The Stott Center serves as the answer to the question: How do you go wrong with a facility that offers a weight room, circuit training room, swimming pool, racquetball, squash, tennis, basketball, ping pong and rock climbing?
The Stott is home to Portland State University basketball and volleyball in addition to serving as a student rec center with all of the above.
Despite all the amenities, it resembles a cement bomb shelter more than a true Division I athletic center.
When it was built in 1966 it was probably more than adequate for Portland State's needs, but 42 years later it's stretched way beyond its capacity by the rapidly expanding University.
A new student recreation facility is scheduled to open next year and that should ease the congestion and bring student rec out of the 1970s, but as of now there is no remedy on the horizon for the school's Division I sports teams who are forced to play in a gym that most high schools would scoff at.
The lack of parking and easy street access seem trivial in comparison with the tiny gym's cramped quarters and outdated facilities.
Remodels over the last 10 years have made the gym better and added an elevator for wheelchair access, but they are the equivalent of putting makeup on a corpse. read more
