Houston Field House - Renovation and Rejuvenation

Renovation and Rejuvenation

In 1978, a new tradition started that continues today - the annual Big Red Freakout! event. This event fills the Field House with thousands of screaming fans, and there is a giveaway each year.

Following Houston's death later that year, the Institute announced at the 1978 Commencement ceremonies that the RPI Field House would be known as Houston Field House in honor of Livingston W. Houston, president of RPI from 1943 to 1958.

1983 brought several changes to the Field House. The Institute spent $2.5 million to renovate the building during the summer, including a support renovation which allowed the removal of all but four of the columns. Some think the view obstruction caused by the original columns gave rise to "hockey line" and that column removal led to the demise of "hockey line", but popularity of hockey was at least as large a factor. Indeed, "hockey line" reached its peak several years after the 1983 renovations. New scoreboards were installed, and the ice surface was lengthened to a full NHL size. In 1984, the NCAA tournament returned to Houston Field House for the first time since 1959 as the Engineers took on North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux, coming in as heavy underdogs, upset the homestanding Engineers on consecutive nights, ending the Engineers national title hopes. The next season, the Field House would host its final two NCAA tournament games as RPI dispatched Lake Superior State on their way to their second NCAA championship. Today's NCAA tournament games all take place at neutral ice sites with a minimum capacity higher than that of the Field House.

During the mid-1980s, Houston Field House was part of a vibrant boxing scene in the Capital District. Mike Tyson fought twice at the venue in 1986, but Tyson's rise to the heavyweight championship at the end of the year helped lead to a decline, and boxing has not been featured at Houston Field House in recent years.

The 1987 Big Red Freakout! event featured plastic horns as the giveaway. These horns made Houston Field House reverberate with noise - so much noise, in fact, that the evening's opponent, Brown, filed a complaint with the NCAA. In turn, this led to the creation of what is today known as "the RPI rule" nationwide, which prohibits fans from bringing artificial noisemakers into NCAA events.

In 1990, the New York Islanders of the NHL moved their primary minor-league team to Houston Field House, naming them the Capital District Islanders. "CDI" played in the American Hockey League from 1990 to 1993. In 1993, the Capital District Islanders were sold to Albert Lawerence and moved across the river the play at the Knick/Pepsi/Times Union Center as the Albany River Rats. The team affiliated with the New Jersey Devils.

The RPI women's hockey team, a club team beginning in 1976, hosted the AWCHA national women's club championship at Houston Field House in 1994, winning the national championship, and in 1995, when they finished in 3rd. The team became a varsity program later that year, and joined their male counterparts in NCAA's Division I in 2005.

During the 1998-1999 hockey season, a new four-sided scoreboard was added to the center of the Field House, replacing the scoreboards on the eastern and western walls.