HPER offers more than just basketball courts

It's more than a place to work out or shoot hoops with friends. The School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation building is filled with hidden secrets.\nThe HPER contains the old fieldhouse, now called the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center, where HPER Assistant Dean David Skirvin said legendary NCAA championship teams of 1940 and 1953 played under the coaching of Branch McCracken. Bill Garrett, the first black basketball player in the Big Ten, also spent some time playing in HPER's fieldhouse. \n"It was a dirt floor for many decades after it was built," said Brad Cook, photography curator of the IU Archives. "They brought in a wooden floor and bleachers that weren't permanent."\nCook said that the men's gymnasium was the original part of the HPER, built in 1917, which was even before the fieldhouse was built. The University's Men's basketball teams played there for a few years before the gym became too small to hold the growing number of fans. \nThe gym is now divided into several courts where students can play basketball as well as attend different HPER classes. \n"You can tell it used to be a big court," Cook said. "Extensions, which are now offices, used to be the trophy room." \nHowever, it's not just basketball that claims a significant history in the HPER. HPER Dean David GAllahue said six NCAA champion teams, as well as coach Doc Counsilman, have competed in HPER's Royer Pool. Gallahue said Counsilman is considered the most successful swimming coach in the history of the sport. He coached 23 IU Big Ten championship teams, as well as the six NCAA champion teams. \nThe original HPER building also contains the swastika symbol on many of its walls. The symbol used to be positive for many different religions, according to a plaque on one of the walls. The symbol was not seen as negative until World War II when the Nazis used it to inspire fear.\nThe original building houses an additional pool, which is still used today by students for classes and recreation, Gallahue said. This additional and lesser known pool lies in the basement of the original building. A workout room, hardly visible, remains adjacent to -- but a floor below -- the Intramural Center. The building contains extensive research labs, referred to as wet labs.\nIU dedicated a new center in the HPER to Counsilman Feb. 26. The research center, named the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming, studies the science of competitive swimming.\nEven today, the HPER holds more than meets the eye, Gallahue said. He doesn't want students thinking the HPER is only about basketball games and working out. \n"We do bounce balls, but we do a lot of other things too," he said.