Crawford Hall

Once, Crawford Hall was an arena to be feared. Opposing players came in here and giggled when they took a look around. They laughed when they heard how many people it held (1,467). They held their sides when they saw that one side of this hall was really a stage, complete with curtains. It was easy to make fun of Crawford Hall, but never easy to win here. Entering this season, UC Irvine's basketball team had won 36 of 40 games at home. The Anteaters were 10-0 here last year.

Hall Thompson Businessman helped build Shoal Creek Country Club Hall Thompson, 87, a prominent Alabama business leader who developed Shoal Creek Country Club but sparked controversy two decades ago with comments about the admission of blacks as members, died Wednesday, according to officials at the club in Shelby County, south of Birmingham, Ala. The cause of death was not given. In 1957 he founded Thompson Tractor Co., which became one of the leading companies of its kind.

Natalie Crawford scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds to help UC Irvine's women's basketball team to a 66-56 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. win over Hawaii Monday night at Crawford Hall. Erin Higashi and Cheri Graham each scored 14 points for the Anteaters (6-7, 14-12). Hawaii (4-8, 11-14) was led by Da Houl--formerly of Brea-Olinda High School--and Genne Wade, who each scored 12 points. UCI plays its last regular season game against Cal State Long Beach Friday night at Crawford Hall.

For years, most UC Irvine students had to settle for giving their brains a workout. But this month, they finally got a place to focus on their corporeal selves with the opening of the nearly 100,000-square-foot Anteater Recreation Center. Located in a rustic corner of the east campus, students say the center is everything Crawford Hall, the campus' crowded old gym--which had to be shared with intercollegiate teams--is not.

It took 20 years, but the UC Irvine basketball team finally graduated from high school. Commencement exercises were held Thursday night in the newly christened Donald Bren Events Center, where the Anteaters moved into their 4,500-seat arena and severed ties with 1,500-seat Crawford Hall. The former home of the Anteaters, which so many coaches, players and fans had compared to a high school gym, is but a few full-court passes away from the Bren Center on the Irvine campus.

The UC Irvine men's basketball team will play host to Club Bosnia of Yugoslavia in an exhibition game at 7:30 tonight at Crawford Hall. Irvine is the first stop on Club Bosnia's 10-game tour against U.S. college teams. The team consists of players ranging in age from 17 to 26, including two members of the Yugoslavia Senior National Team. Irvine guard Mike Hess, a transfer from the University of Texas, sprained his ankle in practice last Tuesday but is expected to play tonight.

Waiting almost two hours for Alanis Morissette to show at UC Irvine last week was no problem for the lucky 2,000 who held tickets to the sold-out concert. They passed the time in line kicking hacky sacks, getting to know the fans next to them or working on their Alanis worship.

On the night they traded in broken-down and outdated Crawford Hall for spacious and shiny Bren Center, the UC Irvine Anteaters nearly eclipsed the greatest legend of the tiny gym that housed them for 20 years. Kevin Magee's school one-game scoring record of 46 points barely survived Thursday's Bren Center opener, a 118-96 Irvine victory over Utah State.

The UC Irvine women's basketball team held off United States International University in the final seconds for an 80-79 nonconference victory Sunday at Crawford Hall. Erin Higashi made two free throws with 21 seconds left to give the Anteaters (8-5) an 80-77 lead. But USIU's Toya DeCree was fouled with 14 seconds left and she made two free throws to make it 80-79. The Gulls (10-5) then fouled Valerie Dehn, who missed her shot.

They closed the book on The Library Saturday night. Crawford Hall, that little cement box that used to pass as UC Irvine's basketball arena, has seen the Anteaters for the final time. The next home game Irvine plays will be housed in the sleek and chic Donald Bren Events Center, the 5,000-seat facility that has been two years and $15 million in the making. Such is progress.

Waiting almost two hours for Alanis Morissette to show at UC Irvine last week was no problem for the lucky 2,000 who held tickets to the sold-out concert. They passed the time in line kicking hacky sacks, getting to know the fans next to them or working on their Alanis worship.

Looking back at his four-year basketball career at UC Irvine, Wayne Engelstad found only one thing that haunts him to this day. It wasn't his former coach, Bill Mulligan, who sometimes labeled the hefty center as an over-eating, underachieving player. It wasn't the disappointment that after signing with Irvine while shunning Arizona, UCLA, and USC among others, no NBA franchise selected Engelstad during the 1988 draft.

During the last two years, Mudhoney has catapulted from an unremarkable, undisciplined garage rock band to kings of Seattle's Great Guitar Movement and heroes of alternative-rock scenes overseas. Named after a Russ Meyer sexploitation flick, Mudhoney is a bona fide headliner.

On the night they traded in broken-down and outdated Crawford Hall for spacious and shiny Bren Center, the UC Irvine Anteaters nearly eclipsed the greatest legend of the tiny gym that housed them for 20 years. Kevin Magee's school one-game scoring record of 46 points barely survived Thursday's Bren Center opener, a 118-96 Irvine victory over Utah State.

It took 20 years, but the UC Irvine basketball team finally graduated from high school. Commencement exercises were held Thursday night in the newly christened Donald Bren Events Center, where the Anteaters moved into their 4,500-seat arena and severed ties with 1,500-seat Crawford Hall. The former home of the Anteaters, which so many coaches, players and fans had compared to a high school gym, is but a few full-court passes away from the Bren Center on the Irvine campus.

On the night they traded in a broken-down and outdated Crawford Hall for spacious and shiny Bren Center, the UC Irvine Anteaters nearly eclipsed the greatest legend of the tiny gym that housed them for 20 years. Kevin Magee's school scoring record of 46 points barely survived Thursday's Bren Center opener, a 118-96 Irvine victory over Utah State.

On the night they traded in a broken-down and outdated Crawford Hall for spacious and shiny Bren Center, the UC Irvine Anteaters nearly eclipsed the greatest legend of the tiny gym that housed them for 20 years. Kevin Magee's school scoring record of 46 points barely survived Thursday's Bren Center opener, a 118-96 Irvine victory over Utah State.

The UC Irvine women's basketball team, playing without two starters and down to just six players in uniform, upset the University of Arizona, 68-61, Saturday night in Crawford Hall to win the Newport Beach Marriott Holiday Tournament. Natalie Crawford, a 6-foot 6-inch sophomore center, scored 24 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and blocked 5 shots to lead the Anteaters (5-3). Crawford was named the tournament's most valuable player. Irvine guard Valerie Dehn added 18 points.

They closed the book on The Library Saturday night. Crawford Hall, that little cement box that used to pass as UC Irvine's basketball arena, has seen the Anteaters for the final time. The next home game Irvine plays will be housed in the sleek and chic Donald Bren Events Center, the 5,000-seat facility that has been two years and $15 million in the making. Such is progress.

UC Irvine didn't particularly care who its opponent would be in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. When you're 16-12, you can't be too picky. On Sunday, the NIT breathed postseason life into a team that figured its season had ended after last Thursday's 66-58 loss to Cal State Fullerton in the first round of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. tournament.