SLIPPERY ROCK — John Tabisz remembers walking into the Slippery Rock High School gymnasium for the first time in 1979.

"They were playing Knoch and you couldn't get anywhere near the gym," Tabisz said. "I ended up standing three rows deep behind people standing to watch the game. It was my first exposure to The Rock Box. They had a pep band playing. It was unbelievable."

Tabisz went on to coach the Slippery Rock girls basketball program in the Rock Box — the name given to the quaint gymnasium — in two stints that covered 17 years.

But the Rock Box, which was home to Slippery Rock teams for 55 seasons and was one of the more intimidating venues for opposing squads because of its cramped confines, hosted its last basketball game last week.

After the Slippery Rock girls team beat Oil City 49-33 last Thursday, the final varsity contest in the gym, senior players cut down the nets as souvenirs.

Next season, a $6.5 million project will yield a 1,000-seat, 90-foot basketball court with locker rooms, classrooms, storage areas, a wrestling room, fitness center and concession stand.

But the memories, Tabisz said, will never die.

His fondest one was at the end of the 1993-94 season when the Rockets hosted rival Grove City. The game was for the conference title and Slippery Rock was poised to unseat the Eagles.

The game was sold out.

"It was electric," Tabisz said. "It was so loud, I had to make flash cards with our offensive sets on it. I have a loud voice, and no one could hear me. It gave me goose bumps."

The charm of the Rock Box lies in its intimacy. The stands are mere feet from the court and the floor itself is smaller than a normal floor.

And Slippery Rock has been known for its rabid fans.

But the court itself became an asset for the Rockets basketball teams over the years.

"It's like something out of 'Hoosiers,'" Tabisz said. "You have a foot, foot and a half between the first seat of the bleachers and the floor. If you aren't careful on the wings, you can step out of bounds while shooting a 3-pointer."

The cramped court allowed both the boys and girls teams to play defenses designed to make penetrating the lane much more difficult.

Tabisz remembers using a 2-3 zone to frustrate more than one team at the Rock Box.

"We could cover sideline to sideline," Tabisz said. "That gym benefits a team that has size."

Former boys coach Chris Burtch also used the Rock Box to his advantage during his coaching days at Slippery Rock.

"No question that there were certain things you knew you were going to be able to do to stay in the game because of that gym," Burtch said.

That included pressing.

With so little room to maneuver, the press and the half-court trap became big weapons.

Burtch also used the gym size as a sixth man at times, bottling up teams with superior talent to stay in the game and pull it out in the end.

One such game happened at the end of Burtch's first season in 2000-01, when the Rockets upset Sharon at the Rock Box.

Sharon boasted three Division-I athletes, including current Indianapolis Colts cornerback Marlin Jackson.

After falling behind big early, the Rockets rallied and took a lead, then packed into a zone to frustrate Sharon.

It worked.

Burtch has a unique perspective of the Rock Box, having played in it for six years through junior high and high school at Slippery Rock, and then coaching in it.

"It was so much more for me than just a gym," Burtch said. "I basically grew up in the Rock Box. It's a dying bread of homecourt advantage."

Current Slippery Rock coach Sean Strickland spent two years acclimating himself with the smaller court.

He runs a motion offense, so he is happy to move into a more modern and spacious home.

"When you're trying to kill the clock, the Rock Box feels like a Cracker Jack box," he said.

No one knows for sure exactly where the name "Rock Box" originated. It is thought it was conjured by former boys coach Denny King in the late '70s.

"He was innovative like that," said former Slippery Rock athletic director and current track and field coach Mike Kish. "He was always looking for ways to stir up school spirit."

Whether or not King was the originator of the moniker, the Rock Box will go down as one of the most intriguing places to play, coach or watch a basketball game.

"It has a storied history," Tabisz said. "The best advantage was the dead spots in the old floor. The ball would hit and wouldn't come back up. We knew where the dead spots were. Some people say since they built the gym, they never changed the light boxes.

"It was a great home."