.
In honor of Huntington’s centennial anniversary, Colgate Athletics organized a fitness challenge open to students, faculty and staff members. The challenge began on Oct. 18 and will end on Nov. 21 — the day Huntington’s cornerstone was laid in 1924. By the end of the month, participants must complete 30 workouts, which will be tracked using punch cards. Those who accomplish this goal will be entered into a raffle to win a set of Apple AirPods Pro.
Scattered across the walls of Huntington, community members will find informational posters about its long and diverse legacy on campus.
Over its 100 years, Huntington has a rich history of service to members of the Colgate community. Colgate suffered declining enrollment during World War II. By 1943, just over 100 men attended the University. The president of Colgate at the time, Everett Needham Case, negotiated with the military for a comprehensive Navy Flight Preparatory School at Colgate. Bolstered by student enthusiasm, Huntington began hosting military training for the war. Throughout the 1950s, Huntington was home to practices for the Colgate baseball team, which made a run to the College World Series in 1955 and was later disbanded in 1993. During the 1970s, Huntington hosted first-year registration, with most students making their first Colgate memories within the gymnasium walls. Huntington has also hosted student concerts featuring musical icons, including Louis Armstrong in 1956 and Bob Marley in 1972.
Vice President and Director of Athletics Yariv Amir ’01 — who spent many hours in the gym as captain of the men’s rowing team — highlighted the original building’s enduring importance and legacy on campus.
“Over the years, we’ve renovated parts of Huntington and complemented Huntington with new athletic facilities, but Huntington is the building that has been home to physical education, recreation and athletics for many generations of Colgate students and will continue to be that in Colgate’s third century,” Amir said.
Today Huntington is home to intercollegiate, club, intramural and recreational sports departments, offering community members a rowing training center, four racquetball courts, five squash courts, a martial arts workout area, a swimming pool, a rock wall, a sauna, a lifting area and locker rooms.
Despite the gymnasium’s relatively small size compared to facilities at larger schools, first-year golfer Jamison Bryant has found everything he needs at Huntington.
“With a wide variety of workout machines and sports equipment, Huntington has everything you could want for whatever you are training for, which is great,” Bryant said. “I have yet to have a moment where the gym could not provide me with the equipment I needed to complete a workout.”
As a first-year on the football team, Moe Werner spoke about his experience with school-scheduled workouts for athletics.
“I would say it is pretty cool how they try and plan times for all the teams around everyone’s schedule so that each sport has their own time slot when they can get in and lift together. Even when they do have to split between two teams, it’s usually a good experience of just everyone going to work,” Werner said.
Over the past 100 years, Huntington has adapted to meet the changing needs of each generation and stands today as a multifunctional space that supports diverse athletic interests.
Looking to the future, Amir hopes Huntington will stand as a historical landmark and a testament to Colgate’s commitment to nurturing athleticism and physical wellness. Amir is now finalizing plans for a new athletics quadrangle on campus, which he envisions will have the same longstanding impact that Huntington has had.
“I think of Huntington with the hope that we’ll design and build another building that will serve the next generations of Colgate students,” Amir said.
