📍 Annapolis, Maryland
🏀 Home of Navy Midshipmen basketball
Every college sports fan knows that gameday at one of our nation’s service academies is one full of pageantry and tradition. Regardless of the sport, there’s no better place to see this patriotic valor on display than at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. Here, the long-held customs of the maritime forces are pridefully presented at athletic events and assemblies, not the least of which includes men’s and women’s basketball games at good ole’ Alumni Hall. For decades, the Midshipmen have been intrepid in their defense of this classic gym, reminding both cadets and fans alike: Don’t Give Up the Ship.
Formerly playing out of Halsey Field House – which now serves the track & field teams – Navy basketball moved across campus and into Alumni Hall when it opened in 1991. For fans, this is not an easy venue to get to. Located at the heart of the Academy, Alumni Hall is inaccessible by vehicle unless you possess a DBIDS or Department of Defense identification card. Instead, Midshipmen fans must walk from downtown Annapolis and pass through a security screening to enter the grounds, or they have to ride the complimentary shuttle bus from the expansive parking lots of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Although it can fit many more cadets when it functions as a traditional assembly hall for the Brigade of Midshipmen, Alumni Hall can hold just over 5,700 for basketball contests.
Perhaps the arena’s most noticeable interior feature is the series of Class Crests which ring the walls in front of the upper level staircases. These Crests date all the way back to the class of 1906 in a display that remains unbroken to the present day – with one notable exception. The Crest of the class 50 years senior to the current graduating class, which is highlighted separately on the main concourse, represents the “Link in the Chain” program. Alumni from this 50-year class counterpart both mentor and support the present day midshipmen through this unique arrangement.
The passageways of the arena are also adorned with Naval history, including several intricate model ships of past and present. Meanwhile, exhibits and display cases work to shine a spotlight on significant wartime events such as Pearl Harbor.
Big bay windows line one side of the arena’s main concourse, offering a view of the academy campus in the foreground and out to the Severn River in the distance. While these windows allow for plenty of light to seep inside during day games, the seating bowl itself is extremely dark. Alumni Hall just seems to have poor lighting all around, with immensely harsh beams coming down from the ceiling and illuminating only the court, leaving the rest of the arena quite dim.
Despite the lighting issues, cadets and Navy diehards work to provide their own energy on gameday. The vociferous cadet area behind the basket leads the way by participating in many USNA-themed chants. They also often break out in song and dance, whether that’s belting classic 80s tunes, jamming to the apropos Annapolis instrumental Crab Rave or solemnly serenading the crowd with their rendition of Anchors Aweigh, the Navy fight song.
The Midshipmen men, while not necessarily the most successful team, have participated in March Madness on a few occasions. Their best ranking and run came in 1986 when they advanced to the Elite Eight, falling to eventual runner-up Duke. The women’s team, on the other hand, has enjoyed more recent success since their move up to Division I in 1991. From 2011-13, the Mids competed in three consecutive women’s NCAA Tournaments, sadly suffering defeat in each of their first-round contests.
Navy’s most loathed opponent is undoubtedly the Army Black Knights. Just like the football rivalry that the two service academies share, Army-Navy basketball battles are perhaps the most exciting weekends on both team’s schedules. Typically a home-and-home men’s & women’s doubleheader, the academies meet at least twice per season, each fighting for the chance to “sing second”. For both Army and Navy, defeating the opposition and subsequently singing their Alma Mater second is considered one of the highest athletic honors.
Alumni Hall surely isn’t the most glitzy venue around – but it isn’t supposed to be. For the Midshipmen, it’s not about the setting so much as it is about the patriotic praxis that happens within. And for that, the arena is perfectly and uniquely Navy.
Info Invasion
Parking: $23 in Hillman Garage in downtown Annapolis, then a 10-minute walk, OR $10 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with a free shuttle to Alumni Hall
Nearby Venue(s): Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
In the Area: US Naval Academy Museum is just a block away, open Mon & Wed-Sat from 9a-5p and on Sundays from 10a-4p
Stadium51 