Nine years after its opening, McCamish Pavilion has a new pronunciation.
It’s not mih-kay-mish. It’s mih-cam-ish. Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner introduced the new diction Tuesday at a news conference ahead of the Yellow Jackets’ Wednesday night game against Wisconsin in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on their home court.
Pastner introduced the change as he spoke of the Badgers coming to McCamish Pavilion, repeating the new pronunciation and checking with team spokesman Mike Stamus to make sure he was saying it properly.
“It’s not mih-kay-mish anymore,” Pastner said. “It’s mih-cam-ish. It’s been changed.”
Henry “Hank" McCamish was a 1950 Tech grad who made his career in the life insurance business and was a philanthropist whose alma mater was among many recipients of his gifts. He died in 2013 at the age of 84.
The arena is named for the late Henry “Hank” McCamish, whose family provided the lead gift for the $50 million arena, built on the same footprint as Alexander Memorial Coliseum. It opened in November 2012.
McCamish was a Tech grad (1950) who made his career in the life insurance business and was a philanthropist whose alma mater was among many recipients of his gifts. He died in 2013 at the age of 84. Upon his death, the Georgia Tech alumni magazine remembered him as “an innovative businessman and a mentor and role model to many of Atlanta’s business leaders.”
The McCamish family evidently approached Tech officials recently to correct the pronunciation, which has been widely referred to as mih-kay-mish (or muh-kay-mish) since its opening, repeated perhaps millions of times by Tech fans, Jackets players, coaches and others over that time.
“I’m just telling you, that’s the deal,” Pastner said. “So it is mih-cam-ish. It is not mih-kay-mish. So don’t pronounce it mih-kay-mish. Mih-cam-ish.”
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