The college sustained a tragic loss in the fire of Wickes Annex. The alarm sounded at 12:19 a.m. on April 24, 1985 and the fire burned a cluster of nine buildings for nine hours. The loss of financial records, registration files, and other office materials were only part of the
$380,000 loss.

On a positive note for that year, names for two of the three buildings compromising SVSC's instructional facility No.2 were unanimously agreed upon by the Board of control just two days after this fire. Students would pull off reference books off the shelves of the Melvin J. Zahnow Library and will rush off to class in the Maurice E. Brown Hall. Both Zahnow and Brown were members of SVSC's original Board of Control.

Zahnow was a member of the school's governing body from 1965 to 1981. He was one of the eight people appointed by then Governor George Romney, in 1965, to select a site for the campus and establish a construction schedule. A recipient of an honoree doctoral degree in 1982, Zahnow also served on the Harvery Randell Wickes Foundation Board. He was a retired Wicked corporation executive.

Brown who died in 1974, was a former mayor of Saginaw. As a charter member of the Board of Control, he helped guide the successful $8 million bond issue election to build the college. Brown owned and operated the Saginaw Central Oil Company from 1932 to 1972.

Announcement of the building's names was officially made at SVSC graduation ceremonies held Friday, April 26 and Saturday April 27, 1985, in the Cardinal Gymnasium.

The third section of the $25 million expansion project, the Science Building remains unnamed as of today.

Source: The Valley Vanguard, June 11, 1985.

Also, the women's basketball team finished second in the nation.

Related Link:

• Women's Basketball

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Last modified April 24, 2001