The acoustics inside Evangel University’s Ashcroft Center might not be conducive to perfect harmony from a quartet or the horns and percussion from a pep band. But play a basketball game inside the 57-year-old gym?
Now you’re talking about a real home-court advantage.
Evangel men’s basketball coach Bert Capel played in the facility two decades ago, helping the Valor win an NAIA Division II national championship in 2002. On most game nights, a capacity gathering of 1,200 fans showed up.
It often sounded more like 12,000.
“I’d be in the dorm next to here and the women’s game would be going on,” Capel said. “I’d walk over during the women’s game and you could hear the crowd from outside the arena. It was always good.
“Now the acoustics, as far as the P.A. and that stuff, it can be tough to understand what’s being said because it’s bouncing off the walls. But when you make big shots or in a big game, it gets really loud in here.”
One big, loud party remains
Soon, the sounds of silence will take root. Evangel’s new Valor Center is under construction just west of the Ashcroft Center and is scheduled to open next basketball season.
But there is one big, loud party remaining.
Evangel’s “Last Dance” celebration is set for Saturday, Feb. 24, as the Evangel teams play host to Oklahoma Wesleyan. The women’s game is set for 1 p.m. with the men’s game at 3 in the final regular-season games in the old building, which opened in 1967.
In addition to senior day activities, a special tribute to honor the legacy of the Ashcroft family will take place and Steve Jenkins, who retired as men’s coach in 2021 after 39 seasons with a record of 692-542, will receive a “Lifetime Achievement Award” at halftime of the men's game. Several former players from both the men’s and women’s teams will be on hand.
Capel said it will be emotional, though it’s tempered a bit because his Valor are guaranteed to host at least one game in the upcoming Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference postseason tournament.
“There are a lot of memories,” Capel said. “I don’t have one in particular that sticks out, but maybe the crowds. It used to be packed when we played. It still gets that way at times. Probably not as much, but those memories of students and the fun stand out.”
‘...the history is something you feel, every time you step on the court.'
For fifth-year senior forward Josh Pritchett, it’s not only a chance to celebrate his final regular-season home game but also an opportunity to pay tribute to the legacy of Evangel basketball.
Pritchett laughed when asked about the amplified noise, calling it one of the endearing traits of playing at home.
“When you get out there playing, it feels like it’s packed even when there’s not a full crowd all the time,” Pritchett said. “It’s loud. Just the history behind it. They won a national championship.
“Just all the atmosphere and the history is something you feel, every time you step onto the court.”
Pritchett said his favorite memory of playing in Ashcroft Center was a comeback victory two seasons ago in the Heart of America Athletics Conference tournament over a big rival.
“We beat Benedictine and the student section rushed the court,” Pritchett said. “Everyone was super hyped.”
‘Now is a time... to grow the facilities'
Capel said it’s a mixed bag of feelings about closing the chapter on the old and moving into the new era.
“Every time I park, I’ll slow down and picture what it’s going to be like,” Capel said of the Valor Center. “We’ve had a couple of tours from the contractors. You try to get an idea. All the walls aren’t up yet, but I think they’ve done a good job of taking their time. They’ve tried to think of every little detail to make it successful.
“Everything is good about having a new arena, but you hope some of those things that made this place special will find its way over there. Every arena has its special things, but the loudness part of it made it pretty cool here.”
Capel said even though there has been a lot of planning, the Valor Center will take some time to organically develop its own identity. He’s already been able to use the new building, which is expected to seat slightly more than Ashcroft, while recruiting.
“Nowadays kids like playing in newer, nicer places,” Capel said. “Sometimes they make their decisions based on that. Obviously a lot of players came here over the years, not based on what the arena looks like.
“I think Evangel athletics in general has always been good. Now is a time, not just in basketball but in general, to grow the facilities and I think the better the facilities get the better the program is going to be.”
Team chemistry coming together for Valor
The timing of the big finale at Ashcroft seems to be a good one because the Valor (16-9 overall and 14-6 KCAC) is playing its best basketball of the season. They take an eight-game winning streak into a Feb. 21 visit to Ottawa (Kansas) University.
Pritchett, the team’s leading scorer at 15.7 per game, said it’s been about the chemistry coming together after a sluggish first half of the season.
“It’s been about how to play more connected as a team instead of as individuals,” Pritchett said.
Capel said that’s accurate, even if it took longer than he envisioned. Evangel returned nine seniors from a second straight NAIA National Tournament qualifier but wasn’t “locked in” for a good chunk of the season.
“I don’t think the senior leadership was as good as it needed to be,” he said. “We had a moment in January where it was, ‘We can either step up and start playing like we can or the season’s gonna be a long one and not end very well.’
“I give them credit. It wasn’t one game. We won some tough ones, won an overtime game and it continued to grow. As streaks grow, they start buying in better and we become a better unit.
“I thought we’d be here, it just took us a little longer.”
The Last Dance at Ashcroft
Evangel vs. Oklahoma Wesleyan: women’s game 1 p.m., men’s game 3 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 24.
Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased online. Kids 12 and under are free. Sales end at 4 p.m. Feb. 23.
Evangel women's basketball is also selling t-shirts ($15) and sweatshirts ($30) to help commemorate the final season in Ashcroft Center. They are available at the game or online.
About the Ashcroft Center
The Evangel Gymnasium was renamed the Dr. J. Robert Ashcroft Activities Center in 1986. Ashcroft was the president of Evangel from 1958 to 1974. It has 1,200 seats. The original gym seating arrangement contained nearly 1,800 seats, but a renovation to the mezzanine level added chair-back seats on the south side and a video and multifunctional area on the north side. Construction on the gym began in 1965 and was completed a year later by DeWitt-Newton, Inc. The building was designed after an airport terminal that had been constructed in Texas. The first game in the newly completed structure was against Missouri Valley College on Nov. 17, 1967. Evangel defeated Missouri Valley 100-78.
About the Valor Center
The 70,000-square-foot state-of-the-art Valor Center complex will host the university’s basketball, volleyball, football and soccer programs. The arena portion of the facility is 40,000 square feet and will include a home-game court, two full cross courts for practices and tournaments, a VIP lounge and box suites, a concourse with concessions and gathering spaces, support and staffing offices, locker rooms and meeting rooms. Seating is expected to be around 1,300.
