The mythical Refrigerator will rise again. The Community of Madrid approved this week an economic improvement package for different institutes in the region, which includes a investment of 4 million euros to IES Ramiro de Maeztu for the construction of a new pavilion to replace the one that sunk in January 2021 due to the Philomena storm and that it will have a new air conditioning with renewable energy.
In addition, various improvements will be made to the educational center, which will have three new computer rooms and accessibility improvements. The bidding process for the works will go out next week. Once awarded, the project will start up throughout this year.
La Nevera was officially inaugurated in 1957, almost ten years after the foundation of the Estu, under the name of Campo Nuevo. Time left that name in oblivion, although the reason for his new baptism is not known for sure. He could be the image of Barcelona player Thomas with gloves to play (1966-67). It is not known. What is clear is that it came to his hair, if we look at the words of the mythical DÃaz-Miguel, collected on the collegiate club’s website: “The air from the Sierra hits the venue directly, so it never needed air conditioning; even gossips say that technicians from the university Institute of Cold came to the Refrigerator to study its structure and learn how to freeze without the need to use electricity.
It was the club’s first pitch of its own. Built without a roof, in 1966 it had to be provided with one due to the obligations of the championship, which allowed the last game of the season to be televised live, that Estudiantes-Real Madrid with Emilio Seguro as the legendary hero: one of his baskets gave the schoolboys victory (77-75) and handed over the League to Joventut to the detriment of their eternal rival. “That basket is one of my best memories in the Refrigerator,” Bufalá recalled for AS in 2021. “Also the day I started at the age of 11 with the second team, the times we have beaten Madrid… They are indelible feelings” .
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The field, within the bowels of Ramiro de Maeztu, the school on which Estudiantes emerged in 1948, has undergone multiple renovations during its life. The dirt field that surrounded the stands began to have a cement surface, then the roof, the walls, the parquet… Even painted chessboards in the stands.
Pure history of Spanish basketball that suffered the worst of fates at dawn from January 10 to 11, 2021 when the roof could not bear the weight of the 60 centimeters of snow that accumulated due to storm Philomena. The fall of the upper part directly affected the structure of the pavilion, which had to be completely demolished at a cost of 300,000 euros.
The fall of this collegiate emblem brought with it multiple messages of support for the club and sadness, and a big problem: it was used for physical education classes for students from RamÃrez and for training sessions for the different lower categories of Estudiantes (the sports center is property of the institute, therefore dependent on the CAM, and shares it with the club). Without the Refrigerator, the college homegrown players have experienced a true diaspora that seems to have its days numbered… even if it is more than two years after all the political promises to set up one of the great student jewels.