{"id":786,"date":"2011-01-13T15:50:38","date_gmt":"2011-01-13T19:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org\/archives\/?p=786"},"modified":"2011-01-13T15:50:38","modified_gmt":"2011-01-13T19:50:38","slug":"johnston-gym-articles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org\/archives\/encyclopedia\/johnston-gym-articles","title":{"rendered":"Johnston Gym Articles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Articles on Johnston Gym<\/span><\/p>\n

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“Wildcats Conclude Season, Win Final Home Game” from The Mecklenburg Gazette, 1989<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“So Long, Johnston Gym; Davidson Closing Memorable Old Arena” from The Charlotte Observer<\/em>, 1989<\/a><\/p>\n

Great Moments in Johnston Gym Basketball History<\/a><\/p>\n

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Even though they ended the season with the worst record in school history, the Davidson basketball team finished on a positive note.\u00a0 A last-second loss at home, a big win in Johnston Gym’s last game, and a well-played defeat on the road foretold of better seasons to come for the Wildcats.\u00a0 Next year will open a new era, in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

Saturday’s game versus Central Florida was an appropriate one to close the Johnston Gym era for the Wildcats.\u00a0 Davidson never trailed and too a 36-30 halftime lead when Edward Gaines scored with four seconds left.\u00a0 Clutch free-throw shooting put the game away, however, as the Cats outscored the Knights the rest of the way for a 75-64 victory.\u00a0 The squad’s 7-24 final record set a school record for losses, but next season promises to be better.\u00a0 The team only losses one senior to graduation and will move into the new 6,000-seat Belk Arena next year.\u00a0 The new basketball facility will be an improvement for fans and players alike, but the memories and traditions of Johnston Gym will also carry over.<\/p>\n

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Today, Johnston Gym sits there on the Davidson campus, antiquated and worn by its 40 years.\u00a0 It is a relic of a time when the jitterbug and the two-handed set shot set pulses pounding.<\/p>\n

Charles Worth Johnston of Carrabus County, a Davidson grad and cotton manufacturer for whom the building was named, has been long in his grave.\u00a0 Next Fall, the Wildcats move across the street and head into the ’90s\u00a0 playing in 6,000-seat Belk Arena inside the new Baker Sports Complex.<\/p>\n

Johnston Gym’s glory days were conceived with the first game Lefty Driesell ever coached.\u00a0 That was in December 1960, when fourth ranked Wake Forest came into Johnston with coach Bones McKinney, All-American Len Chapell, and playmaker Billy Packer.\u00a0 Davidson knocked off the Deacons 65-59, and it was easy to believe the Wildcats might never lose again in Johnston Gym.\u00a0 They did.\u00a0 The next game.\u00a0 To Catawba 54-52.<\/p>\n

But the spirit of Johnston – already being called a little gym – was born.<\/p>\n

The next season, Davidson did become unbeatable on campus – a string that lasted almost a decade – as they won 59 straight games in Johnston Gym from 1962-1971.\u00a0 Those teams under Driesell and later Terry Holland – the first recruit Driesell signed in 1960 – first team All-Americans in Fred Hetzel, Dick Snyder, and Mike Maloy.<\/p>\n

But it couldn’t last.\u00a0 When Holland left in 1974, the program faltered.\u00a0 Gyms don’t have winning streaks.\u00a0 Coaches and players do.\u00a0 Davidson endured 11 straight losing seasons, still going 45-29 on campus against the dregs of its schedule.<\/p>\n

Johnston Gym’s brightest light in that time was John Gerdy (’79), a 6-5 wing who set the school scoring record with 2,483 points.\u00a0 Now Gerdy and the others have come and gone, and so has an era.\u00a0 Now most of the games are back on campus.\u00a0 The 1986 team even went 12-0 in Johnston and continued a 19-game winning streak into the next season.<\/p>\n

Lights out Johnston Gym.\u00a0 It’s time to move on.<\/p>\n

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