100 Harmon Gym

Harmon sounds amazing. Haas will never be like Harmon – but the place has so much unmet potential to be more fun (for Cal fans) and hostile (for Cal’s opponents).

One thing I’d like to see pronto: We need to get people singing “Hail to California” again at Haas! The words are still up there, on the screen when the band plays. It only takes a few brave people to break the silence, then everyone joins in. Without too much effort, it could be a strong tradition once again – and a great way to make the whole crowd feel united, strong, and ready to rock the place before tip off.

Nice post.

1. My favorite game at Harmon was UCLA in 1984, my freshman year. Cal trotted out three freshman (KJ, Chris Washington, and Jim Beatie), Butch Hayes and Dave Butler (playing center vs. 7 footer Stuart Gray). Small ball before its time – three guards and two skinny forwards. Cal got the early lead, forced UCLA to come out of its zone and then would have Johnson or Washington break their man down one-on-one. I was seated right on the court in the corner for the up-close-and-personal view of Johnson swishing the game-tying bucket at the buzzer of regulation. UCLA wore Cal down in overtime 72 – 60, but it was a great night out.

2. 1987 UCLA game also memorable. I had been hit by a car while riding my bicycle on Skyline drive in the AM – no major damage to me (bike was another story), just ringing ears (pre-helmet era) and the bedlam in the arena was a nice complement.

3. They used to open the gym for pick-up on week-ends, but after the RSF went up it was off limits. In fact, I got kicked out once by the team when they were practicing.

4. Is it true that the court was slightly larger than regulation size?

5. I liked how the band would call out “Hey Coach Kuchen” and he would wink and give them a thumbs up. (Lou was a little too east-coast for that.)

jh

I got to Cal about 3 years after Campanelli took over. Campanelli had the name “changed” to “Harmon Arena” for men’s games. Because, he said, “Men play in an arena, not a gym.” Tevs. It still said “Harmon Gymnasium” on the outside of the building!

I remember the “Boys In The Front Row” tradition — a group of dudes in the front row across from the visitors’ bench. They were relentless. Some favorite targets during my time at Cal were Todd Lichti (stanfurd), Andrew Vlahov (stanfurd), Trevor Wilson (Fucla), Don MacLean (Fucla), and Gary Payton (OSU).

It’s clear that I’m a little older than Leon, as my most memorable games at Harmon are earlier.

1. December 1988: Cal vs. Villanova. My freshman year, the first “marquee” matchup I experienced as a Cal student. This was a big deal. Nova was 3 years removed from being national champs and brought a ranked team into Harmon. Rumor had it that Rollie Massimino wasn’t real thrilled to come to our place, but did it as a favor to his good friend Campanelli. Great game. I got there late, and was stuck in upstairs kind of in the corner, but the atmosphere was still electric. We won by 2 on a late basket.

2. Cal v. stanfurd, January 1989. stanfurd was ranked at the time and would go on to have a pretty good year (before losing in 1st round of NCAAs to Siena). The game was during winter break, and I didn’t know what to expect crowd-wise. I came back early just to go. It was very well attended. Close game throughout until we broke it open near the end. I sat pretty close to the floor, which was awesome. Had my only “rush the floor” experience, too, as the student section spilled out onto the floor at game’s end to celebrate. In addition to giving Lichti a lot of grief, I distinctly remember taunts to Derek Bruton about his having a hairy back.

3. Cal vs. Arizona State, 1990: Totes random game during the season where we made NCAA tournament for first time since 1960. It was a weird game to begin with, because it was on a Friday night. Rarity in the Pac-10. We had lost to Arizona on Wednesday night. (Yes, we played Wednesday/Friday that week. Weird.) The crowd was not really the vocal Harmon crowd I was used to. Could have been the Friday night pregame drinking. But I remember the game for a funny moment in the second half. Arizona State had a guy named “Redhair.” For some reason, the student section started taunting him with “RED-HAIR, RED-HAIR, RED-HAIR,” every time he touched the ball. Then, the student section started in on a guy named Brian Camper, who was bald. Everytime he got the ball, the student section chanted, “NO-HAIR, NO-HAIR, NO-HAIR.” The first time it happened, you could hear audible laughter from the “alumni” side of the arena. So then, for the rest of the non-bald Arizona State players, the students would chant, “SOME-HAIR, SOME-HAIR, SOME-HAIR” every time a player touched the ball. This went on for much of the second half, until the game got a little interesting and we needed to buckle down and get loud again.

Lamond Murray, Monty Buckley, KJ Roberts, and Al Grigsby were part of the boffo recruiting class that came in when I was a senior. So I had only 1 season watching them. I watched the likes of Roy Fisher, Leonard Taylor, Keith Smith, Matt Beeuwsaert, Erik McDonough, Sean Harrell, Billy Dreher, Ryan Drew, Brian Hendrick, Bryant Walton, and Bill Elleby.

One more Harmon memory, non-basketball: We used to take final exams there.

That place was really something. Like Ohio Bear, I’m a bit older than Leon so my memories span the end of the Dick Kuchen era (a coach I liken to Ben Braun in that he was clean, likable, but not overly successful) and the beginning of Campanelli.

The end of the Streak against Ucla was one of the most emotionally orgasmic things I’ve ever watched in real life, being right up there with such things as The Play, the ‘94 World Cup final in the RB, and Kirk Gibson’s HR against the A’s. Harmon was insane, and I’m kind of surprised the place didn’t collapse.

Ahhh, nostalgia.

I was lucky enough to be a Ball Boy for Cal Men’s games in Harmon’s last year before renovation… Nothing will match seeing Kidd play up close from under the basket…

I don’t think I appreciated it as much at the time, I thought it was cool I could shoot around before the game before teams came out, and didn’t mind that my only real job was corral balls and clean up sweat on the court…

I’ll always remember fans rushing the court in Harmon, it was great having a sea of people attack the court so fast… Moving to Oakland Arena the following years never matched the intensity of Harmon… We definitely needed the upgrade to Haas to take the next step, but I for one will always remember Harmon as a great place to spend winter nights growing up… Single tear…