(10-07-2021 08:25 AM)YesAppCan Wrote:  1)Sorry this is long...
Secret Naval facility in Varsity Gym
Jeff Sprouse
Reporter

Imagine you are a student attending Appalachian in 1969. Chaos is all around. Hawks yell at doves. Nixon is president. And while playing a pick-up game at the new Varsity Gym, underneath you is a classified Naval Emergency Communications Command Post operating 24 hours a day. "How can that be?" you ask. A secret naval facility underneath one of the most used spaces on campus? Well up until 1982, the Navy paid rent on the space. The evidence is still there. Just go down to the Health, Leisure and Exercise Science Department. While the space has been converted to classrooms, the three inch metal doors, disconnected security systems, fire proof vaults and ventilation system still remain. The facility, which operated for 20 years, was an emergency command post. In the event of a domestic war, military personnel would have been operating from the facility. It was stocked with a large supply of emergency food and water. The post was manned by a full-time "Civilian" employee of the Navy who was the only local resident with access to the facility. The Navy originally contacted then president, Dr. Plemmons about utilizing some campus space in 1962. Arrangements were made for the Navy to utilize space in Broom-Kirk Gym until better facilities became available. This occurred in 1968 with the construction of the Varsity Gym. The Navy worked with the gym’s architect on how their facility would be constructed. They had special needs, such as a ventilation system that could filter radioactive particles as well as special lighting and wiring. One wonders if Naval involvement greased the wheels of government in order to obtain the over two million dollars needed for construction. When the gym was completed, it was hailed as a state of the art sports facility, including a never before seen roof system. The facility’s existence was hidden from the general public. In an interview with the Appalachian conducted in 1988, then Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs, Ned Trivette stated, "Those of us who worked with it had a security clearance, and we could not talk about it then." Details of the daily goings on are sketchy. In the attic of the gym was a vast array of antenna. The Navy held yearly drills. Curious faculty and students were turned away from its doors. At press time of the 1988 Appalachian, the Navy had not commented on the facility. In the same interview, Ned Trivette said, "It was a communications facility with radio equipment, lots of files and that was basically it. There’s no secret underworld down there." Whatever its purpose, it was once a closely guarded mystery on campus. Rumors of its existence sparked fear that ASU was a designated target for a Soviet missile strike or a manufacturer of nuclear bombs. If it was just a communications facility, why was its existence such a closely guarded secret? We may never know. Most participants have moved on. There is no reference to it in the University archives. The Navy has no comment and the files are classified.

Yeah I was going to say this. The Varsity Gym had a bunker underneath it (the doors are apparently still there) and it was a communication's hub for the Atlantic Club Fleet.

In that same area are the much fabled steam vent tunnels which some brave students occasionally will go down and explore.