HAMMOND, Ind. – The Purdue University Calumet Fitness Center reached a significant milestone in its history today with the 25th anniversary of its first opening.
The Fitness Center opened for the first time on August 18, 1986 as a joint initiative between the university and the Hammond Clinic. The university contracted the part-time services of two exercise physiologists from the Hammond Clinic’s Corporate Fitness Program, John Bobalik and Rob Jensen, to help start up and oversee the operations of the facility.
“The Fitness Center has come a long way since the doors first opened 25 years ago”, said Bobalik. “The conversion of two racquetball courts to a state-of-the-art weight room; the transition of two classrooms to a new specialty room and the use of the Fitness Center as an academic lab for physical activity classes and fitness management students are just a few of the changes that reflect the growth and development of the facility over the years.”
During the facility’s first year the university put together a pilot group of 50 employees to complete a total fitness plan that centered around the Aerobic Super Circuit. 20 of those original 50 participants are still members of the Fitness Center today, including long-time PUC administrator John Friend.
“Having been involved for 25 years, it is incredible the amount of devoted individuals who still regularly work out at the Fitness Center,” said Friend. “I am still very proud to have been a part of the early development of this fine facility.”
The facility also serves as a multi-faceted area on a campus, including its evolution into an academic laboratory with the help of Bobalik and HTM department head Mike Flannery. Numerous classes, internships and labs centered on the Fitness Center have made the university a recruiting pipeline for corporate and healthcare fitness programs across the region.
The development has not been limited to the addition of academic programs or improvements to the facility’s infrastructure. The Fitness Center staff has consistently pursued outreach opportunities in the local community, administrating the immensely popular Fall Frolic and Spring Fling races on campus, serving as the exercise site for the Silver Sneakers program as well as the staff’s former partnership with East Chicago and Hammond public schools to aid their wellness programs.
The Fitness Center is a comprehensive, multi-dimensional physical fitness training facility designed to service Purdue Calumet students, faculty, staff and people from the surrounding communities. The facility features state-of-the-art equipment, convenient hours and a professionally degreed and certified staff of exercise physiologists, who are available in the facility at all times to assist members with their programs or to answer questions.
