Bilsky: The muscle of U. athletics

Bilsky, 48, first made a name for himself at Penn as an undergraduate from 1968 to 1971, when he was a star guard on the basketball team. These days, he has been working to maintain the highest level of student interest in Penn men's basketball. A popular tradition at Penn for several decades has been waiting on line all night to get the best seats for men's basketball season tickets. When Bilsky began his position overseeing all Penn varsity sports and recreation programs in July 1994, one of his first -- and most popular -- acts was to make the line more orderly and fun for students, partly in response to a near-riot in 1993, when students were trampled and one suffered a concussion. Among Bilsky's top priorities and accomplishments have been fundraising, improving athletic facilities and establishing a University of Pennsylvania Athletic Hall of Fame. In an effort to improve the University's recreation facilities -- which have long been seen as woefully inadequate -- Bilsky has been one of the prime movers behind the announcement of plans to renovate part of Gimbel Gymnasium into a fitness center and possibly build a recreation fieldhouse at the east end of campus. The new Gimbel fitness center is set to open by the end of the summer, and will include a state-of-the-art aerobics center, as well as a new weight room. Students will have to pay $125 per year to use it.