#102
A Big 5 Game at the Palestra
Published or Updated January 21, 2019
Location: United States
Sport: Basketball
Level: College
Sport: Basketball
Level: College
Event Type: Rivalry/Venue
First Held: 1955
Next Up: 1/26/2019-1/26/2019
First Held: 1955
Next Up: 1/26/2019-1/26/2019
When and Where: throughout the fall and winter in Philadelphia, PA
The Cathedral of College Basketball, as the Palestra is known, has been around since 1927. But this is no traditional house of worship. The faithful come here to witness the rivalries between La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph’s, Temple, and Villanova, Philadelphia’s powerhouse college basketball teams.
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1962 - One of the most famous events in the history of the Palestra convinced Guokas to transfer from the University of Miami to St. Joseph's. In the opening round of the Quaker City Tournament, St. Joseph's pulled off one of the most riveting upsets in Big 5 history 58-57 over Bowling Green.
1/24/59 - Longest, and perhaps most bizarre, game at the Palestra-unknown Providence team came from behind to upsets Villanova 90-83 in four overtimes.
Feb. 20, 1965 - A memorable event happened during a Feb. 20, 1965 game one of a doubleheader (common at the Palestra) when a bomb threat forced the building to be evacuated causing a 40-minute delay to the St. Joe's-Villanova game. The only person who refused to vacate was long-time Palestra broadcaster Les Keiter.
01/27/27 marked the opening game held at The Palestra. The University of Pennsylvania Quakers competed against future Ivy League foe, the Yale University Bulldogs, emerging victorious, 26-15! The sold out crowd of 10,000 packed to the very last bleacher marked the largest crowd ever to watch basketball in the Eastern United States.
One of the most colorful traditions that set the Palestra a part from other college basketball arena was the ritual that the fans of the team who scored the first field goal would throw hundreds of colored crepe paper streamers onto the floor, completely covering it. Around 1985, this tradition was banned by NCAA.
The Palestra, which is home to Penn, has hosted more college basketball games than any other arena.
Capacity seating at the Palestra, in the beginning, sat just under 10,000. Its largest crowd before the overhaul had been 9,648 in the 1958 Temple-St. Joe's men's game.
Beloved figure in Big Five history was ﾓYo-Yo,ﾔ the unofficial mascot of the conference created by middle-aged gentleman Harry Shifren. Yo-Yo would amuse the crowd by traversing the sidelines smoking cigars and shooting foul shots at halftime.
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Quotes
"If you won at the Palestra in the winter, you could talk all summer on the playgrounds."
Fran Dunphy
