The Curry Hicks Cage was a home arena for the UMass Minutemen and Minutewomen basketball teams. The building still stands but is no longer in use by the teams.

It is located in the center core of campus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. After a renovation that was completed in 1985, the arena had a seating capacity of 4,058.

The Cage was preceded by Drill Hall, and succeeded by the Mullins Center for primary use in 1993.

• Status: Former home arena
• Opened: 1931
• First game: January 9, 1932
• Closed: N/A, secondary facility as of 1993
• Capacity: 4,058 (1985 renovation)

The building opened in 1931, and designed by alumnus Clinton Goodwin¹⁾, who graduated from the school in 1916. Goodwin accepted no fees for his designs as an expression of gratitude to the school.²⁾

In 1941, the facility was named for Curry Hicks³⁾, a longtime Director of Athletics and Student Health at the school. Beginning his tenure in 1911, he retired in 1949.⁴⁾ (Tangent: Photo of Hicks in a car, from 1915.)

The first game in the building was on January 9, 1932, against cross-town rival Amherst, with a win for the home team, 17-12.⁵⁾

The NBA played at least one official game in The Cage. On January 4, 1954, the Boston Celtics played the Baltimore Bullets, with Boston prevailing 77-73.⁶⁾⁷⁾⁸⁾

The Cage went through renovations during the 1984-85 season, and the Minutemen played all their home games at the Springfield Civic Center.⁹⁾

The building under initial construction, looking at the building's eastern facade.

Commerative plaque outside the building's eastern-side door.

With the Mullins Center ready for use in early 1993, the last game in The Cage was scheduled for January 29, 1993. In a creative marketing move, UMass scheduled the game against Southwest Louisiana, nicknamed The Rajun Cajuns. The game was dubbed The Final Rage.

The Minutemen went on to close the building in style, with a 84-74 win over the Rajun Cajuns.

Overall, UMass went 359-212 (.629) at The Cage from 1932-1993.

For several years after the Mullins Center opened, sellout crowds (of 9,493) were the norm. In the first decade of the 2000s, as wins became harder to come by, crowds at Mullins started to shrink. Some fans began to suggest having a “retro” game back at The Cage.

UMass officials first obliged the requests in 2007, as one of the two exhibition games in the 2007-08 season was held at The Cage. The Minutemen beat Concordia (NY), 107-80. Since then, official games have also been played at The Cage.

The Minutemen also regularly used The Cage as a practice facility, prior to the opening of the John Francis Kennedy Champions Center in 2015.

Inside The Cage on 12/12/2021. Zoom in and you can see a broken panel on the scoreboard, and a Xavier banner still hanging. Xavier left the Atlantic 10 in 2013. Photo courtesy @juliaamc5

With the 20-plus win seasons in the early 2010s, crowds at the Mullins Center were routinely exceeding Cage capacity. In the late 2010s and early 2020s, as the team struggled for wins again, crowds dipped back within Cage numbers, and some fans revived the talk of having another throwback game at The Cage.

Such a possibility seems unlikely, as more money has since been spent on upgrades to technology and amenities in the Mullins Center, and deterioration to The Cage would require additional funding to get it back into game-ready condition.

2022: The Cage is now being used as a practice facility for the UM track teams. There is also a proposal to further renovate the building and make it more appropriate for track practice.
2023: UM has received a $2MM donation to move the track practice facility project forward.¹⁰⁾

Track athletes practice in The Cage on 11/7/2022. As a reminder of how UM has not maintained the venue for basketball purposes, note the Temple banner still hanging in the rafters. Temple left the Atlantic 10 Conference in 2013. UMassHoops.com photo

• Curry Hicks Cage on Wikipedia
• http://www.umass.edu/physicalplant/memorials/buildings/hicks.html
• http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/youmass/doku.php?id=buildings:c:curryhicks