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Women's Varsity Basketball Team Facilities
| Lavietes Pavilion
Harvard’s refurbished and rededicated arena for men’s and women’s basketball — The Ray Lavietes ’36 Pavilion at the Briggs Athletic Center — is among the most historic venues in the sport. First opened in 1926, it is tied with the University of Oregon’s McArthur Court as the second oldest building for basketball among Division I schools. Only Fordham’s Rose Hill Gymnasium (1924) is older. Originally, the Briggs Center housed Harvard’s indoor track teams. It featured a running track preferred by many of the greats of the day and also served as a favorite batting cage for Crimson baseball players and even major leaguers like Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams. It quickly became an important part of Harvard’s entire athletic program, as other sports used the building as an off-season training center. The construction of the Gordon Track and Tennis Center in 1981 meant that the indoor track squads would be moving to their own facility, making Briggs a prime location for the new home of the school’s basketball teams. Until that time, basketball was played at the Indoor Athletic Building — now the Malkin Athletic Center — on the Cambridge side of the river. The facility honors both Ray Lavietes ’36 and LeBaron Russell Briggs. Lavietes, a two-year letterman for the basketball team, has long supported Harvard and its athletic program. It is through his generosity that the arena now has a new lobby, new offices for the men’s and women’s coaches, new locker rooms and team rooms, an on-site training room with a whirlpool, and a second-floor lounge that overlooks both the court and the Charles River. Briggs served as the Dean of Harvard College from 1891 through 1902, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1902 until 1925, and Chairman of the Committee of Regulation of Athletic Sports for 17 years. Acclaimed for his efforts at improving sportsmanship, he later served as President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Lavietes Pavilion has a seating capacity of 2,195. The first Harvard basketball game played there was a women’s contest against the University of Chicago on November 26, 1982, as part of the Harvard Invitational. The men played their first game there on the following day, facing M.I.T. The building was dedicated for basketball preceding the men’s game with Stanford University on December 21, 1982. Lavietes Pavilion was officially dedicated, and Ray Lavietes honored, on March 2, 1996, prior to the men’s 87-67 win over Yale. |
