Don Owen: Debut of new arena in 2008 revealed NKU’s impressive growth with memorable visit from powerful Louisville
L ooking back at it, the night of Nov. 8, 2008, emphatically revealed the impressive growth of Northern Kentucky University and the impact of intercollegiate athletics. The roads in Highland Heights were jammed with vehicles headed to The Bank of Kentucky Center. Unless you were on the pass list, parking on campus was a nightmare after 5 p.m. Why? Folks from all over the region were gathering to see NKU play host to the University of Louisville in the first-ever college basketball event in the new facility. Yes, the same basketball program that began its existence without a home floor in 1971 was welcoming legendary head coach Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals to open NKU’s new 9,400-seat arena. Who could’ve imagined this in 1971, when then-Northern Kentucky State College met Calvary College inside Newport High School’s small gym in the Norsemen’s debut as a basketball program? But it really happened. A raucous crowd of 8,408 — most of them wearing the black and gold of NKU — s