Reynold's Coliseum
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William Neal Reynolds Coliseum (opened 1949) is a multi-purpose arena located in Raleigh, North Carolina on the North Carolina State University campus. The arena was built to host a variety of events, including agricultural expositions and NC State basketball games. It is now home to all services of ROTC and several Wolfpack teams, including women's basketball, women's volleyball, women's gymnastics, and men's wrestling. The name was changed to Kay Yow court at Reynolds Coliseum on February 16, 2007. That same night, the Wolfpack upset #2 North Carolina, just two weeks after the men upset #3 North Carolina.
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[edit] History
NC State Alumnus David Clark originally petitioned for the construction of the arena in 1940 after rain had ruined a North Carolina Farmers' Week meeting held in an outdoor facility. The North Carolina General Assembly approved plans for the coliseum and construction began in 1942. The foundation work and structural steel support system was completed by 1943 but construction was stopped due to the United States' involvement in World War II. After the war the university was preoccupied with the building of housing and classroom facilities and the unfinished coliseum was left untouched until construction resumed in 1948. The arena was completed the following year and named in honor of William Neal Reynolds of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The arena was originally intended to seat 10,000 people, but basketball coach Everett Case urged the administration to add an additional 2,400 seats. It was the largest arena in the Southeast for many years.
The first men's basketball game was played on December 2, 1949, against Washington & Lee University and the first women's basketball game was played on December 7, 1974. In 1999 men's basketball moved to the RBC Center. The Wolfpack men have played a December regular-season "heritage" game at Reynolds Coliseum in recent years, and the arena hosted an NIT second-round game against Marist on March 16, 2007.
Reynolds Coliseum was the original site of the ACC men's basketball tournament from 1954–1966, the Dixie Classic tournament from 1949–1960, and the Southern Conference men's basketball tournament (1951-1953). It has hosted the NCAA men's basketball tournament as a Regional site eight times, and as a sub-regional (first and second round games) four times. It has also hosted the women's basketball tournament eleven times, but only one of which as a regional site. The ACC women's basketball tournament was held there twice, in 1979 and 1982 (March 1982, in fact, was a very busy month for the arena - it hosted the ACC women's tournament, NCAA men's sub regional and NCAA women's regional all in succession).
In May 2005, Reynolds Coliseum was damaged by a small fire, which left the entire structure smelling like smoke. Crews quickly restored the structure, and the stadium is currently in good shape after three months of restoration. Renovations were completed in 2005 that added new lighting, a new sound system, and new separate floors for basketball and volleyball. (Because of the unusually long floor area in Reynolds, the volleyball floor is able to fit in the north end of the coliseum perpendicular to the basketball floor. The basketball area of the coliseum is curtained off during volleyball matches.) The new sound system proved to be inadequate, and was reworked in 2008.
[edit] PA Announcer
C. A. Dillon was the Public Address Announcer for the men's basketball games (including the ACC and Dixie Classic basketball tournaments) during its 50-year run. Bob Ferrone started as the PA Announcer for women’s basketball in 1975, the same year Kay Yow began her award-winning 34 year career as coach of the Wolfpack Women. He continued, assisted by his wife Jan, for 27 years rarely missing a game at Reynolds Coliseum. Currently, women's basketball is announced by Ed Funkhouser (who is also the stadium announcer for football) and volleyball is announced by Vance Elderkin.
[edit] Non-NC State events
The arena hosted games for the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association during some but not all of their time in North Carolina from 1969 through 1974.
The arena also hosts annual N.C. State homecoming events, such as concerts featuring the recording artists such as Lonestar, Ludacris, and Crossfade.
[edit] Configuration
The building's arena floor measures 108 x 312 feet with enough seating for 14,000 people. Besides the building's long dimensions, another recognizable feature of the building is the floor-level bleacher seating, which is noticeably separate from the arena's main seating sections, a feature copied in the building of the RBC Center.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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