Ground was broken in June 1964 on the $1.1 million center, which opened in late 1965 as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Pavilion, with a capacity of 3,800 for basketball.[3][4] The center included a 6-lane 25-yard (23 m) swimming pool.[3] The dedication ceremony on November 21 was attended by 6,000 and included the late president's brother, U.S. SenatorTed Kennedy of Massachusetts.[5][6][7] The first varsity event on December 3 was a basketball game against Washington State, won by the visiting Cougars 106–78 before an overflow crowd of 4,300.[8][9]
Charlotte Martin, the daughter-in-law of former governor Clarence D. Martin,[10] donated $4.5 million in 1987 for the renovation of the complex and it was renamed for her as part of Gonzaga's centennial celebrations on March 17.[4][11][12] Mrs. Martin died less than eight months later, at age 68.[10]
The Martin Centre is the home court of the women's volleyball team, and was home of men's and women's basketball teams until the fall of 2004, when the adjacent $25 million McCarthey Athletic Center (MAC) opened.[13] An exception was the partial hiatus in the 1979–80 season when the men's team returned to its former home of the Spokane Coliseum for WCAC home games only,[12][14][15] The Pavilion was affectionately known as The Kennel, a reference to the enthusiastic capacity crowds for Bulldog basketball,[4] a nickname which transferred to the MAC.
Prior to the Spokane Coliseum's opening in 1955, Gonzaga basketball games were played on campus at "The Cave," a gymnasium in the administration building.[3]
In late 1968, the English rock group Led Zeppelin played their fifth-ever American concert at the Kennedy Pavilion on December 30, opening for Vanilla Fudge and erroneously billed as "Len Zefflin";[16][17] the first known bootleg recording of the band originated from this performance.[4][18] The bands were welcomed to Spokane with frigid sub-zero temperatures.[19]
^"Year-by-Year Results". 2007 Gonzaga University Men's Basketball Media Guide. Gonzaga University Athletics. pp. 123–133. Archived from the original(PDF) on May 24, 2011. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
