UCLA teams compete in storied athletic venues
By Kevin Bowman
July 22, 2013 12:00 a.m.
Pauley Pavilion has served as one of the most iconic sporting facilities on UCLA’s campus for nearly 50 years, and is considered one of the most historic college basketball arenas in the country. This largely has to do with UCLA men’s basketball’s success under coach John Wooden in the 1960s and 1970s. This success, when UCLA won seven straight NCAA titles from 1967 to 1973, corresponded with the opening of Pauley Pavilion as the basketball team’s new venue in 1965. Along with men’s basketball, Pauley Pavilion also plays host to the UCLA women’s basketball, women’s gymnastics, and men’s and women’s volleyball.
The arena, named after University of California Regent Edwin W. Pauley whose donations helped fund it, underwent renovations recently, and was closed from 2011 to 2012. It reopened in fall 2012 after the $136 million in renovations were completed, adding a larger concourse area around the stadium, new food options, more restrooms, a UCLA team store, updated locker rooms, an HD scoreboard and additional seating. In October 2012, a statue of Wooden was unveiled outside Pauley Pavilion.
The John Wooden Center serves as UCLA’s student gym, complete with treadmills, ellipticals, free weights, racquetball courts, basketball courts and a number of instructional and fitness classes. Collins Court, the Wooden Center’s basketball courts, played host to the UCLA men’s and women’s volleyball teams as well as the women’s basketball team in 2011 while Pauley Pavilion was undergoing renovation. The women’s volleyball team won the NCAA title during its season playing in the Wooden Center. Collins Court is also the location of daily pickup basketball games and intramural basketball games.
Named for longtime UCLA track coach, trainer and athlete Elvin C. Drake, Drake Stadium hosts the men’s and women’s soccer teams as well as the track and field team. The stadium, which can hold approximately 11,700 fans, became the home field for track and field in 1969, with the soccer teams calling it home starting in 2000. While competing at Drake Stadium, the men’s track and field team has won six NCAA championships, the women’s track and field team has won three outdoor titles and the men’s soccer team won the 2002 national championship.
Home of the UCLA men’s and women’s tennis teams, the L.A. Tennis Center has served as the venue for several professional and international events. Most notably, the L.A. Tennis Center hosted the tennis events for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In addition to the Olympics, the L.A. Tennis Center has also hosted the L.A. Open, which is part of the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. Opened in 1984, prior to the Olympics, the L.A. Tennis Center can hold 10,000 spectators. It has hosted the NCAA championships four times, and since the L.A. Tennis Center opened, UCLA men’s tennis has won two national titles, in 1984 and 2005, and women’s tennis has won one, in 2008.
The Spieker Aquatics Center is the home pool for UCLA’s swim and dive team and men’s and women’s water polo. Opened in 2009, the aquatics center was named after Tod and Catherine Spieker. Tod Spieker swam for the Bruins from 1968 to 1971. In its relatively short history, the Spieker Aquatics Center has already hosted its fair share of prominent competitions. In 2010, the women’s water polo Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Tournament was held there. The following year, Spieker Aquatics hosted the men’s version of the tournament, as well as the 2011 AT&T; National Diving Championship. The aquatics center was also the site of a training game played between the USA and Hungarian men’s water polo national teams in 2012 in preparation for the Olympics later that year.
The home of the UCLA softball team, Easton Stadium, sits on the same site as softball’s old stadium, Sunset Field, where the Bruins started playing in 1979. Easton Stadium opened in 1994 with a seating capacity of more than 1,300 and underwent renovations from 2004 to 2005. In 1996, the U.S. national softball team used the stadium to train for the Olympics in Atlanta. While they have played at Easton Stadium, the Bruins have won four national championships, with the most recent coming in 2010.
Located about two miles off campus, Jackie Robinson Stadium gets its name from one of baseball’s most famous players. Jackie Robinson played for the UCLA baseball team while he attended UCLA from 1939 to 1941. Beyond just naming the stadium after him, the stadium also features a statue of Robinson, and on April 14 of this year, UCLA unveiled a new commemorative mural of Robinson. Opened in 1981, the stadium can hold about 1,800 people and is the home field for UCLA baseball, which recently won its first national title. The Bruins have reached the College World Series three out of the past four years while playing at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Rose Bowl is not only one of the most famous stadiums a UCLA team plays in, but it is also arguably one of the most famous stadiums in all of college football. Completed in 1922, the Rose Bowl has been the home field for UCLA football since 1982. Its 91,000 seats have allowed many fans to take in some of the most memorable moments in sports history, including the annual Rose Bowl games, the five Super Bowls it has hosted, the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. It has also been the site of the college football national championship game three times and will be for a fourth time in 2014. Starting in 2015, the Rose Bowl will host a semifinal game for the newly established College Football Playoff.
Located in Pasadena, 30 miles from UCLA’s campus, the Rose Bowl has seen the Bruins fall from being the No. 5 team in the nation in 1982 to finishing ninth in the Pac-10 in 2010 before winning the Pac-12 South Division title the past two seasons.
Compiled by Kevin Bowman, Bruin Sports senior staff.
