“To every thing there is a season …a time to break down and a time to build up.” Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2

At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 17, there will be a time to say farewell to an old “friend” before it is razed for the building up of a structure for these times.

Bill Hopper, president of the Troy University Alumni Association, said Sartain Hall has been a part of the Troy University landscape for more than a half century. Tens of thousands of students and townspeople have memories of “taking P.E.” there and of games won and lost there.

Basketball history was made at Sartain Hall on January 12, 1992. Troy State outscored  DeVry 258 to 141, in the highest-scoring men’s basketball game in National Collegiate Athletic Association history, regardless of division classification. That record is considered unbeatable.

“History was made at Sartain Hall that night,” Hopper said. “But many memorable games were played there and it’s a place where memories were made.”

Memories of graduations, of concerts, of rallies, of dates and dances. Memories of good times and sad times, times of flags at half-staff and of flag-draped caskets. Some ties to the “the gym” will be loose, others very strong.

“There was a time when Sartain Hall was a hub of campus activity so most all students were in and out of there many times,” Hopper said. “The Troy University Alumni Association wants to offer an opportunity for people to come and visit Sartain Hall one last time, to share memories or just reminisce.”

The Troy University Alumni Association will host the reception on Tuesday as an opportunity for the university’s extended community to say goodbye to Sartain. The reception will be a very informal event – a come-and-go, so you can spend as much or as little time as you want, sharing memories and taking a last walk-through of the gymnasium Hopper said.

A tent will be set up outside Sartain with refreshments desirable for a warm summer evening. Photos may be taken, just for old times sake.