Improvements to Newman Arena

Bartels Hall, the Cornell fieldhouse and home to Newman Arena and Cornell Basketball.

The fieldhouse glows on gamenight.

The brand new Bennet Family Course on the interior of Bartels Hall leading into Newman Arena. (See more images of the Concourse by clicking here).

If you have not attended a Cornell Basketball game in Ithaca during the last year, then you probably have not seen the incredible transformation of Bartels Hall's (the fieldhouse) interior. Now named the Bennet Family Concourse, the entire entryway of the fieldhouse leading into Cornell's Newman Arena is decorated with color plaques and images highlighting memorable moments in Cornell sports over the last fifty years. Among the faces captured on the walls are graduating basketball seniors Adam Gore and Khaliq Gant.

In addition, in the last year Cornell also added some much needed Red color to the interior of Newman Arena. Specifically, artists painted the "Go Big Red" slogan behind each basket inside the gym making certain that Cornell opponents know they are in Big Red Country when they play in front of Cornell's fan base, Newman Nation.

The April 2009 Issue of Cornell Magazine describes fieldhouse concourse renovation:

In 1965, Big Red basketball player Blaine Aston '67 made a seventeen-foot jump shot in the final three seconds against undefeated Princeton, led by Bill Bradley, giving Cornell a 70-69 victory. But few current students knew about Aston's moment of glory—until fall 2006, when it was featured in a series of plaques commemorating great Cornell athletes installed in Bartels Hall's Bennett Family Concourse. The concourse—an ongoing project to spruce up the field house's main hallway—was endowed by former basketball player and rower Jim Bennett III '65, who decided that for a school with Big Red spirit, Bartels was too drab. "Jim recognizes that athletics is one of the important threads in the fabric that is Cornell," says John Webster, director of development for athletics. "He allowed us to transform Bartels and have it better represent the excitement and energy of Cornell athletics."

The Bartels entryway now features eighteen color plaques highlighting memorable moments in Cornell sports over the last fifty years. (In addition to Aston's shot, they include the 1948 football game in which the Big Red defeated Dartmouth 27-26 after Bob Dean '49 kicked the extra point with 2:40 left to play.) The concourse also boasts a series of nine-foot-tall banners depicting star players from each varsity sport and two photo murals of athletes surrounded by words such as "dedication," "confidence," and "determination." Eighteen more plaques—to be selected by staff, former athletes, and friends—will eventually be added on the other side of the hallway...

Last year artists added the "Go Big Red" slogan behind each basket inside Newman Arena.