When the St. Joe’s basketball teams take the court this fall, they will do so on a brand new floor design.
The court features a two toned silhouette of a hawk, that stretches the width of the court. The east baseline reads ‘The Hawk Will Never Die’, while ‘Hawk Hill – Philadelphia’ is written on the west baseline, two expressions that the team in charge of the redesign wanted to emphasize as a representation of the St. Joe’s brand.
The team behind the redesign was a collaboration of the president’s office, Jill Bodensteiner J.D., director of athletics, Amanda Hall, the associate athletics director for business operations and facilities, and the Office of Marketing Communications, specifically Ryan Starr, creative services director, who came up with the design for the court.
“I just wanted it to be impactful,” Starr said. “If we’re going to go big, let’s go big. Let’s do something that people are going to notice and that people are going to appreciate. We want people, when they come in here, to have that sense of pride and see this as Hawk Hill and the home of the Hawks. What better way to do that than looking down on the court and seeing it?”
Starr was given free reign to test new designs, saying that he had about six or seven options before the team settled on this one. However, there was one part that Bodensteiner and Reed wanted to be included.
“I do think there was at some point a conscious, ‘we want to rebrand this as Hawk Hill,’” Starr said. “Everyone that’s on campus already does, but we want it to be broader. Being intrinsically part of Philadelphia was important to us.”
For Starr, who is in his second year at the position, and Hall, who is in her first year, the overhaul was no small task. The Philadelphia Freedoms tennis team called Michael J. Hagan ’85 Arena home for the summer and finished their season Aug. 3, and the redesign began on Aug. 5. The new court was finished 11 days later. However, the time crunch wasn’t the only pressure, Hall said.
“Knowing the student athletes, this is what they’re going to see when they get on campus and it can make or break,” Hall said. “That’s a massive weight on your shoulders. Just wanting to pour all of our effort into something that they’d be proud and excited to play on was important.”
Although Hall said the summer was admittedly tedious at times, she recognizes that despite her effort, it will be difficult to please everyone.
“I’m fully acknowledging that it’s polarizing,” Hall said. “Some people are going to love it, some people are going to hate it, but everybody’s going to notice it, and everybody’s going to know it’s St. Joe’s.”
As the faces of St. Joe’s athletics are changing, so too are the facilities.
“From an athletics standpoint I think it was pretty intentional in knowing that a fresh look was important,” Hall said. “We’re known as a basketball school and we wanted to own and embrace that in light of the transition.”
While the reveal was met with many positive reactions according to Jack Jumper, Associate Director for Athletic Communication, the team knows that the true test will be when the Hawks take the court against Bradley University on Nov. 5.
“It got a really good reception by and large on Instagram and social media,” Jumper said. “It started to get out a little bit, but we wanted to make sure the timing was right so everybody could see it.”
Basketball is an integral part of St. Joe’s, according to Hall, and has become an optimal way to market the university itself to a larger audience.
“That first game of the season when it’s being broadcast to thousands and thousands of people, they are going to get a visual symbol of the new momentum at St. Joe’s,” Gail Benner, public relations director said. “Internally everybody knew it as Hawk Hill, but this is kind of a way to bridge that externally to Philadelphia and own our location and our neighborhood.”
