Keaney Gym has been standing strong in Kingston, Rhode Island for just over 70 years and its presence on the University of Rhode Island’s campus cannot be overstated.
Despite the complex being overtaken by its fundamental successor, the adjacent Ryan Center, there remains many current uses for Keaney Gym. According to the Campus Recreation website, Keaney currently hosts the women’s varsity volleyball & men’s club volleyball teams, the Military Science office as well as the Intramural Sports Office, to name a few. Women’s volleyball remains the only varsity sport that still occurs in the gymnasium.
Looking back at its history, Keaney Gym was built and officially dedicated in 1953, and holds a capacity of 3,385. According to the official program of the dedication, it was the largest building on the Kingston campus at the time of its completion. It was originally constructed to act as a replacement for Rodman Hall, which had been serving as URI’s armory and gymnasium since 1928.
The gym was named after Frank Keaney, a man whose name is synonymous with URI history. Keaney, a member of the 1960 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, not only created the “Keaney Blue” color that URI athletics boasts in its uniforms and logos, but he also is credited to be the inventor of the fastbreak, which is heavily utilized in modern basketball. Keaney coached football, basketball, baseball and track and field from 1920-1948.
Originally, the gymnasium-armory was used “not only for physical education and military training but for commencement, convocation and many other all-college events,” according to a program from the dedication. This is attributed to the fact that at the time, it could seat the entire student body, as the program claims when used as an auditorium, 6,000 spectators can be seated.
For sporting events, that total would be 4,000, including 600 reserved seats in the balcony. The building was home to the men’s and women’s basketball teams from the time of its construction, until 2002. It hosted events such as first round matchups of the NCAA Division I Basketball tournament from 1967 to 1969.
In the early days of its existence, Keaney Gym was no stranger to festivities and social functions. Keaney gym was host to performances from artists such as The Beach Boys, Blue Öyster Cult and Bruce Springsteen. However, the most significant appearance would be the likes of Martin Luther King Jr..
According to the URI website , on Oct. 5, 1966, King delivered a speech in Keaney before a crowd of 5,000. And according to the Providence Journal the following day, the civil rights leader was greeted with a standing ovation and interrupted his 55-minute speech five times with applause, and
Keaney Gym would continue to be used for school events, performances, speeches and more. According to official basketball records from the URI Archives, in the early 1990s Keaney saw renovations that added chairback seats installed at courtside and bleacher seating added to the old stage area. In 2012, a $22,000 renovation of the floor would be completed. In 2023, construction began to repair the facade in the front exterior of Keaney Gymnasium. This construction has been ongoing to the present day.
As with most buildings on URI’s campus, there is a rich history to be found within the likes of Keaney Gym.