Western Hall Getting New Look

Friday, September 08, 2023 | By: WIU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

Gallery: (9-8-2023) Western Hall Floor

MACOMB -- Banners and logos from new schools and conferences are not the only changes coming to Western Hall this year. To go along with the Leathernecks move to the Ohio Valley Conference, the floor at Western Hall is getting a facelift with new paint, new logos, and a new finish to help usher in the new era of Western Illinois Athletics.

"We continue to make little changes as we move into the Ohio Valley Conference," WIU Director of Athletics Paul A. Bubb said. "But this is a bit more eye-catching of a change that was needed and is coming at an opportune time."

Wayne Smith, owner of Smith Hardwood and Flooring in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been tasked with doing the floor and is quickly getting it ready for play.

"We'll finish painting today and tomorrow, then we'll put the finish on and that's it," Smith said. "It's a 24-hour window from when you paint it to when to when you can put the finish on without touching it. After the three hours we get done painting, then we can put the finish on and then every three hours between coats, then we can put another coat on and wait and put another coat on and wait. The process these days goes fairly fast."

Smith is no stranger to doing basketball and volleyball courts, working all over the Midwest. He even has experience in Macomb, previously replacing the floor of Western Hall.

"I've been doing it close to 40 years, I was here, when we cut out the old parquet floor with my old crew," he said. "I have my two sons with me now, so I pulled out the old floor here, 2010 or 2012 I think. I've lost track of how many gyms I've been, but I look up and see the other school banners and usually there are always about three or four places that look familiar."

Originally scheduled to be completed over the summer, scheduling conflicts pushed the work back until this week. To allow ample time for the finish to cure, the Leathernecks volleyball match against Lindenwood, originally scheduled for September 20^th in Macomb, has been moved to Lindenwood. The Leathernecks will return to host Chicago State on Tuesday, October 3 before beginning OVC home play against Little Rock on Saturday, October 7.

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