Pan American Center 4.96

Pan American Center is a multi-purpose arena in Las Cruces, New Mexico, located on the campus of New Mexico State University. The arena has a current seating capacity of 12,482 people.The arena serves as home of the New Mexico State Aggies Men's and Women's Basketball and Women's Volleyball teams.The arena hosted the 2007 and 2008 Western Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments, as well as the 2007 WAC Volleyball Tournament.ConstructionBy the late 1950s the need for a new and larger on-campus arena at what was then New Mexico A&M had become evident. As the school and its athletic programs grew, tiny and antiquated Williams Gymnasium, built in 1938 had become woefully inadequate. After Las Cruces High School opened a new campus less than one mile from A&M's campus in 1957, the Aggies began to play many of their home games in the high school's new 3,000-seat gymnasium.When alumnus Lou Henson returned to the school—which by then had been renamed New Mexico State—as head coach in 1966 and quickly began building the basketball program into a perennial NCAA Tournament participant, the push for a new facility began in earnest, and the next year the New Mexico State Legislature approved a $22 million capital outlay program that included provisions for a new arena at NMSU (the same bill also funded construction of NMSU's student union building). Construction of the arena cost $3.5 million, and the building was inaugurated on November 30, 1968 with a 95-89 victory over Colorado State. The facility's name was suggested by former NMSU vice president Paul Rader for its location just off Interstate 25, also known as the Pan American Highway.