What's your most vivid memory of the University Union

As we prepare for this milestone we invite you to look back and reflect on your own memories of the University Union and share your stories with us. To send your story click here!

Select your decade | 50's | 60's | 70's | 80's | 90's| 2000 |

Tony Morgan BS ‘67
“My memory goes back to what I think was New Year’s Day 1957.  My father, Elmo Morgan, was Vice President for Business at the U, had overseen the construction of the Union and had to make sure everything was ready for the opening and ribbon cutting the next day.  Staffing was a bit thin in those days so he enlisted (drafted) his two sons, Kent (16) and Tony (13), to help clean the place up for dedication ceremonies the next morning.  I remember pushing a dry mop all through the building, getting those marble and wood floors sparkling clean.  I drove my father, now aged 93 and in failing health, past the Union the other week and asked him if he remembered that opening.  He said he did and I sure do—almost 50 years later.”

Hal Collipriest BS ’50
“In those days, we had junior proms in the Union. I went to the prom my freshman year (1943), just before I went into the service. The theme was ‘Gardenias for U,’ and there were gardenias everywhere. Your crossed these little bridges they had built across the stairs, and there was greenery along the bridges and gardenia plants in the entrance, the dance areas, the whole building. Every girl was given a gardenia. That beautiful aroma stayed in the building for days after that.”

Julian Davis ex’57
“For a time, every weekend we had a rock band in the Union. The sound was so loud that the big windows would vibrate. We’d laugh and wonder if one day we’d actually blow the windows out.”

“We had a lot of speakers at the Union: Spiro Agnew, Bobby Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller, Gerald Ford. Spiro Agnew gave a speech when he was running for office, and the next day, there was a Spiro Agnew face on the clock on the outside of the building. Some students must have done it in the middle of the night.”

TOM BACON '59
"It just seems like yesterday that I was the BUSINESS MANAGER OF THE 1957 UTONIAN. For the newer students and Alumni, The Utonian was the year book. Ila Anderson was the EDITOR and we received an ALL AMERICAN status for our publication. We were the first to have offices in the new UNION. We moved from the old to the new. All the facilities in the Union were great.

I loved to bowl and the new bowling lanes were great. Johnny Simper was the bowling pro and we became great friends and I bought my first bowling ball from him and I still have it, it was his and his name is stamped on it. I bowled an average of 8 games a day for 396 days in a row. I wanted to say that I bowled every day for a year. I even got out of my sick bed to bowl, missing class and all.

Being raised in Salt Lake, I found myself living at the Union when not spending my time at the fraternity house. Good old Theron Parmlee became one of my best friends at the UNION. Being involved with all the different student activities, the UNION was a great place to be. I am looking forward to coming back to celebrate and reunite with some old friends and make some new friends as well."

Linda Griffen, U of U Staff
“The Union for me will always be the Huddle (in 1964).”

Ken Burton
“The Huddle was the place in the Union where you could get a 10 cent cup of coffee with 5 cent refills. There were always interesting conversations going on and several on-going card games. We would talk and play Hearts until it was time to go to class, then someone else would step in and pick up your hand and the game would carry on. Friends would introduce you to their friends and your circle would enlarge – kind of like ‘Friendster’ or ‘My Space’ now  – but in person – not virtually”. I remember walking into the cafeteria the day John F. Kennedy was shot and there was complete silence.”

Robert Schafer ‘65
"Two memories of the A. Ray Olpin University Union: The first was in December of 1956. I was a freshman at the U of U. and was invited to join six other students on a tour of the soon to be finished Union. Our tour, along with photographs and glowing comments, was featured in the December 7, 1956 edition of the Daily Utah Chronicle. Appropriately we all "...showed great enthusiasm for the new building."

The second occurred in November of 1963. I had returned to the U of U that fall after serving a mission for the LDS Church and serving in the military. I had just left class in Bennion Hall when I was informed that President Kennedy had been shot. I met my friends at the Union cafeteria. We sat there and listened to the reports of the shooting and the status of the President. It was a noisy place, all chrome and Formica. The ongoing report stopped and it was announced that President John F. Kennedy, the 36th President of the United States, had died. This was followed by solemn music. The cafeteria that had been so noisy just a moment ago was now silent interrupted only by the sounds of crying."           

Anton Rasmussen BFA ‘67
“Remember when Andy Warhol was scheduled to speak at the Union and he sent a fake in his place?”

Ernie Bebb Union Director 1968-1995
“My most vivid memories are from the student unrest in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. There were sit-ins, teach-ins, and burnings of the temporary buildings, and the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) was very active. Some of the more committed and really bright students that I was working with just  couldn’t see anything changing unless they revolted.”

Martha Lauritzen BFA '71
“I remember meeting on the lawn outside of the Olpin Union building in a rally to protest the shootings at Kent State.  This was during a troubling era in our nation's history and university students across the nation were joining together to make a statement about basic human rights and also a plea for tolerance.  My first visit to the Olpin Union Ballroom was as an entering freshman going to hear a recital of University vocal students.  To my mind, they were the finest singers in the world!”

Scott Knudson
“We used to cruise the union in our convertible during pledge week and pick up girls and drive them around campus. I also remember the video games in the basement – Pong, Breakout, Frogger . . . and bowling class. In 1972, I watched ‘A Clockwork Orange’ in the Union Theatre.”

Gary Poll
“In 1975 my girlfriend and I won second place in a Dance Marathon. We won 2 bikes, stereos, all the ice cream we could eat at Ferrells and season tickets to Alta. We sold the Alta tickets so we could get married.”

Tom Whitney BA ‘74
“During the misspent days of my youth, it was not unusual to find a couple of my buddies and me goofing off on the U of U campus. The Union was one of our favorite haunts. Many a Saturday afternoon would find us on the mezzanine immediately west of the ballroom. A faulty door lock would allow access into a banquet room situated directly above what was then the large cafeteria below (not to be confused with the smaller, more hip “Huddle Room” next door) and just below the Panorama Room. There was a small “pie elevator” just large enough to accommodate two delinquent adolescents.

Once packed inside, the third hooligan (usually me) would quietly close the door to the tiny compartment, push the “down” button, and wave goodbye to my friends through the small round window as the elevator packed tightly with anything but pies, was sent to the main kitchen in the cafeteria below. On the main floor, a bell would ring, alerting kitchen personnel that a delivery had arrived. I would then count to 10 before calling the pie elevator back up to the mezzanine for a quick getaway. If I was s second or two late, a cafeteria worker would fling open the door to the pie elevator, scream in horror at the sight of entangled arms and legs, and immediately call for her supervisor.”

Steven Backus BFA '81
In September of 1976 I arrived at the Union Building, a young 17 year old starting my freshman year of college. Upon entering the building from the downstairs first floor north doors one was immediately hit by the smell of greasy hamburgers and french fries. The Huddle was just inside those doors, across from where the convenience store is located now. There were numerous card tables set up, you could always find people playing chess, eating or studying. The atmosphere was always upbeat, there was a constant din of many people talking that is missing now.

There were regulars, unkempt and ever-present and the occasional newbie like me. I thought it was so grown up and avant-garde, one could spend hours just enjoying the vibe.

I remember that first hamburger and fries like it was yesterday instead of 30 years ago. There I was, eating with the big boys, I can't even begin to describe how the great the feeling was. Every generation feels like it's the first to break out, to go against the prevailing conservative attitude of our parents and mine was no exception. We were going to show everyone we could party and still get good grades, that we didn't have to toe the line to succeed in life. I guess that's what we were all doing hanging out at the Huddle, pushing the envelope, seeing how much we could get away with. Every generation does it, eventually learning how far things can be pushed while still passing our classes.

It's surprising to me how much more education is than just going to class. In that way, hanging out at the Huddle was just as important as any part of the educational experience. It's all about learning and growing up. Some of us liked it so much we never left or came back after too long an absence.

Mark Fox BS ‘85
“I started working at the Union information desk when I was a freshman, in 1981. Later that year, another student, Katie Northrup BS’84, started working at the desk. It was just a matter of months before I asked her out. The rest is history. We’ve been married for 18 years and have two children – and we’re all big Ute fans.”

Jay Seegmiller
“I was on a Bowling League and spent many happy hours in the Union bowling alley. Now I’m married and have a family – we’re a Ute family. My wife Michelle attended the U after raising our kids and our daughter Ashley is a current U student.”

From the Marriott Library’s sesquicentennial exhibition
“All of these events [riots, rallies, fire-bombings] left a lasting impression: to this day, campus legend holds that the hilly landscaping around the Union building was put in place to deny rioting students a place to assemble…”

Ashley Seegmiller
“The Union - that’s where you sleep. The furniture is so comfortable.”

Anonymous
“I remember watching the Space Shuttle, Columbia on the TV in the Union when it exploded”

Anonymous
“I was a member of the Bowling Team and have many great memories of the Union. The Union was always a sanctuary for me and a place I felt was a second home.”

Anonymous
“I met my ‘first love’ in the Union. He was working in the bowling center and I was bowling. I spent 5 nights a week there after that!”

Anonymous
“I basically lived at the Union cafeteria – studying and drinking coffee. The Union was the ‘hang out’ – there were always friends there.”