History: Rhody Home Games In Providence?

[Puck Frovidence]

I've often heard that in the 70s (and maybe the 80s?), URI would play a number of regular season "home" games in Providence. (The picture above is URI/St. Johns at the Civic Center from 1976) I have heard anecdotally that it was where "big games" would be played, as well as maybe being part of a regular weekend schedule where weeknight games would be at Keaney and weekend games in Providence (or some variation like that). The season-by-season pages at CBB reference list all home games in the 70s as being at Keaney, but a few of them have jpegs of actual schedules from the time, and the notations on those indicate nearly half of the home games were held at the Providence Civic Center at some point.

I was wondering if anyone has more specifics about this...when it started, how it actually worked, how/why it ended. Were games only held at the CC, or did they have them earlier at the Rhode Island Auditorium? Were they well attended? Were they more (or less) likely to be carried on local (or national) TV? I'm just interested; like I say, there's reference to it in lots of places but no real solid details. I'd love to hear about any sources people have or have found, or firsthand experiences from back then.

[ramster]

Puck,
URI moved some games to the Providence Civic Center so that they could draw bigger crowds and therefore attract higher caliber teams to R.I. to play. URI did not play all of their games in the PCC.

When we did have games there the school often provided busses at no cost for students to make the round trip.

In 1976 URI played #1 ranked Michigan with Ricky Green, Phil Hubbard, Steve Grote in the 1st round of the Industrial National Bank Classic at the PCC. Industrial National Bank became Fleet Financial and later taken over by Bank of America.
PC played Texas in the other first round game.
In the 1st game many PC fans came early to get a look at Freshman Sly Williams who they lost on the infamous Amtrak Train ride from New Haven to Providence but Sly got off at the Kingston Train Station and enrolled at URI. This infuriated Dave Gavitt and PC Alumni.
Sly scored 32 points against the #1 ranked Michigan Wolverines. PC fans booed Sly at the start of the game but Sly got more and more cheers as the game went in. Gavitt was not cheering.

Sly was amazing. Excellent left handed shooter with superb accuracy around 10-15 feet from the hoop. Sly could also hit from long range. Excellent rebounder, passer and defender.

Sly made the All Tournament Team as just a Freshman.



https://www.google.com/amp/s/vault.si.c ... dly-little

[section(105)]

........it was a mistake.......no?

[Rhodysk]

I absolutely hated attending URI games at the PCC. From everything to paying for parking to sitting in those horrible seats.
Pictures of Pee Cee all over and those awful stickers to cover the floor.
At the time it was the only way big schools would play us. Seen some really amazing talent come in. Just never felt like a home court advantage.
Even the games against Pee Cee where it was URI home game had Pee Cee logos on the court.

I always said we should forever be great full for the Ryan Center. On campus, comfort, free parking makes the Ryan center amazing.
I do wish more people would go to games but the games where it’s packed is an amazing atmosphere and experience.
So many other schools would love to have an arena on campus like the Ryan Center. Yes I’m talking about you Pee Cee.

[ram1980]

The only thing I remember was taking the from school stopping at the store on rte 2 and piling out of the bus on the west exchange off ramp because of traffic..

[rhodyrudder]

Rhody v Pee-C games were not allowed to be held in Kingston any longer once it was built.
Some years they were called "neutral" site games, but from at least the mid-80's until 2002,
they were home-and-home, with the designated home team switching every year.
Rhody home games were odd years, and Friars home games were even years...
(Note that the 2020 game could have been on Smith Hill, but they scheduled FDU instead.)
Sometime in the 90's, they painted the Friars logo on the court, but kept the original sections,
with the Civic Center logo, for Rhody home games or the NCAA Tournament rounds held there.
But when Dunkin' Donuts purchased the naming rights, they said we couldn't use them any longer.
So the last Rhody "home" game there, in 2002, saw the Rams "host" the Friars and the logo at
midcourt was their hideous mascot.
2003 finally saw the Friars travel back to Kingston for the first time in about 30 years.
They stayed in a hotel in Newport (!) and iirc, a big snowstorm threatened to close the bridges.
They would then have been forced to drive around the Bay, back up through Providence, to get
to the game. But the state was able to get the bridges clear, and a massive crowd saw Rhody
win a thrilling game by 10 points. I'm thinking 87-77 was the final. Good times!

[bigappleram]

During the Harrick years we played a lot of great games at PCC. Plus Jim was earning a piece of the gate so he wanted more butts in seats than he could get at Keaney. My all time favorite Rhody game at PCC was the 1987 game when Silk, Tommy and Co just ran the Friars off the court. Think we won by 20+. Chiesa was their coach.

[section(105)]

......Gordie Chiesa......was that the worst ever PC hire......?

[bigappleram]

Him and Keno

[RIKen822]

It was always funny for the URI-PC game when it was Rhody's home game. Inevitably there would be many PC fans complaining that URI fans were sitting in their season tix seats for the game. They couldn't understand why!!!

[Rhode_Island_Red]

It was always funny for the URI-PC game when it was Rhody's home game. Inevitably there would be many PC fans complaining that URI fans were sitting in their season tix seats for the game. They couldn't understand why!!!

Similarly, it used to piss me off when mental-hospital inmates were in prime seats in the Ryan Center. One year, a couple of them were acting like typical Fryuh Faih-weathah Faithful — swearing their heads off. Little Red, having had enough, told them, “HEY! SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!” To everyone’s surprise, they did.

I still think that anyone who gives his tickets to anyone associated with the mental hospital should have his season-ticket privileges revoked permanently.

[wpbrown8267]

for me, the memory that stands out the most for Rhody having 'home' games at the PCC was in 1996, UMASS came into town #1 with Camby, Travieso, Padilla, Bright, Dingle. Even though I thought it was BS that URI had to play PC up there as a home game every other year, that place was loud as hell for the UMASS game...13,000+ i think

I think my dad hated UMASS cause of Calipari maybe more then he hated PC at the time. I think it was on ESPN and the game was at 9pm, becasue I remember on the drive up with the old man, he said 'hey I cleared it with your mother, you arent going to school tomorrow since tonights game will end late'. Rhody lost 64-59...they always got it to a one possession game, but couldnt get the lead late. I hated Donta Bright even more after that game, always thought he was cheap and played a little dirty

[URIFIJI]

I kind of liked those games. Remember URI was playing their home games at Keaney - max 3500 capacity. They had to pay Daddy-O some $$$ and where they needed additional cash from the tickets - they played at PCC. Some really big games - I have fond memories of some big ones Xavier / UMASS. I think Lamar's first game was at the PCC vs TCU - we were tied near the end of the game. The rest of the team just spread the floor and Lamar was 1 on 1 from the beyond the key and took his man and drove to the hoop with a smooth finger roll finish to win the game. Lamar was all smiles.

The Ryan Center is without a doubt a much better home court advantage but having the pregame and postgame options that Providence provides - it was nice to get rev'd up prior to the game.

[Rhode_Island_Red]

for me, the memory that stands out the most for Rhody having 'home' games at the PCC was in 1996, UMASS came into town #1 with Camby, Travieso, Padilla, Bright, Dingle. Even though I thought it was BS that URI had to play PC up there as a home game every other year, that place was loud as hell for the UMASS game...13,000+ i think

I think my dad hated UMASS cause of Calipari maybe more then he hated PC at the time. I think it was on ESPN and the game was at 9pm, becasue I remember on the drive up with the old man, he said 'hey I cleared it with your mother, you arent going to school tomorrow since tonights game will end late'. Rhody lost 64-59...they always got it to a one possession game, but couldnt get the lead late. I hated Donta Bright even more after that game, always thought he was cheap and played a little dirty

IIRC, Damont Collins came up big that night. Damont was one of my favorites — he played much bigger and tougher than his size, generously listed at 6-7, 220.

[RIrugger01]

Back when I was a photographer for the Cigar I would have to go up to the games at the pcc and leave at halftime to get back to the Union. I’d then spend a few hours processing the film as quick as I could to get the shots to the reporters. First time it was around 2am when I got done. Couldn’t figure out how to get out of the union because the main doors were all locked. Someone eventually showed me the back way out. Seats at pcc were great. Sat right on the court(butt actually on the floor) opposite the cheer leaders. Too bad the team wasn’t better.

[Billyboy78]

I've often heard that in the 70s (and maybe the 80s?), URI would play a number of regular season "home" games in Providence. (The picture above is URI/St. Johns at the Civic Center from 1976) I have heard anecdotally that it was where "big games" would be played, as well as maybe being part of a regular weekend schedule where weeknight games would be at Keaney and weekend games in Providence (or some variation like that). The season-by-season pages at CBB reference list all home games in the 70s as being at Keaney, but a few of them have jpegs of actual schedules from the time, and the notations on those indicate nearly half of the home games were held at the Providence Civic Center at some point.

I was wondering if anyone has more specifics about this...when it started, how it actually worked, how/why it ended. Were games only held at the CC, or did they have them earlier at the Rhode Island Auditorium? Were they well attended? Were they more (or less) likely to be carried on local (or national) TV? I'm just interested; like I say, there's reference to it in lots of places but no real solid details. I'd love to hear about any sources people have or have found, or firsthand experiences from back then.

23 in that pic is Jiggy Williamson, my all time favorite Ram. Stanley Wright is on the right.

[neil]

Great thread! We did get Washington State and DePaul to come to Keaney but most of the quality games were in Providence. Best dunk game was when we beat the Friars 86-42. I had an usher stand next to my seat because I was giving Mullaney? to much flack. For you trivia guys, I sponsored a contest on the chat board as to who would score the last points at Keaney. I was a Dino Daniels foul shot. Great memories !

[rhodyruckus]

My first game at the PCC was 1998 vs Kenyon Martin and Cincinnati, don't remember if I took the bus up or got a ride from campus. A week in advance sitting at 2-0 with this to be Cincy's first regular season game, it seemed like a dream matchup between Odom and Martin. However the previous Saturday Rhody got curb-stomped by a mediocre PC team 87-63, and the Cincy game did not go much better (70-53 loss). The first signs that Odom would not offset the losses of Tyson and Cat. Although the team rallied to win 7 of their last 9 including the famous Temple buzzer-beater to get into the tourney.

The only part I liked about the civic center games was the quick walk from Trinity Brewhouse across to the game.

[steviep123]

I never liked the URI "home" game at the dunkin dump. Saw many good games there though both vs. PC as well as other opponents, including Texas in one of Penders' first seasons there. While the games were exciting, I'm much happier with the Ryan Center and would much rather play there.

That 1993 game vs. UMass that went down to the wire with URI winning a close one was one of the best - a close 71-68 win over #19 UMass. One of the loudest I've ever heard at the dunk, but when Damont Collins if memory serves went to the line to shoot free throws late, you could hear a pin drop, followed by huge cheers after each shot fell. It gave Rhody the lead for good.

[Billyboy78]

Great thread! We did get Washington State and DePaul to come to Keaney but most of the quality games were in Providence. Best dunk game was when we beat the Friars 86-42. I had an usher stand next to my seat because I was giving Mullaney? to much flack. For you trivia guys, I sponsored a contest on the chat board as to who would score the last points at Keaney. I was a Dino Daniels foul shot. Great memories !

I was at that game too. It was in '79, so Gavitt was the PC coach then.

[Obadiah]

Here Is what I found in my data base on URI at the PCC. Sorry for the eye test. Note seasons are sequenced by column descending, but in three separate pages. Our last "home" game there was a 71-59 loss to PC on Dec. 1, 2001 in Jim Baron's first season . The Ryan Center opened the next season, 2002-03.

1976-77			        1979-80*			1981-82			        1985-86	
Record: 13-13			Record: 15-13			Record: 10-17                   Record: 9-19	
									
LaSalle	         4,290	        Connecticut	7,136		Rutgers	        5,107	        No home games at PCC
Providence	12,150		Old Dominion	5,691		West Virginia	2,426			
Syracuse	 7,642		Syracuse	8,770		Pittsburgh	3,548		1986-87	
Connecticut	 6,207		St. John’s	5,710		St. Bona.	3,720		Record: 20-10	
			        Providence	9,142		Duquesne	3,103			
1977-78			        St. Joseph’s	3,629					        Rutgers	     2,604
Record: 24-7						        1982-83				
			        1980-81**			Record: 9-19			1987-88	
Connecticut	5,194		Record: 21-8						        Record: 28-7	
South Carolina	6,132					        Holy Cross	2,202			
Wake Forest	3,257		Weber State	4,880					        Providence  13,005
Providence	12,150		Duquesne	5,303		1983-84			        GW	     5,450
			        Connecticut	7,765		Record: 6-22			Rutgers	     7,124
1978-79			        Pittsburgh	7,799						
Record: 20-9			Holy Cross	9,790		Providence	7,238		1988-89	
			        St. Bona	6,593		West Virginia	3,336		Record: 13-15	
Brigham Young	7,011		LaSalle	        6,994						
LaSalle	        7,646					        1984-85                         Brown        3,126
Detroit	        8,016					        Record: 8-20			U. of DC     5,912
Providence     11,716									
Connecticut	8,469					        West Virginia	2,669			

* Last season played home and home series with PC
** Last season played home and home series with UConn

                              **************************************************************

1989-90			        1993-94			        1996-97			        S. Francisco 7,867
Record: 15-13			Record: 11-16			Record: 20-10                   La Salle     6,613
									                        GW           8,670
Providence	10,107		Providence	13,031		Minnesota	 9,266		Temple	     8,893
Rutgers	         7,124		Wake Forest	 6,975		St. Joseph’s	 7,368		UMass	    10,771
			        Massachusetts	 7,820		Massachusetts	12,931			

1990-91										
Record: 11-17			1994-95			        1997-98			        1999-2000	
			        Record: 7-20			Record: 25-9			Record: 5-25	
No homes games at PCC									
			        Arizona	        5,563		Providence	12,681		Tulsa	     4,317
1991-92			        Massachusetts  13,100		UNLV	         6,429		Providence   8,906
Record: 22-10			GW	        4,452		Ohio	         5,571		Xavier	     4,583
			        Rutgers	        4,857		Massachusetts	12,412		St. Joseph’s 3,438
Providence	12,285		UAB	        5,052		California	 6,536		Temple	     5,349
Texas	        12,022					        Temple	         8,485          UMass	     5,335
			        1995-96			        Xavier	         6,229			
1992-93			        Record: 20-14							
Record: 19-11									                2000-01	
			        Providence     12,543		1998-99			        Record: 7-23	
Massachusetts	12,512		Va. Common.	4,053		Record: 21-13				
			        Xavier	        5,655					        Xavier	     4,113
			        Massachusetts  13,106		Cincinnati	 7,719		UMass	     4,355
			        Texas	        6,020		Wisconsin	 7,021		GW	     3,255


                                ***************************************************************
										
2001-02										
Record: 8-20										
										
Providence	6,095	

[RF1]

Saw many a URI "home" game at the PCC back in the old days versus the following opponents - UConn (ECAC-NE finals), PC, Holy Cross, Syracuse, St John's, Texas, UMass, Wake Forest, Arizona, UAB, Rutgers, St Joe's, Xavier, GW, Charleston (NIT), Minnesota, UNLV, California, Temple, Cincinnati, Wisconsin, and Tulsa. Used to buy the PCC mini pack in the 90's for all the games there.

[ramsman75]

I kind of liked those games. Remember URI was playing their home games at Keaney - max 3500 capacity. They had to pay Daddy-O some $$$ and where they needed additional cash from the tickets - they played at PCC. Some really big games - I have fond memories of some big ones Xavier / UMASS. I think Lamar's first game was at the PCC vs TCU - we were tied near the end of the game. The rest of the team just spread the floor and Lamar was 1 on 1 from the beyond the key and took his man and drove to the hoop with a smooth finger roll finish to win the game. Lamar was all smiles.

The Ryan Center is without a doubt a much better home court advantage but having the pregame and postgame options that Providence provides - it was nice to get rev'd up prior to the game.

Just to add to the memory...wasn't there but watched on TV...the man guarding Lamar was TCU All American and future NBA player Lee Nailon... most memorable was the smile on Lamar,s face as he approached Nailon at the foul line and with one quick move went around and dropped the finger roll... knew then we had a live one

[neil]

Before the dunk in the sixties, the rams had home and homes with Fordham, St. John’s and Manhattan at Keaney. Anyone with me at the great rainout against St. John’s?

[wpbrown8267]

for me, the memory that stands out the most for Rhody having 'home' games at the PCC was in 1996, UMASS came into town #1 with Camby, Travieso, Padilla, Bright, Dingle. Even though I thought it was BS that URI had to play PC up there as a home game every other year, that place was loud as hell for the UMASS game...13,000+ i think

I think my dad hated UMASS cause of Calipari maybe more then he hated PC at the time. I think it was on ESPN and the game was at 9pm, becasue I remember on the drive up with the old man, he said 'hey I cleared it with your mother, you arent going to school tomorrow since tonights game will end late'. Rhody lost 64-59...they always got it to a one possession game, but couldnt get the lead late. I hated Donta Bright even more after that game, always thought he was cheap and played a little dirty

IIRC, Damont Collins came up big that night. Damont was one of my favorites — he played much bigger and tougher than his size, generously listed at 6-7, 220.

I think that was the 93 game at the dunk, Damont was early 90's if my memory serves me right. Although completely agree with you, played a lot bigger . Him and ARD were very similar, small PF playing a lot bigger, both were pretty tough too

[Rhode_Island_Red]

You're right, Damont graduated in 1993. Antonio had a better handle -- in fact, he used to help bring the ball up against a press -- but Damont was more like a little bull in a china shop.

[Sweep The Leg]

You're right, Damont graduated in 1993. Antonio had a better handle -- in fact, he used to help bring the ball up against a press -- but Damont was more like a little bull in a china shop.

I actually took a charge from Damont in a pickup basketball game at Mackal on a fast break. While it was happening I said "Oh, shit." loud enough to get a good laugh from everyone. He missed the dunk, got the rebound, and dunked it for real while I was still on the ground. Good times.

[Smokinjimit2]

We played Texas when Penders was coaching. We blew the out. Loudest I’ve ever heard the civic center was when I believe Samuel got fouled on a dunk. Place went crazy.

[Rammgr]

In the 70s we played 2 games at the Dunk each year. Each had a home game. In ‘78 we played 3. Split during the regular season and beat PC in the ECAC final to win the automatic bid to the Dance when there were only 32 teams

[UCH21377]

Puck,
URI moved some games to the Providence Civic Center so that they could draw bigger crowds and therefore attract higher caliber teams to R.I. to play. URI did not play all of their games in the PCC.

When we did have games there the school often provided busses at no cost for students to make the round trip.

In 1976 URI played #1 ranked Michigan with Ricky Green, Phil Hubbard, Steve Grote in the 1st round of the Industrial National Bank Classic at the PCC. Industrial National Bank became Fleet Financial and later taken over by Bank of America.
PC played Texas in the other first round game.
In the 1st game many PC fans came early to get a look at Freshman Sly Williams who they lost on the infamous Amtrak Train ride from New Haven to Providence but Sly got off at the Kingston Train Station and enrolled at URI. This infuriated Dave Gavitt and PC Alumni.
Sly scored 32 points against the #1 ranked Michigan Wolverines. PC fans booed Sly at the start of the game but Sly got more and more cheers as the game went in. Gavitt was not cheering.

Sly was amazing. Excellent left handed shooter with superb accuracy around 10-15 feet from the hoop. Sly could also hit from long range. Excellent rebounder, passer and defender.

Sly made the All Tournament Team as just a Freshman.

Saw Sly play in HS. CT and New Haven in particular was a basketball hotbed back in those days.



https://www.google.com/amp/s/vault.si.c ... dly-little

[Billyboy78]

Puck,
URI moved some games to the Providence Civic Center so that they could draw bigger crowds and therefore attract higher caliber teams to R.I. to play. URI did not play all of their games in the PCC.

When we did have games there the school often provided busses at no cost for students to make the round trip.

In 1976 URI played #1 ranked Michigan with Ricky Green, Phil Hubbard, Steve Grote in the 1st round of the Industrial National Bank Classic at the PCC. Industrial National Bank became Fleet Financial and later taken over by Bank of America.
PC played Texas in the other first round game.
In the 1st game many PC fans came early to get a look at Freshman Sly Williams who they lost on the infamous Amtrak Train ride from New Haven to Providence but Sly got off at the Kingston Train Station and enrolled at URI. This infuriated Dave Gavitt and PC Alumni.
Sly scored 32 points against the #1 ranked Michigan Wolverines. PC fans booed Sly at the start of the game but Sly got more and more cheers as the game went in. Gavitt was not cheering.

Sly was amazing. Excellent left handed shooter with superb accuracy around 10-15 feet from the hoop. Sly could also hit from long range. Excellent rebounder, passer and defender.

Sly made the All Tournament Team as just a Freshman.

Saw Sly play in HS. CT and New Haven in particular was a basketball hotbed back in those days.



https://www.google.com/amp/s/vault.si.c ... dly-little

And then the Big East was born...

[Rhode_Island_Red]

I remember that game against Detroit in 1979. Detroit had future NBA players Earl Cureton, Terry Duerod and (IIRC) John Long. Sly went off for 44, and he scored 28 of our last 32 points. Detroit couldn’t do anything with him if they threw a net over him.

[neil]

Red, I think we lost that game by 1 or 2 points.

[Billyboy78]

Red, I think we lost that game by 1 or 2 points.

By 1 in overtime.

[reef]

During the Harrick years we played a lot of great games at PCC. Plus Jim was earning a piece of the gate so he wanted more butts in seats than he could get at Keaney. My all time favorite Rhody game at PCC was the 1987 game when Silk, Tommy and Co just ran the Friars off the court. Think we won by 20+. Chiesa was their coach.

This was a great game that I attended loved every second of it

[Ramtastico]

Didn’t Dick Vitale coach Detroit then?

[ramster]

Vitale left in1977.

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

As most know, the atmosphere at the Civic Center sucked. This was for many reasons over the years:
1) URI was bad for most of the 1980's.
2) Seats were too far from the court...not cozy like Keaney.
3) Lack of student section. Most students weren't coming to Providence for a random URI vs. Rutgers game in February.
4) Too much PC stuff everywhere.
5) It was too big. 2,600-3,600 fans in that arena gave bad Rhody teams no homecourt advantage.

The number of times I can remember thinking "this is great" are few and far between. (When Bryan Mitchell got into the fight, that arena got loud and intense. I do remember that.) PC and UMASS (in the hey day) were the only times it would fill up. I realize that the only way that they could get Wisconsin and Cincy was to play there...and it was about getting TV exposure for those games. But playing at the PCC was not a good thing for the program.

My positive...Caserta Pizza before the game!

[Running Ram]

During the Harrick years we played a lot of great games at PCC. Plus Jim was earning a piece of the gate so he wanted more butts in seats than he could get at Keaney. My all time favorite Rhody game at PCC was the 1987 game when Silk, Tommy and Co just ran the Friars off the court. Think we won by 20+. Chiesa was their coach.

Great game! I attended with my dad and a friend, very fond memories. I was just a kid, so I didn't really know the feeling, but I think it was like being high, floating out of the center after that game. My dad, my friend and I had a hard laugh when we overheard a very angry friah's fan saying "Chiesa couldn't run a deli!" Good times!