Hickey Gym

Hickey Gym is campus' gym, named for Vernard B Hickey, that sits across from the MU Unitrans Terminal (kitty corner to the MU Bookstore) and houses the Physical Education department. The facility includes floorspace for basketball, volleyball, fencing, and wrestling meets as well as Hickey Pool where ICA (intercollegiate athletics) water sport events would take place before construction of the Schaal Aquatics Center. Also sharing the gym is the Reserve Officers Training Corps, a training room for ICA athletes, most of the ICA coaches and several performance physiology labs.

The dance studio right inside the south double-door entrance (room 185) is frequently used for Department of Theatre and Dance classes. Ballet, modern and jazz dance, contact improv, and musical theatre history classes have all been held in the room, which is equipped with two walls of barres, one full mirrored wall, one bulletin and chalkboard wall, a sprung floor with a marley covering, an upright piano, and television and sound system capabilities.

Hickey's locker room is shared by all its users, including intercollegiate athletes, PE students and other campus affiliates. The locker room staff is friendly and will check out anyone a towel for the showers. Some say it is home to The Coldest Drinking Fountain in Davis, but this is easily debatable.

Hickey Gym was dedicated by the UC Regents on April 9, 1938. It was a state-of-the-art facility at the time, and it cost a grand total of $350,000 to build. Heavy rains delayed the opening of the gym, forcing many athletic teams to relocate because the "old gym" had already been turned over to its new tenant — the library (this was before Shields Library was built).

Nighttime passersby will notice many bunnies that enjoy sitting on the lawn at the building's south face. They apparently live in rabbit holes hidden in the strip of hedge growing there, across from the Letters and Science entrance of the Death Star.

Pictures

The dance studio, room 185, of Hickey Gym is a commonly used class space for Theatre and Dance students