True Heroes of Sport Awards Gala Comes Home
(3-3-10) Boston, Mass. – After a long hiatus from Northeastern University's campus, Sport in Society will host the 25th Anniversary True Heroes of Sport Awards Gala in the newly renovated Mathews Arena on April 15, 2010. The oldest indoor ice hockey arena in the world underwent major renovations over the past summer.
At only 25 years old, Sport in Society is dwarfed by the 100 year old Matthews Arena. What they share is a rich history in sport. The arena is the world’s oldest multi-purpose athletic building and houses the world’s oldest artificial ice sheet. The arena is named after George J. Matthews, Class of ’56, and his wife, the late Hope M. Matthews. Matthews is chairman emeritus of the Northeastern Board of Trustees.
The old ice house that gave birth to the Boston Bruins, the Boston Olympics and the New England Whalers also was the cradle of high school and college hockey in Greater Boston. The hockey programs at Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, MIT, Tufts and, of course, Northeastern all had their geneses at Matthews.
Tournaments that brighten New England winters such as the Beanpot and ECAC had their start at the Arena, as did competitive figure skating. In 1994, Nancy Kerrigan graced the ice at Matthews with an entourage that included Paul Wylie and Scott Hamilton, continuing an 85-year tradition of figure skating that numbers Sonja Henie, Dick Button and Tenley Albright.
The Matthews Arena chronology reads like a Who’s Who in American sports, and starts with groundbreaking on Oct. 11, 1909. Legendary pugilists Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney and Joe Louis graced ringside, Finnish distance star Paavo Nurmi ran at the Arena in a BAA track meet, and Olympian Henie wove her magic-on-blades to phonograph music. The Boston Bruins played their first home game in the building and defeated the Montreal Maroons, 2-1, on Dec. 1, 1924. Less fortunate in their Arena debut were the Northeastern hockey Huskies, who lost, 2-1, to MIT on Jan. 17, 1930.
The Arena also has played host to such professional hockey teams as the Boston Olympics, Whalers, Tigers and Cubs. Even the great Babe Ruth, then a young left-handed pitcher for the Red Sox, was a frequent visitor to the Arena. The Sultan of Swat passed idle time in the winter by playing in hockey scrimmages with the Arena A.C. team. Chuck Connors, alias The Rifleman, jumped center and smashed the glass backboard in the first-ever Boston Celtics game on Nov. 5, 1946. And, the world famous Texas Rangers brought their rodeo in 1932, complete with outlaw horses and wild steers.
Through the years, the arena has hosted countless musical groups, including the first-ever appearance of the Motortown Revue starring Marvin Gay and the Supremes in 1962. Rock and rollers like Chubby Checker and Jerry Lee Lewis have graced arena stages. In the last two decades, Shirley Jones, Bob Dylan, Phish, Jimmy Eat World and hip hop artists Ludacris and The Roots have appeared.
Today, the stately Victorian lobbies that welcomed the modest and the mighty for nearly a century cater to the academic and athletic needs of Northeastern. Convocations, graduations and a large portion of the intramural docket are conducted at the Arena, whose walls once echoed with the podium entreaties of presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. Past Arena dignitaries include Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhardt, James Michael Curley, Reverend Billy Graham, Admiral Chester Nimitz and General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the summer of 1993, the city of Boston and NU paid tribute to one of its heroes when it held funeral services at the Arena for Reggie Lewis, Class of 1988.
The Arena has survived two crippling fires, one in 1918 and another in 1948, to prosper as a stationary jewel of the community. Structurally, the Arena has undergone numerous renovations — most recently new seats and new locker rooms for the men’s and women’s varsity hockey teams.
Northeastern’s association with the Arena covers over 80 years, since hockey became a varsity sport at the University in 1929. Husky basketball adopted the Arena as its home in 1981, although the Huskies played a game there in 1936, losing to Rhode Island. For decades, the Arena has been home to countless scholastic hockey teams — particularly those in the Boston City League — and to its next-door neighbor, Wentworth Institute.
The Arena is also home to the Makris Varsity Club in its handsome headquarters, which includes a theater-style viewing box. The Varsity Club now hosts the NU Hall of Fame ceremonies at the Arena.
Neither time nor materiality has disrupted the daily patterns of Arena life, though. In quiet afternoons, there are special hours set aside for free public skating. As the ancient edifice improves by age, her sensitivity to the common good remains as high as ever.