Duquesne on Tuesday announced long-awaited renovation plans for Palumbo Center, and one of the biggest changes on tap is a new name for the athletic facility.
Once renovated, the venue will be known as UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, a name that honors Chuck Cooper, the Westinghouse graduate who played at Duquesne from 1947-1950 and was one the first black men drafted by an NBA team. Cooper, drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1950, also played for the Hawks and Pistons.
“We felt like in Pittsburgh, if there’s an underrated name and an unknown name that needed to be out there, it was Chuck Cooper’s,” Duquesne athletic director Dave Harper said. “And when people hear the story, I think obviously it will resonate that this is the well-deserved recognition that he should have.”
The Palumbo Center renovations have been in the works for about 22 months, Harper said, and will hopefully serve to elevate Duquesne’s status in the Atlantic 10 and Northeast Conference.
“When you look at our facilities, with where they are currently, they needed an upgrade,” Harper said.
Harper said the renovations will cost about $45 million, with that money being fundraised and provided through sponsorships.
“It’s really exciting,” Duquesne president Ken Gormley said. “We started on this project really not knowing if we were shooting too high, because it obviously requires a lot of funding to be in place, and we made a commitment early on that it was going to be funded 100 percent from external funding. It wasn’t going to come from student tuition dollars, in other words.”
Palumbo Center, which opened in 1988, houses the Duquesne athletic department and coaches’ offices, workout gyms, practice basketball courts and the home court for the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Renovations are set to begin in March and are estimated to finish before the 2020-2021 athletic seasons.
The work will leave the men’s and women’s basketball teams without a home court during the 2019-20 season. Men’s basketball coach Keith Dambrot said he expects to play more road games that season, and whle nothing is set in stone, Dambrot said he assumes the Dukes will play more games at PPG Paints Arena. Women’s basketball coach Dan Burt said his team will likely play more games on the road during construction as well.
Some project highlights include wider concourses with “improved concession areas,” “premium seating opportunities on the club and suite levels,” updated video boards and sound systems, renovated locker rooms and a new ticket office and team shop.
Photos of the upcoming renovations show an overall sleeker design and more modern architecture.
UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse will gain square footage from the days as Palumbo Center, with a practice facility built on what is McCloskey Field.
The fieldhouse will include several spaces for athletes to practice, watch film, eat and study. The main entryway into the building will be named the A.J. Palumbo Atrium and Gate, named in honor of the “original gift that made the site of this renovation possible.”
As far as seating capacity, Harper doesn’t have an exact number yet but estimates it will be “roughly the same” as its current 4,390 seats in an effort to make the space a loud and intimidating place for opponents to visit. If the Dukes were ever to start selling out big games, Harper added, there’s always the option of scheduling some at PPG Paints Arena.
Harper said Duquesne will also take several steps to improve the fan experience when attending games.
“The entire game day experience will be reinvented. ... We’re going to have new ticket offices, new entryways and gates for people to stand inside, an opened and active concourse with new concessions, open views from the seating area out into the city. We’ll have a a Hall of Fame that will be part of a concourse. We’ll have suites, club seats, a club lounge, all the things that people expect when they go to a sporting event nowadays,” Harper said.
Dambrot said the new building will help facilitate player development and will help with recruiting. But he’s not waiting on a renovated facility to continue building up the program.
“It’s still a people business, so we have to do our job. We have to win games before this building is built, and if we can build momentum as the building is built, now we can take a huge jump,” Dambrot said.
A look at the pretty snazzy looking fieldhouse: pic.twitter.com/1Fzb8BFUay
— Sarah K. Spencer (@sarah_k_spence) October 23, 2018
A look at the AJ Palumbo Atrium: pic.twitter.com/2fQawaBddi
— Sarah K. Spencer (@sarah_k_spence) October 23, 2018
Sarah K. Spencer: sspencer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @sarah_k_spence.
First Published: October 23, 2018, 3:54 p.m.
Updated: October 23, 2018, 6:22 p.m.
