Beautiful and cozy as the home of ETBU's indoor athletics programs, Ornelas Gymnasium is one of the top basketball/volleyball arenas in the American Southwest Conference.
Ornelas Gymnasium, as a gift from the Ornelas family of Tyler, was built in 1995 and replaced Keys Gymnasium as the home to ETBU basketball. Although Keys still stands as an intramural facility, it is on the east end of the complex that now includes Ornelas Gym on the west side and Dean Healthplex in the middle.
Ornelas Gym has bowl-stype seating, with three levels of seating extending down to the gym floor. The facility includes bleacher seats at floor level, reserved chairback in a mezzanine level and upper level general admission bleachers.
ETBU students are allowed in the floor bleachers, typically across from the Tiger bench, to give the home fans a nice up-close view of the action. It also provides a nice homecourt advantage for the Tigers.
Ornelas Gym has become a tough place to play for visiting teams in the American Southwest Conference. The Tigers went 8-6 in their home facility during the 2007-08 season, and those eight wins all came in conference play. ETBU won eight of its final 10 home contests of the year, including a six-game home winning streak at one point. During that stretch, the Tigers came up with wins against Mississippi College, Texas-Tyler and Texas-Dallas, three teams that finished above them in the overall ASC East Division standings.
Beginning with ETBU's only ASC East Division championship in men's basketball in 2002-03, the Tigers have gone a combined 47-27 at home in the last six seasons. That's a winning percentage of .635 in the "House of Blues." In five of those years, ETBU has won no fewer than eight home games at Ornelas Gym.
In the summer of 2007, the gym floor received a facelift. ETBU's trademark tiger-eyes logo was added to both baselines, and the floor was completely refinished with ETBU, ASC and NCAA logos added.
As part of the complex that includes Ornelas Gym, Dean Healthplex was also constructed in 1995. Built with a gift from Ben and Mary Dean, the healthplex opened on the same day as Ornelas Gym and houses state-of-the-art equipment for physical fitness such as treadmills, stationary bicycles, stairmasters and both free and machine weightlifting stations.
Dean Healthplex also has four racquetball courts.
All healthplex facilities are free and open to ETBU faculty, staff and students. The complex also includes offices for athletic director, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer and volleyball coaches, as well as kinesiology faculty.
