50 years of the Convo: A keeper of OHIO memories, moments and milestones
Ohio University is often referred to as “a singular place” — made up of many little places that are held near and dear to the hundreds of thousands of members of the Bobcat family. For the past 50 years, one of those places has emerged as a gateway to OHIO’s Athens campus, a stunning focal point for aerial views of the community and a keeper of memories shared among those who have experienced this singular place.
It’s been called “The Roundhouse on Richland,” “The Big Beanie” and, of course, “The Convo,” but nearly every student and graduate who has experienced Ohio University’s Athens campus over the past 50 years has called the Convocation Center home — in one way, shape or form.
As the Convocation Center celebrates its 50th anniversary, here’s a look at the many faces of this iconic OHIO building:
Pictured is the cover of the Convocation Center opening game program from Dec. 3, 1968. Photo courtesy of the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections/Ohio University Libraries
AN ANCHOR OF OHIO’S ATHLETICS MALL
Built, first and foremost, as an arena for athletics, the 13,080-seat Convocation Center serves as the home of OHIO’s basketball, volleyball and wrestling teams.
The Convocation Center’s sports history began on Dec. 3, 1968, when the OHIO Men’s Basketball Team came from behind to beat Indiana, 80-70. In early February, members of the 1968-69 team returned to the Convocation Center to participate in Ohio Athletics’ Convo 50th Celebration. Click here to read memories those Bobcats shared about their time playing for Ohio University and at the Convo and to see video footage of the first basketball season in this OHIO landmark.
Whether you pursued your sports dreams on the court or nurtured your Bobcat pride in the stands or as a member of the O Zone, you are part of a 50-year legacy of OHIO athletic achievement and support.
Pictured are three of the Convocation Center’s current residents, Danielle Beekman, Eliza Zulch and Rachel Agosta. The residential rooms within the Convo have changed quite bit in recent years after a renovation project removed the structures that once divided the rooms’ sleeping area from the study area, creating wide open rooms that allow residents to move their beds and their desks. Photo by Dana Wright, BA ’09, MPA ’11
CONVO LIVING
The Convocation Center houses more than OHIO athletics programs. For the past 50 years, 95 Richland Ave. has been the literal home to the approximately 12,600 Bobcats who have resided in the rooms that occupy the outer perimeter of the Convo’s third floor.
The residence hall inside the Convocation Center opened in the fall of 1969, welcoming the first 252 students into the building’s 63 quad-style rooms. Among the building’s first residents was Randy Minnick, BSME ’72, who moved into the building his sophomore year.
A member of OHIO’s Track and Field Team, Minnick was drawn to the Convo by its proximity to the University’s athletic facilities as well as the engineering school. He recalled living among many other student-athletes and having convenient access to Grover Center for early morning training and indoor practice.
“Oh, it was exciting,” Minnick said of living in the new building. “We had it better than anyone else on the West Green. … It was brand new, so everything about it was very nice.”
In addition to having the newest living quarters on campus, Minnick noted the unique access he and his fellow Convo dwellers had to the events that occurred inside the building’s arena.
“Every time there was a basketball game, we had these shortcuts where we’d just cut through the back doors,” Minnick said. “We could end up with some of the best seats in the house, and they had a very good basketball team when I was there, too.”
Thirty years after earning his OHIO diploma, Minnick returned to the Convocation Center—this time to see his daughter, Monica Chapman, BSJ ’02, receive her OHIO diploma. Minnick and his wife, Joyce, BSED ’73, still travel to Athens to visit with their daughter and their grandchildren, often making time to take in a basketball game.
Among the many legendary musicians to perform at OHIO’s Convocation Center were Diana Ross and the Supremes, who held one of the first concerts in this new building on Jan. 18, 1969. Photo courtesy of the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections/Ohio University Libraries
MOUNTAINS OF MUSIC MEMORIES
During the late ’60s and 1970s, and more sporadically in the years that followed, the Convocation Center was a mecca for music lovers, bringing musicians of every genre to the relatively small Athens, Ohio.
It all began on Homecoming Weekend 1968 when American folk rock duo Simon and Garfunkel held the first concert in the Convo before a capacity audience. The list of artists that followed is extensive and includes Diana Ross and the Supremes (January 1969); Led Zeppelin (May 1969); The Who (November 1969); James Brown (November 1970); the Ike and Tina Turner Revue (October 1972); the Beach Boys (November 1975); Styx, Kansas and Foreigner (1979-80); Blue Oyster Cult (1980-81); Charlie Daniels (November 1983); Rusted Root (October 1997); Jason Mraz and Michelle Branch (October 2003); and B.o.B. (May 2011).
For Randy Minnick, who resided in the Convo during the 1969-70 academic year, the musicians who performed in the arena, particularly on Homecoming Weekends, are some of his favorite memories.
“That’s what we did. We ran around on weekends to go to concerts and places, but it all started there at the Convo,” Minnick said, noting that the secret access Convo residents had to the arena made attending musical performances all that easier. “We didn’t even have to put our coats on. I don’t know that it was legal, but we got in to about everything we wanted to.”
Emily Trzeciak presents her research to (from left) then-Vice President for Research and Creative Activity and Dean of the Graduate College and current Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Joe Shields and Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis at the 2018 Student Research and Creative Activity Expo. Photo by Ben Wirtz Siegel, BSVC ’02
A CENTER FOR CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY EVENTS
Over the course of its 50 years, the Convocation Center has played host to a plethora of events that serve both the University community and the greater Athens community.
Parents from around the Southeast Ohio region routinely visit the Convo to watch their children compete in high school basketball tournaments and youth wrestling matches. Athens County Children Services has hosted its annual Kidfest on the Athens campus for the past 32 years. The event’s first 27 years were spent at the Convocation Center, relocating in 2015 to Ohio University’s new Walter Fieldhouse.
For the past 15 years, the Convocation Center has hosted Ohio University’s annual Student Research and Creative Activity Expo, providing space for more than 800 undergraduate, graduate and medical students to present their original work. And, many Bobcat alumni likely recall what was affectionately known as “the Convo shuffle,” when students would head to the Convocation Center to arrange changes to their class schedules.
Graduates from the Scripps College of Communication’s Class of 2014 celebrate a moment four years in the making during Undergraduate Commencement on May 3, 2014, at the Convocation Center. Photo by Jonathan Adams/Ohio University Communications and Marketing
STUDENT MILESTONES AND MEMORIES
From its very beginning, the Convocation Center was the place students gathered to celebrate the crowning moment in their OHIO journey: Graduation.
The Convocation Center hosted its first Ohio University Commencement ceremony on June 8, 1969. The Commencement speaker? None other than Ohio University President Vernon R. Alden, the visionary behind the Convocation Center. Since then, thousands of OHIO students have walked across the Convo stage, donned in their caps and gowns and ready to take on the world.
Today, the Convocation Center plays a special role in every Bobcat on the Athens campus’ OHIO journey. It’s where that journey starts—at the President’s Convocation for First-Year Students. And, with hard work and dedication, it’s where that journey ends and a new one, as Ohio University alumni, begins.
The Convocation Center means something different to every Bobcat who has experienced this singular place. We want to know: What are your favorite Convo memories? Share your stories in the comments below.