As App State continues to recover from Hurricane Helene, the university recently began to renovate the hardwood floors inside the Varsity Gym. It led to the discovery of the old college basketball court that dates back to the 1960s.
Assuming it was not a biohazard, there was a unique opportunity to raise additional funds through an auction.
The administration instead decided to throw the college basketball court away. They had to guard it from dumpster divers!
App State is redoing its flooring in the Varsity Gym.
Appalachian State University was hammered by Hurricane Helene in late September of 2024. Boone, North Carolina and the surrounding region is still building back from the town’s worst flooding since at least 1940. Aerial footage of the damage showed a heartbreaking situation. Many businesses, cars and houses were flooded with no less than three feet of water.
Absolutely heartbreaking footage from my college town of Boone, NC.
— Andrew Gibson (@1010XLAG) September 27, 2024
It’s so tough to see a place you know so well and love so much get devastated like this.
Worst flooding since at least 1940, per @wxbrad.
Praying hard for my Boone people.
Video courtesy of @NelsonAerials. pic.twitter.com/xEr5bGExFz
King Street, the most prominent thoroughfare, was completely under water.
Holy cow, this is King Street in downtown Boone, I have never seen this before. #wncwx #ncwx #flood #Helene pic.twitter.com/IKVIsRUvBZ
— Brad Panovich (@wxbrad) September 27, 2024
Many roads became rivers.
Downtown Boone is getting hit hard with flooding. Road barely viable! @wcnc pic.twitter.com/BKOZlWrqq9
— Myles Harris (@MylesHarrisTV) September 27, 2024
Others collapsed.
Boone sits at 3,333 feet of elevation, so this level of flooding is extremely rare. Infrastructure is not strong enough to withstand a natural disaster of this magnitude. Although the medium-sized college town has largely returned to a sense of normalcy, you can still feel the effects of Helene nearly two years later. That includes the university.
App State recently began to restore the Varsity Gym floor. The Varsity Gym, which opened in 1968, was the home of Mountaineers basketball and volleyball until 2000. Now it is home to the wrestling program. It also houses the dance department and ROTC.
The old college basketball court was stolen out of the dumpster.
Hand up — I do not know the extent of damage to Varsity Gym. Perhaps the old floor was unsalvageable. Maybe it was a biohazard from the Hurricane flooding. It might’ve been trash.
However, as the renovations got underway, the old hardwood basketball court was discovered underneath the flooring.
Fans immediately suggested that the court, or certain portions of the court, could be auctioned off for purchase. Even if they don’t root for the Mountaineers, who wouldn’t want one of those block As in their man cave?
Nope. The university threw it in the dumpster outside of the gym!
As you could imagine, people got word of the disposed court. They made their way over to the Varsity Gym and took pieces of the hardwood to keep for themselves. It got so bad that App State had to put security next to the dumpsters to stop the looting.
If the wood was not of danger to humans, the university missed out on a very easy fundraising opportunity. I would’ve spent ~$30 for a piece of the old basketball court and I am not an alumnus. Real fans were able to get a piece of history right out of the trash!