A trip to the Greenbrier Tipoff basketball tournament this past weekend brought back memories for many Radford University alum of what it used to be like playing in the old Peters Hall on campus.
The basketball games were played in a unique, intimate setting in one of the banquet halls at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
The Radford University men played Cleveland State and Wright State on Saturday and Sunday.
Both the women and men’s basketball teams played in Peter’s Hall on campus until the opening of the Dedmon Center in 1981.
Former RU female basketball star Pebbles Maynard was at the Greenbrier this week, and yes, she said it gave her goosebumps and flashback to the one year she player in Peter’s Hall.
This is the third year for the event at the Greenbrier, which takes place in the Colonial Ballroom. Ironically, it was RU who played Marshall in the first single game in the “room” in 2023. This year, the tipoff includes two weekends.
RU participated in the Mountain Division, which included Cleveland State, Wright State and Kent State.
The Greenbrier college basketball tournament continues Nov. 21-23 with the River Division of Butler, Virginia, Northwestern and South Carolina making up the elite field.
The banquet hall hosts nine games during the 10-day period including a previous WVU and Duke women’s game.
In comparison, the former Peter’s Hall at RU had a seating capacity of 900. The banquet hall at Greenbrier seated 1,210. A sellout is expected for the second weekend with the UVA crowd buying most of the tickets.
Work started to construct the basketball arena when lights were installed on the 21 ft. tall ceiling. Bleachers arrived shortly after that before the court was put down and baskets put up.
The entire ballroom has 16,128 sq. ft. The resort has also hosted the six Greenbrier-area high schools for a tournament in February, but for the most part, it is a banquet hall.
The facility hosts elegant dinners and, in the past concerts, like Lionel Richie and Lady A.
Once the basketball tournament is completed, organizers say it should take a couple of weeks to turn it back to “normal.”
On the court, RU lost both games. So much for the past. Now those same alum look to the future.
