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Jeppesen Gymnasium

1942 establishments in Texas1996 disestablishments in TexasBasketball venues in HoustonDefunct college basketball venues in the United StatesDefunct indoor arenas in Texas
Demolished buildings and structures in HoustonDemolished sports venues in TexasHouston Cougars basketball venuesSports venues completed in 1942Sports venues demolished in 1996
Jeppesen Gymnasium prior to opening
Jeppesen Gymnasium prior to opening

Jeppesen Gymnasium, also known as Jeppesen Fieldhouse, was a multi-purpose sports facility on the campus of the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. The facility was the first home to the Houston Cougars men's basketball team, and later home to the Cougars women's volleyball team. Located next to Robertson Stadium, the facility was demolished in 1996 to make room for renovations of Robertson Stadium such as the scoreboard.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Jeppesen Gymnasium (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Jeppesen Gymnasium
Calhoun Road, Houston

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N 29.723027 ° E -95.349484 °
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University of Houston

Calhoun Road 4800
77004 Houston
Texas, United States
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uh.edu

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Jeppesen Gymnasium prior to opening
Jeppesen Gymnasium prior to opening
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1960 American Football League Championship Game

The 1960 American Football League Championship Game was the first AFL title game, played on New Year's Day 1961 at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston, Texas. With New Year's on Sunday, the major college bowl games were played on Monday, January 2. This was the first time that a major professional football league's playoff game was played in January rather than December. The game matched the Eastern Division champion, the Houston Oilers (10–4), against the Western Division champion, the Los Angeles Chargers (10–4), in the first Championship Game of the new American Football League. The host Oilers were favored by 6-6½ points.The AFL established a format in which Championship Games would be alternated each year between the Western Division winners and the Eastern Division, and while the first game was originally scheduled to be played in the 103,000 capacity Los Angeles Coliseum, the Chargers had drawn less than 10,000 fans per home game. With the league fearing the prospect that ABC would pull its contract because of very poor ticket sales, the Chargers, the Oilers and the League mutally agreed to move the game to the smaller Jeppesen Stadium in Houston, where it drew a near-capacity 32,183. It rained for five days straight prior to the game.Oilers quarterback George Blanda, who had retired after ten seasons in the NFL and had not played in 1959, threw three touchdown passes, and kicked a field goal and three extra points to lead Houston to the AFL Championship by a score of 24–16.

Fertitta Center
Fertitta Center

The Fertitta Center, formerly known as Hofheinz Pavilion, is a 7,100-seat multi-purpose arena on the University of Houston campus in Houston. Located at 3875 Holman Street, it is home to the Houston Cougars men's and women's basketball teams and the women's volleyball team. The arena opened in 1967 as Hofheinz Pavilion, named after Roy Hofheinz and his late wife, Irene Cafcalas "Dene" Hofheinz, after they donated $1.5 million to help fund construction. Roy Hofheinz, known as Judge Hofheinz, was a UH alumnus and a Houston politician, businessman, and philanthropist. The arena is now named after restaurant magnate, Houston Rockets owner and UH alum Tilman Fertitta, who donated $20 million toward the complete renovation of the arena in 2016. The court is named for Hall of Fame and former Cougars coach Guy V. Lewis. The arena also contains an alcove dedicated to Basketball Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes, a Cougar player in the 1960s and NBA star in the 1970s. Like many arenas of its kind, the seating bowl of Fertitta Center is dug into the ground so that one enters the building at the top of the bowl. In June 2010, the University of Houston announced a $40 million plan to renovate Hofheinz Pavilion. Ultimately in November 2015, the Board of Regents approved a $60 million complete re-design of the facility to open in 2018, funded in part by a $20 million gift from UH alum Tilman Fertitta. After the Hofheinz family objected to the building's being renamed, the school and the family reached a settlement to honor Judge Hofheinz by building a plaza containing a bronze statue of him near the facility. In addition, the UH library will archive Hofheinz's historical records in a special section. Finally, UH will petition the city of Houston to change the name of Holman Street between Cullen Boulevard and Scott Street to honor the Hofheinz family. The renovation began in March 2017 at the conclusion of the 2016–17 basketball seasons, and was scheduled to be completed in time for the 2018–19 men's and women's basketball seasons, but construction delays pushed the reopening date to December 1, 2018. Both basketball teams played their home games on the campus of nearby Texas Southern University during the course of construction.The Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) used the arena as their first home in Houston, from 1971 to 1975. In addition to athletics, the arena has been used for other purposes such as UH graduation ceremonies and area high school commencements. It has also hosted many concerts by famous artists. The Summit took over for much of these purposes in the city after its construction in 1975.