By Brett Friedlander
The Fayetteville Observer

BUIES CREEK — Robbie Laing will likely feel a twinge of sadness after his Campbell University men's basketball team plays its final home game ever at Carter Gymnasium.

But like a car buyer taking one last, longing look in the rear view mirror at his reliable old ride before driving off the lot in a much nicer new model, he doesn't expect the emotion to last long.

"Yes, we'll be losing a great home-court advantage," said Laing, now in his fifth season as the Camels' head coach. "On the other hand, there's no doubt that we're definitely trading up."

After 55 seasons as the home of Campbell basketball, volleyball and wrestling, Carter Gym will close its doors to intercollegiate competition after Laing's men's team takes on East Tennessee State tonight.

The women's team of coach Wanda Watkins will make its farewell performance earlier in the evening with a game against USC Upstate.

Starting next season, the Camels will move a few blocks to the southeast into the $30 million John W. Pope Jr. Convocation Center.

It's a move most fans and school officials agree is long overdue.

Although Carter Gym was considered a showplace when it first opened in 1953, despite its low-hanging rafters and a court four inches short of regulation, the passage of time has turned it into an outdated relic.

It is the second-smallest Division I basketball arena in the nation, with a seating capacity of just 947. Only the Charleston Southern Field House, which seats 790, is smaller.

"The first time I saw Carter, my mind flashed back to Hoosiers," said Campbell athletic director Stan Williamson, referring to the hit movie set in the 1950s.

"It was an old gym with a small atmosphere, exciting games and a lot of memories. As unique as it was, I knew that it wasn't what it needed to be in terms of the comfort fans expect these days."

Campbell tried as hard as it could to improve the facility and keep it as close to Division I standards as possible.

But even with several coats of orange and black paint and the new hardwood floor and chair-back seats that were installed in 1994, only so much could be done.

The arena is so small that ushers have to be stationed at each end of the court to prevent people from interfering with the game as they walk along the baseline to the only concession stand on one end and restroom at the other.

The home team's locker room is such an embarrassment that Laing often hangs a "Wet Paint" sign on the door to avoid showing it to prospective recruits.

"It's not much for the creature comforts," is how Williamson likes to put it.

But for all it isn't, Carter Gym is still home sweet home for the Camels. And to their credit, they've done a good job of making the best of the situation.

Backed by a boisterous group of students known as the Camel Crazies, the home team has won 62 percent of their games at Carter since gaining Division I status in 1977. Coach Wanda Watkins' women's teams have won more than 72 percent of the time, including an upset of Wake Forest in 1997.

Both teams were even harder to beat in the days when Campbell played as a junior college and a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

"The one thing I remember about Carter Gym is that it was packed to the rafters every night we played," said U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington), who played basketball for the Camels from 1961-65 and was later inducted into his school's athletic Hall of Fame.

"We loved playing in this gym," added former coach Danny Roberts. "Nobody could beat us in here."

Eventually, though, the competition began to get stiffen as the Camels moved up to the highest level of college basketball.

As it did, so did the competition for Division I-caliber talent.

Campbell managed to hold its own for awhile, even winning the Big South Conference championship and making its first and, to this point, only trip to the NCAA tournament under coach Billy Lee in 1992.

Arena should help recruiting

But without a modern arena with all the amenities to help attract players, the Camels — who have since switched affiliations to the Atlantic Sun Conference — began losing most of their top recruiting targets.

One, center Adam Mark, told Lee that he didn't want to play his college career in a "middle school gym" before signing with conference rival Belmont.

It's a problem Laing inherited when he replaced Lee in 2003 during a disastrous three-year stretch in which Campbell went 10-71. Not surprisingly, all but one of the victories came in the friendly confines of Carter Gym.

"Players are the lifeblood of a program and you just can't recruit against other A-Sun teams on a competitive basis with an outdated building that's too small," Laing said. "I can't wait until I can bring kids in this summer and walk them through the convocation center.

"It will be the first time I've had the luxury of a legitimate college basketball facility. We'll get a much better cut of beef and that will make us a much different basketball team. It won't give us a competitive edge, but it will help level the playing field."

Even though the new building is still under construction, it has already had a positive effect on Laing's recruiting.

Armed with an artist's rendering of the Pope Center and news that ground had already been broken, he was able to land talented 6-foot-5 forward Jonathan Rodriguez — who with 1,088 points in just two seasons, is on pace to break the school scoring record by a wide margin.

But recruiting is only one of many benefits all of Campbell's teams will reap from the imminent move.

Because the new arena will have a full-size auxiliary court to go along with a game court, meeting rooms, a state-of-the-art fitness center and clean, spacious locker rooms, the current battle for practice times should be eased considerably.

As it is now, coaches must not only juggle their workouts around their own players' class schedules, but they also have to take into account the needs of other coaches and their teams, intramural activities and regularly scheduled physical education classes.

That often means practicing as early as six in the morning or as late as 10 at night. And when the schedule says you've got the Carter Gym court for 90 minutes, that's all you get.

"You knew they couldn't keep you too long in practice," former Camel Dennis Hurst said, "because somebody was always waiting for you."

That might be good news for the players, but for coaches who need a little extra time to prepare for a big game or install a new offense or defense, the current situation can become — as Laing put it — a logistical nightmare.

"We're fortunate to have a group of coaches and administrators who understand the issues we have and do the best they can under the circumstances," said senior associate athletic director Debbie Richardson, the woman responsible for juggling all the schedules to make sure everyone gets the gym time they need. "Otherwise, this would never work."

Richardson's job should get much easier next season once the varsity teams move into the Pope Center.

And yet, like many other longtime staff members, you can hear the sadness in her voice when she talks about Carter Gym in the past tense.

The old building, for all its flaws, has enjoyed a remarkable run over the past 55 years.

It's been the site of landmark victories such as the women's basketball upset of Wake Forest and forgettable moments when a live camel mascot relieved itself on the court after being spooked by the pep band.

It will always be remembered as home of the longest competitive game ever played — a 13-overtime high school tournament marathon between Boone Trail and Angier in 1964 — as well as the "nation's oldest and biggest" summer basketball camp whose list of counselors includes the likes of Bob Cousy, John Wooden and some kid from Wilmington named Jordan.

"There's so much history here, that's why Carter is Carter," said this year's senior captain Reggie Bishop. "I'm just glad I got the chance to play here. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. I'm going to miss the place when I'm gone."

He'll still be able to visit if he likes. Although the intercollegiate teams will be moving out after tonight's games, Carter Gym will continue exist as an intramural and physical education facility.

That, according to Hurst, will finally allow his alma mater to enjoy the best of both worlds when it comes to indoor athletics.

"Certainly, it will lose some of its mystique," he said of the move from Carter Gym to the new Pope Center. "But from the university and moving forward, it's long overdue."

Staff writer Michael Graff contributed to this story.

Staff writer Brett Friedlander can be reached at friedlanderb@fayobserver.com or 486-3513.

Copyright 2008 / The Fayetteville Observer

Re-printed with permission