HEALTH AND WELLESNESS

The Gideon Welles Dining Commons had a less commanding name when it was built in 1926. It was simply called the “Gymnasium.” The building hosted basketball games, wrestling matches, and served as the site for the annual father-son dinners held in the fall. The structure also offered surprising additions: a barbershop and the students’ mailboxes. Considered the campus post office, the mail room was located inside a snack bar known as the “Jigger Shop.” The location was near today’s student laundry room.

Both the interior and exterior of the building look quite different today than they did 80 years ago. Gone is the second-floor observation deck, a platform that stretched around three-quarters of the interior walls, which some fondly remember as a three-sided running track. A decorative second-floor metal balcony was located on the front exterior of the building between the east and west entrances.

“The sideline of the basketball court was right against the west wall,” said former Senior Master Bevan Dupre ’69. The east wall had just enough room for the team to sit on benches. “It would get pretty wild up there on the deck. It was jam packed,” said Dupre. A large majority of the student body, all boys, would ascend to the platform, he added, to cheer on the Cats. In1963, the boys varsity basketball team had a winning 11-7 record.

David Steinberg ’66 was the sports editor in his senior year who wrote a column called “Sideline Slants” for the Academy Review newspaper.During his 50th reunion in May, he shared memories about the old gym.“The sidelines were so narrow there was no place for spectators, so we went upstairs to overlook the court.” Steinberg, a Cheshire native, attended theAcademy for five years. As the sports editor, he was able to travel with teams to write about their games. “I went with the track team to the PennRelays and a lot of away games.”

Greg O’Connell ’66, the 2016 recipient of the John Bowden Distinguished Achievement Award for his support of the O’Connell Cross CountryInvitational event, remembers running on the deck. “It took 12 laps to make a mile,” he said. The basketball team also used the deck to stay in shape as did other athletes in the winter. “It was nice to have a place to run offseason,”O’Connell added.

Wrestling was the only other sport that competed in the gym. The wrestling room was located where the kitchen and food service area is now, Dupre said. “They would bring the mats out to the basketball court for big meets,”he remembered. In the early spring, the lacrosse team would practice stick work in the gym, he added, until the weather warmed.

Blending learning and athletics in a truly physical sense, the gym had several classrooms tucked under the platform along the north and south walls of the old gym. “I had Mr. [Stephen] Kuk here,” said Dupre pointing to the southwest corner. “He was the head football coach and taught me medieval history.” The classrooms were framed with plywood and were large enough for about 12 students.

An amenity rarely found in a gym was also offered to students. Nick’sBarber Shop was located where the dining hall’s dish room is now.Operated by Nick Giordano, the unusual practice of having a barber on campus could be linked to a strict haircut policy. Jeffrey Barker ’71 explained what could happen if a boy’s hair grew too long. It seems Headmaster Arthur M. Griffin (1966 -1970) had a specific way to let a student know it was time for a trim. “He would flick your ear. You would then have 24 hours to get it cut at Nick’s,” Barker said. Giordano also ran the Jigger Shop where a toasted roll cost 15 cents and a hamburger was 35 cents, Dupre said.

As Arthur N. Sheriff entered his fourth decade as headmaster, he began to look toward future construction on campus. He proposed a plan to repurpose the 40-year-old gymnasium building at a projected cost of$50,000, according to a letter Sheriff wrote to the staff. The original renovation plan called for an auditorium to be built in the old gym. In1967, it instead became the Gideon Welles Dining Commons, named for the famous alumnus who served as secretary of the Navy from 1861-1869 under President Abraham Lincoln.

“The Sheriff Field House opened during my senior year,” said Steinberg. In an article from December 1965, he referred to a JV basketball game as having been held in the “old gymnasium.” The first game in the new FieldHouse was held on January 15, 1966 by the JV basketball team. Steinberg reported that the Cats won 68-34 to beat Cromwell Academy.

The victory was a fitting beginning for the Academy’s move to a bigger and better building, now known as the Arthur Sheriff Field House which has now reached its 60-year-mark, becoming older than the building it replaced.