Cal Poly has a rich history in both boxing and wrestling. The school has produced 110 All American wrestlers and ten cal poly hall of fame members. Two of Cal Poly’s distinguished wrestling alumni have moved on to compete in mixed martial arts—former UFC Light Heavyweight champion of the world Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, and Mixed Martial Arts prodigy and WEC fighter Chad Mendes.
Mott Gym was inaugurated in September 1960 and hosted its first match on 1 December 1960, a Cal Poly Mustangs men's basketball game against Whittier College. Cal Poly prevailed 70-69.
The stadium underwent major renovations in 1998. The seating was completely redone and arena-style chairbacks were added to Mott Gym.
Mott Gym also contains the Cal Poly Mustangs trophy case, as well as the Mustang Hall of Fame. For the Cal Poly athletes, men's and women's locker rooms were renovated in 1999 and Mott Gym also houses the Mustang Strength Complex, the Cal Poly Athletics Academic Resource Center, and offices for Cal Poly coaches.
Named after Robert A. Mott, a physical education faculty member and department head from 1946-78. While working at Cal Poly, Mott was also the coach of the Mustangs baseball and men's basketball teams before he was named the P.E. Department head after World War II.
In 2005, Mott Gym hosted the Pac-10 Wrestling Championships. Teams, officials and fans from Arizona State, Boise State, Oregon, UC Davis, Cal Poly, Oregon State, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, Stanford, and Portland State flocked to Mott gym with the total attendance for the two day event reaching 7,738. The Mustangs finished the meet in fourth place and crowned one individual champion, Vic Moreno at 125 pounds.
1997 marked the second time in three years an NBA team held its preseason camp at Mott Gym. In 1995, Mott Gym was the site of the 1995-96 Golden State Warriors training camp. Chris Mullin, Latrell Sprewell, B.J. Armstrong and No. 1 pick Joe Smith put on a show during an open practice to the public drawing a standing room only crowd of over 4000. In 199 the Sacramento Kings conducted their one-week camp at Cal Poly. Like the warriors, the Kings opened doors to the public for an intra-squad scrimmage to conclude camp.
Mott Gym has been home to numerous NCAA playoffs (most recently in 2006, the first and the second round's of NCAA Volleyball Tournament to sold out crowds) and championships over the years, as well as hosting various concerts, exhibitions and sporting events. Names like Eddie Money, The pretenders, The Doors, Ike and Tina Turner, Los Angeles Lakers and Bill Cosby are just a few of the names that have performed at Mott Gymnasium.
In 1980 the men's basketball team hosted New Hampshire College in a Division II NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal. 1998-99 marked the first nationally televised game at Mott Gym as ESPN-2 carried the Cal Poly Idaho game. Several games have been broadcast live on Fox Sports West before capacity crowds
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