The structure that UNI Wrestling has called home for nearly a century is sitting vacant, uncertified for occupancy due to stability concerns.
The building’s east wall is currently being reinforced with red structural supports on the outside. A chain link fence surrounds the outside, with signs that read “Closed for Construction.”
This has been the West Gym’s outfit for the past few weeks, a sign Director of University Relations Pete Moris says may give a clue about the future.
“The engineers and consultants have told us that the building will tell you when it’s time, and the building is telling us that it’s not doing so well,” he said.
According to Moris, conversations about the stability of the West Gym have been ongoing for the past few years. The estimated cost to make the necessary changes to the building sits above $20 million.
“We’ve obviously known for some time that there are structural deficiencies with the West Gym. It’s a building that’s nearly 100 years old and wasn’t constructed to today’s standards,” he said.
“It was really our hope that these temporary measures would be able to get us through the wrestling season in order for the wrestling team to be able to continue to train in the facility for the remainder of this year. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that we can get the building certified for occupancy, even if we do spend more time and resources to further reinforce that east wall.”
I anticipate that in the near future we will have all the key decision-makers together and see if we can come to some conclusions, because obviously this was not anticipated that we would have to vacate the West Gym at this point.
— Pete Moris, Director of University Relations
The softball, track and field and wrestling offices located in the building were vacated on July 17 for the installation of the structural bracing. It continues to remain vacated based on the recommendations of a structural engineer.
The wrestling team has since temporarily relocated to the USA Mat Club, an off-campus facility on East Nineteenth Street, for their pre-season training.
According to Moris, there is still “ongoing conversation” about a short term solution to bring the program’s home back on campus. UNI is also looking further down the road at long term solutions to house the wrestling program, which saw seven Panthers qualify for the NCAA Championships last season.
“We’ve been working with a consultant for some time to try to come up with some options for a long term solution for wrestling to have a home of their own. We’re all very conscious of how important the wrestling room is for the culture of any program, and we want our student athletes and our team and Coach Schwab and his staff to have a place that’s theirs, where they can train and continue to achieve at a high level not only on the wrestling mat,” Moris said. The Panthers were named the team with the fourth highest grade point average in the nation by the National Wrestling Coaches Association in April.
However, Moris explained that future athletics facilities cannot be funded with public dollars, and would have to be fundraised, just as the UNI-Dome and McLeod Center were when they were first constructed.
Just over ten years ago, a $1 million campaign was on the horizon to update the facility. In 2012, the wrestling room was updated to accommodate three mats, and the locker rooms were updated in 2014. The original plans to renovate the weight room and sports medicine area were never completed.
The West Gym was once the primary home of UNI athletics programs before the construction of the Dome. It was home to the 1950 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships where the Panthers claimed victory. It was also home to UNI volleyball’s 74-game winning streak from 1997-2004. Given its history, Moris said it’s no surprise that the fate of the building has brought a lot of emotions forward from the community.
“The history of accomplishment and memories that have been forged in that building is clearly significant, but those emotions don’t make the building any less structurally deficient,” Moris said.
“That’s our responsibility as a university to figure out how to make a good decision going forward that’s based on what the professionals, what the engineers, what the consultants are telling us about the safety of the building, and that doesn’t lessen the emotional connection, but it does make it more difficult to come to the reality that this building may not have much of a functional lifespan left.”
As for the fate of the building and the future home of the wrestling program, Moris said the community will have to stay tuned.
“I anticipate that in the near future we will have all the key decision-makers together and see if we can come to some conclusions, because obviously this was not anticipated that we would have to vacate the West Gym at this point,” he said.
