Scoreboard removed from Ohio State's iconic St. John Arena

As far as last baskets go, this was a pretty one.

In front of a not-quite-sellout crowd inside St. John Arena, first-year guard D.J. Carton crossed over his defender on the left wing and cut to the basket. Waiting on the right block, classmate E.J. Liddell was in perfect position as Carton drew his defender and dropped the ball off for a two-handed, powerful dunk with 38.8 seconds remaining as Ohio State finished off an upset challenge from Kent State on Nov. 25, 2019.

Within a minute, the scoreboard hanging over center court bore witness to the final points of a 71-52 win for the No. 10 Buckeyes. Now, Liddell's dunk can also be remembered as the last points in the history of the longtime former home for Ohio State basketball. A series of photos published Tuesday to the program's official website show that the scoreboard for the now-unplayable arena has been lowered and dismantled.

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Although the arena was home for the men's basketball program from the 1956-57 season through 1997-98, the most recent scoreboard was installed in 1987 by the Whiteway Sign Company, which also had installed the Ohio Stadium scoreboard one year prior. Whiteway went out of business in 2014, forcing Ohio State's electronics team to keep the scoreboard running by utilizing any remaining spare parts.

Like the arena itself, the scoreboard weighing 14,000 pounds was no longer fully operational. A water main leak last December has made the playing surface unusable for any further athletic competitions at St. John Arena, relegating the building to status as a weight room for Ohio State athletes as well as the home of the annual Skull Session pep rallies before home football games.

With no more games to be played at the arena, the athletic department made the decision to remove the scoreboard and eliminate the possibility of a freak accident or collapse.

All but 3,000 pounds of the scoreboard's materials are expected to be able to be recycled. But while the center scoreboard will be destroyed, the same isn't true for two of the corner scoreboards. Those will be kept, one at Value City Arena and the other at the Covelli Center, to retain part of the histories of the basketball, gymnastics, wrestling and volleyball programs.

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