How a Boxing Arena became UL's gym

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The enlarged and patched up Hippodrome became the SLI gymnasium and home to the Bulldog basketball team including the 1929 team that won the Southern AAU championship, the first regional sports championship for the school.

Old Hippodrome after it became UL gymnasium shown iin right rear.

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An Acadiana Diary several weeks ago about the 1925 athletic complex at Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now UL) caused Judge Kaliste Saloom to reminisce about the boxing arena known as the Hippodrome that was moved there to become a gymnasium. He said he's not sure exactly when the frame structure was built on tall piers on the corner of Vermilion and Johnston streets (where Jack's is now) but remembers his excitement as a young boy watching it being moved to a site on the campus where the McLaurin gym is now. "They cut it in half and rolled it down Johnston Street on logs," Saloom said. "It was pulled by horses, I think." The rest of the story C'est Vrai means "it's true." Read senior writer Jim Bradshaw's observations on Acadiana's history and people each weekday at theadvertiser. com. Reach him at 289-6315 or jbradshaw@theadvertiser.com