Gersten Pavilion

Gersten Pavilion is the basketball arena of the Loyola Marymount Lions in Los Angeles, California. Known informally as 'Hank's House' in tribute to former star Hank Gathers, it is the home court for LMU men's and women's basketball and volleyball. Its intimate size, seating well under 4,000, gives it a close, loud atmosphere unusual for a Division I program in a major market. A plaque honoring Gathers on the arena wall keeps his memory present at every game.

The pavilion opened in 1981 and hosted its first games starting in January 1982. It is forever tied to March 4, 1990, when star forward Hank Gathers collapsed on the court during a West Coast Conference tournament game and died of cardiomyopathy shortly after, a tragedy that shook college basketball nationally. The high-scoring, run-and-gun Lions teams built around Gathers and Bo Kimble reached the 1990 NCAA Elite Eight in the emotional aftermath of his death. That season and its tragedy remain central to the building's identity decades later.