FOR OLD TIMES’ SAKE
UH exits longtime arena with a win, and a Dream dunk provides the capper
Hakeem Olajuwon took the ball in the paint and gently flipped it to Elvin Hayes.
Hayes immediately tossed it back to Olajuwon, who bent his 54-year-old knees and showed he still has it with a two-handed dunk.
After a high-five, two of the greatest players in basketball history shared a hug.
After 48 years, it was a proper farewell to the University of Houston’s Hofheinz Pavilion.
“We had to end it on a dunk,” Olajuwon said Sunday as the university held a ceremony to commemorate the final game in the building once home to Hall of Fame coach Guy V. Lewis and the Phi Slama Jama powerhouses of the 1980s.
The Cougars closed out the season with a 73-51 win over East Carolina, pulling away in the second half behind a game-high 24 points from guard Rob Gray.
UH finished the regular season 21-9 and will be the No. 3 seed in this week’s American Athletic Conference tournament at Hartford, Conn. The Cougars will play at 8 p.m. Friday against the winner of Thursday’s game between Connecticut and South Florida.
The university announced a sellout crowd of 8,479, although many of the red seats in the arena were empty as bad weather likely kept fans away.
It did little to dampen the festivities.
Hayes, 71, grabbed a basketball and began to practice during pregame warm-ups in anticipation of taking the final shot.
“First time I’ve picked up a ball in 20 years,” joked Hayes, a Hall of Famer and current UH radio analyst.
Long promised that he would play in a new on-campus arena at some point in his four years at UH, Hayes missed the 1969 opening of Hofheinz Pavilion by one year.
At tipoff, Fred and Dene Hofheinz, children of late Harris County Judge and arena namesake Roy Hofheinz, presented the game ball.
“Out with the old and in with the new,” Fred Hofheinz said. “I think my father would be very pleased. I think this is a good thing for Houston, and it’s a good thing for the University of Houston.”
At halftime, UH officials, led by president Renu Khator, board of regents chairman Tilman Fertitta and athletic director Hunter Yurachek, held a ceremonial groundbreaking. Work will begin this week as part of a $60 million renovation that will usher in a new era with the opening of the 7,240-seat Fertitta Center for the 2018-19 season.
“I think when everybody sees what this is going to look like, it’s going to blow us away,” said Fertitta, whose $20 million gift will go toward the renovation and naming rights. “We’re going to have a facility that is as good as anybody’s in the country.”
Among the 100 UH basketball alums to attend the game were Olajuwon, Hayes, Don Chaney, Rickie Winslow and Lynden Rose. Two notable absentees were Clyde Drexler and Michael Young, whose retired jerseys hang in Hofheinz Pavilion.
“Just to be part of the history was great,” Winslow said. “To see the ball passed around … a lot of guys on these teams didn’t make a lot of assists.
“It was an incredible moment.”
During the final ceremony, the alums entered through the Hofheinz tunnel behind signs representing different eras, from the 1960s to 2000s.
On one end of the court, senior guard Damyean Dotson made a basket.
Then the ball was handed off to each former player, part of five rows that covered the length of the court.
“The history of Hofheinz is amazing,” Dotson said. “It means a lot because the older players that came before us paved the way for us. When we put the Houston jersey on, it goes way back.”
At the last minute, Yurachek said Hayes was “adamant (Olajuwon) take the last shot.”
“This will be the one I always remember,” Yurachek said. “There were a lot of dunks in the Phi Slama Jama era, so it was an appropriate way to end. That’s what this building is known for.”
Said Hayes: “Phi Slama Jama made this building famous. That was a fitting way to end. Guy Lewis would have thought so.”
“That was a big honor for me,” Olajuwon said.
“My first assist,” Hayes joked.
Fertitta then took the ball and walked up the steps in Section 114, under one of the school’s Final Four banners, before disappearing into the concourse.
The ball will return for the opener of the Fertitta Center in November 2018.
“The spirit of Hofheinz Pavilion,” Yurachek said, “will always be in the Fertitta Center.”