Now that the Utah Jazz have moved out, Westminster College's Payne Gymnasium is losing ground.

Story by Travis K. Manning /May 31, 2002

 Printer-friendly version

NBA stars love Payne Gym's floor. "It may be the softest floor I've ever played on," says player John Stockton. (Courtesy of Giovale Library Archives, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah)

When Payne Gymnasium was built in 1928, no one would have imagined that the small-college gym in Salt Lake City would one day take on the role as practice court and home base for the National Basketball Association's Utah Jazz. Now, three years after the Jazz's departure to another gym, the basketball team has faded from title contention, and Westminster College is threatening to demolish its famed Gothic building.

 

Payne Gym in the 1930s (Courtesy of Giovale Library Archives, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah)

The Jazz moved from New Orleans to Salt Lake City in 1979 with little money, few connections in a new city, and no official practice site. Because the private Westminster College had dropped basketball and its entire collegiate athletic programs in 1978 for financial reasons, the school had an empty gym.

The Jazz offered free tickets in exchange for practice space, and the college accepted. "We were on the ropes," explains Stephen R. Morgan, the school's executive vice president and treasurer. "Community confidence was at an all-time low. When the Jazz came to us, they were a fairly new NBA franchise trying to make it, and it seemed like they were on a shoestring budget, too. Now, I'm not going to say all of our success came because of the Jazz, but our growth together has been an interesting phenomenon because, as they grew and matured and had success as a basketball team, so did Westminster as a college."

Frank Layden, long-time general manager and head coach of the Jazz, says his team brought Westminster visibility that helped save it from folding. "It was free advertising for the school," Layden says. "Every time a report went out nationally on the wires or TV people would come in here to interview players, those reports came out of Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah."

Now economically viable with a student body of 2,500, Westminster College plans to build a new facility diagonally across the campus from Payne. The Health and Wellness Center will house the nursing school and health sciences department, along with three full-court gyms, an indoor lap pool, hot tub, indoor track, weight room, locker rooms, and an aerobics studio. A science center will eventually replace Payne.

Demolition is years away. "We have no immediate plans to tear down Payne Gymnasium," Morgan says. "While it's true that our master plan suggests a new health-wellness facility and a new science center, which would probably mean that Payne would need to be demolished to make way for them, it could be many years before we see its demise."

 

(Courtesy Giovale Library Archives, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah)

Both Utah State University and the University of Utah converted their old gyms into recreation centers, but Westminster administrators and coaches believe more students will attend the school if they modernize its buildings.

"This college needs a new facility," says Tom Steinke, a former Westminster athletic director and men's basketball coach and now a volunteer assistant coach. "We're growing, and students are very much into physical fitness now. Good facilities attract students. This building is not going to attract anybody. Besides, I don't think Payne Gym has any historical significance."

Compared to today's behemoth college basketball arenas that seat 20,000 people, Payne Gym is an "old-school" gym that seats about 1,000. In 1929, when Westminster inaugurated Payne with a game against West High School, there were no NBA scouts, no TV contracts, no Nike swooshes on uniforms.

Attending a basketball game at Payne is like stepping back into time. All seats are close to the floor, the floorboards squeak when players run or walk past, kids run onto the court at halftime to practice jump shots, a single policeman patrols the entire venue, and, like a theater-in-the-round, fans are so close to the action that players can sweat right on them.

 

Mark Eaton and Coach Frank Layden in the early 1980s (Norm Perdue, courtesy Utah State Historical Society)

"Most guys playing for the Jazz when I was there [1982-94], came from small schools," says Mark Eaton, a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, "so it was comfortable; it was not like a big arena."

Thurl Bailey, who played eight seasons with the Jazz, agrees. "Payne Gym is like the old Salt [Lake] Palace. I played a lot of games in there, and when the Salt Palace was imploded [in 1994], a lot of memories went with it."

Not everyone waxes sentimental about the rustic amenities of Payne Gym: an old building, close-to-the-sidelines seating, squeaky floorboards, and old locker and shower facilities. Payne's original structure, designed by well-known Utah architect Walter E. Ware, was so small, "you could shoot a lay-up at one end of the gym, and your hind end would hit the heater as you came down," Steinke says. The original gym was only 84 feet long by 50 feet wide—the size of a junior-high court. A 1968 addition expanded the floor to 94 feet long, standard size for college and NBA courts. Its biggest asset is a soft floor.

Unlike most modern basketball floors—wood directly on concrete—Payne's floor provides a soft, springy sensation. The secret of Payne's flexible court, Steinke says, is in the sub-flooring. He witnessed the 1968 renovation and says the sub-flooring is maple wood laid over two-by-fours and alternately spaced every 18 inches.

 

Karl Malone in action (Norm Perdue, courtesy Utah State Historical Society)

"Payne Gym is where I got broken in as a rookie," says Karl Malone, the NBA's second all-time scorer. "It's where I got my start. I love the soft floor, and as an athlete, it's nice to work out on a floor that's not hard on your body." On the other hand, Malone says, nostalgia shouldn't override change. "I don't know if I would be sad to see it go if it was progress," he says. "It is an old gym. If they need to upgrade, then that's their deal."

The Utah Jazz's lease at Payne Gym ended in May 1999, when the team moved to the new Franklin-Covey practice facility in West Valley City with top-of-the-line weight and cardiovascular equipment, private locker rooms, a comfortable gym and training rooms, and staff offices.

In 1999 Westminster spent $250,000 upgrading Payne. Renovations made bathrooms handicapped-accessible, updated mechanical systems, resurfaced the floor, remodeled the fitness room and showers, changed carpeting and exercise equipment, and added another coach's office.

Despite MVP Malone's best efforts, the Jazz faltered in the playoffs that year, losing the conference semifinals to the Portland Trailblazers. The last time the Jazz played in the NBA Finals was in 1998, the last full year they played at Payne Gymnasium.

Travis K. Manning is a freelance writer and a teacher living in Salt Lake City.

Read Today's News

Recent Stories