Alexander Memorial Coliseum
Encyclopedia
The Alexander Memorial Coliseum (also nicknamed The Dome or the Thrillerdome) is an indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia
, United States
. It is the home of the basketball
teams of Georgia Tech
and hosted the Atlanta Hawks
of the NBA
from 1968–1972 and again from 1997–1999. Tech's women's volleyball team occasionally uses the facility as well, primarily for NCAA tournament games and other matches that draw crowds that would overflow the O'Keefe Gymnasium.
.) The arena's original capacity was 6,996 seats, though crowds larger than that sometimes assembled for big games. It has undergone three major renovations. In 1986, 2150 seats were added in what was previously an upper walkway around the rim of the arena. In 1989–1990, 750 seats were added in the endzone areas. The last major renovation was during 1995–1996, prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics. The floor was lowered four feet to increase seating, twelve luxury suites were added, and many of the benches were replaced with chairback seats. Sightlines were also improved for those sitting in the first few rows of the side of the court opposite the benches.
Connected to the south end of the Coliseum are the Luck Building, constructed in the 1980s, and the Coliseum Annex, which was constructed slightly before the Coliseum itself. The Coliseum Annex houses locker rooms, a practice gym, and the offices of Georgia Tech Facilities. The top floor of the Coliseum Annex housed the studios of radio station WGST prior to 1975 and the student radio station, WREK
, from 1978 to 2004.
The building was named for William A. Alexander
in 1956. Alexander was the Tech football coach from 1920-1944 and the third athletic director (after John W. Heisman); his tenure as coach included the 1929 Rose Bowl team. The facility was known as the Alexander Memorial Coliseum at McDonald's Center for 10 seasons from 1996 to 2005 in conjunction with a $5.5 million donation to help pay for the mid-1990s renovation. Today, the arena seats 9,191. A McDonald's
restaurant was added during the last renovation but has since closed. The "golden arches" on the signs remain pursuant to their corporate donation. On January 20, 1996, the first game of the McDonalds era was marked by students wearing paper crown-shaped hats of rival Burger King
in protest.
During the 1996 Summer Olympics
, the arena hosted the Olympic boxing tournament
.
The Coliseum played host to the Atlanta Hawks
after they moved from St. Louis
while The Omni
was under construction, and again between 1997 and 1999, after the Omni was demolished and while Philips Arena
was being built on its site. During the latter period, the Hawks played most of their home games at the Georgia Dome
with the remainder at the Coliseum.
For most of its life, the Coliseum has hosted many rounds of the Georgia High School Association men's and women's state tournament games. The first integrated high school state tournament in Georgia history was played there before record overflow crowds in 1967.
The arena received its nickname, "The Thrillerdome," from former Tech color radio announcer and current ESPN broadcaster Brad Nessler
, for the many close games it witnessed during the 1983-84 season. Tech students also refer to the arena as "The Tit" and following the McDonalds sponsored renovation, many students jokingly called the dome "McTit" .
On February 21, 2008, the men's basketball game between Georgia Tech and the University of Virginia
was cancelled due to a leak in the roof that was caused by hard rainfall that had accumulated over the day. The decision to cancel the game was based on the fact that officials at the game could not find where the water was coming through and because officials had no way to stop it. The game was delayed for about a half-hour, and then ultimately postponed until March 3, 2008.
On March 14, 2008, a tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta, causing damage to the CNN Center
, Philips Arena
, and Georgia Dome
. During the weekend, the SEC
was set to play at the Georgia Dome
on Thursday through Sunday. The tornado struck while the third of four quarterfinal games was in overtime. While that game was completed, SEC officials decided not to risk playing the fourth. Later that night, the conference decided to move the 2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
to the smaller Coliseum, including the championship game. Due to the smaller capacity, only players' families, school officials, credentialed media and 400 fans from each school were allowed to attend the remaining games.
On October 19, 2010, Georgia Tech announced that Alexander Memorial Coliseum would undergo a $45 million renovation and would be renamed Hank McCamish Pavilion in honor of a $15 million donation from the McCamish family. During the renovation, Georgia Tech's basketball teams will play their 2011–2012 games at Philips Arena
or Gwinnett Arena.
, Atlanta's major Interstate thoroughfare. It is just south of 10th Street, on the northeast corner of the Georgia Tech campus.
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is the home of the basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
teams of Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
and hosted the Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
of the NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
from 1968–1972 and again from 1997–1999. Tech's women's volleyball team occasionally uses the facility as well, primarily for NCAA tournament games and other matches that draw crowds that would overflow the O'Keefe Gymnasium.
Description
The 270 feet (82.3 m) Alexander Coliseum opened in 1956 at the intersection of 10th Street and Fowler on the northeast end of the Georgia Tech campus. It served as a replacement for the Third Street Gymnasium (later known as the Heisman Gym) on the campus of Georgia Tech, an 1,800 seat arena opened just eighteen years before. (That gym was demolished in 1994 to make way for the expansion of the north stands at Bobby Dodd StadiumBobby Dodd Stadium
Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue at Techwood Drive on the campus of Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, who completed the 2011 season with a loss to rival UGA...
.) The arena's original capacity was 6,996 seats, though crowds larger than that sometimes assembled for big games. It has undergone three major renovations. In 1986, 2150 seats were added in what was previously an upper walkway around the rim of the arena. In 1989–1990, 750 seats were added in the endzone areas. The last major renovation was during 1995–1996, prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics. The floor was lowered four feet to increase seating, twelve luxury suites were added, and many of the benches were replaced with chairback seats. Sightlines were also improved for those sitting in the first few rows of the side of the court opposite the benches.
Connected to the south end of the Coliseum are the Luck Building, constructed in the 1980s, and the Coliseum Annex, which was constructed slightly before the Coliseum itself. The Coliseum Annex houses locker rooms, a practice gym, and the offices of Georgia Tech Facilities. The top floor of the Coliseum Annex housed the studios of radio station WGST prior to 1975 and the student radio station, WREK
WREK
WREK is the radio station staffed by the students of the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is located at 91.1 MHz and on channel 17 on the Georgia Tech cable TV network, GTCN...
, from 1978 to 2004.
History
William Alexander (football coach)
William Anderson Alexander was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1920 to 1944, compiling a record of 134–95–15. Alexander's 1928 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have been recognized as national...
in 1956. Alexander was the Tech football coach from 1920-1944 and the third athletic director (after John W. Heisman); his tenure as coach included the 1929 Rose Bowl team. The facility was known as the Alexander Memorial Coliseum at McDonald's Center for 10 seasons from 1996 to 2005 in conjunction with a $5.5 million donation to help pay for the mid-1990s renovation. Today, the arena seats 9,191. A McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
restaurant was added during the last renovation but has since closed. The "golden arches" on the signs remain pursuant to their corporate donation. On January 20, 1996, the first game of the McDonalds era was marked by students wearing paper crown-shaped hats of rival Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
in protest.
During the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
, the arena hosted the Olympic boxing tournament
Boxing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
-Qualification:The following tournaments were used as qualification tournaments for boxing at the 1996 Summer Olympics.Africa* All-Africa Games in Harare, Zimbabwe from September 13 to September 23, 1995* Qualification Tournament in April/May? 1996...
.
The Coliseum played host to the Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
after they moved from St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
while The Omni
Omni Coliseum
The Omni Coliseum, usually called The Omni, from the Latin for "all," or "every," was an indoor arena, located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378, for basketball and 15,278, for ice hockey...
was under construction, and again between 1997 and 1999, after the Omni was demolished and while Philips Arena
Philips Arena
Philips Arena is an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia.Completed in 1999 to replace The Omni, at a cost of $213.5 million, it is home to the Atlanta Hawks, of the National Basketball Association, and the Atlanta Dream, of the Women's National Basketball Association...
was being built on its site. During the latter period, the Hawks played most of their home games at the Georgia Dome
Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west. It is primarily the home stadium for the NFL Atlanta Falcons and the NCAA Division I FCS Georgia State Panthers football team. It is owned and operated by the...
with the remainder at the Coliseum.
For most of its life, the Coliseum has hosted many rounds of the Georgia High School Association men's and women's state tournament games. The first integrated high school state tournament in Georgia history was played there before record overflow crowds in 1967.
The arena received its nickname, "The Thrillerdome," from former Tech color radio announcer and current ESPN broadcaster Brad Nessler
Brad Nessler
Bradley "Brad" Nessler is an American sportscaster, who currently calls college basketball and college football games for ESPN with occasional appearances on ESPN on ABC. He will also call Thursday Night Football on NFL Network beginning in 2011, and appears annually as a commentator in EA Sports'...
, for the many close games it witnessed during the 1983-84 season. Tech students also refer to the arena as "The Tit" and following the McDonalds sponsored renovation, many students jokingly called the dome "McTit" .
On February 21, 2008, the men's basketball game between Georgia Tech and the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
was cancelled due to a leak in the roof that was caused by hard rainfall that had accumulated over the day. The decision to cancel the game was based on the fact that officials at the game could not find where the water was coming through and because officials had no way to stop it. The game was delayed for about a half-hour, and then ultimately postponed until March 3, 2008.
On March 14, 2008, a tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta, causing damage to the CNN Center
CNN Center
The CNN Center is the world headquarters of the Cable News Network . The main newsrooms and studios for several of CNN's news channels are located in the building...
, Philips Arena
Philips Arena
Philips Arena is an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia.Completed in 1999 to replace The Omni, at a cost of $213.5 million, it is home to the Atlanta Hawks, of the National Basketball Association, and the Atlanta Dream, of the Women's National Basketball Association...
, and Georgia Dome
Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west. It is primarily the home stadium for the NFL Atlanta Falcons and the NCAA Division I FCS Georgia State Panthers football team. It is owned and operated by the...
. During the weekend, the SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
was set to play at the Georgia Dome
Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west. It is primarily the home stadium for the NFL Atlanta Falcons and the NCAA Division I FCS Georgia State Panthers football team. It is owned and operated by the...
on Thursday through Sunday. The tornado struck while the third of four quarterfinal games was in overtime. While that game was completed, SEC officials decided not to risk playing the fourth. Later that night, the conference decided to move the 2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament took place on March 13–16, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. The first, quarterfinal, and semifinal rounds were televised by Raycom/LF Sports, and the SEC Championship Game was produced by CBS and televised by ESPN2...
to the smaller Coliseum, including the championship game. Due to the smaller capacity, only players' families, school officials, credentialed media and 400 fans from each school were allowed to attend the remaining games.
On October 19, 2010, Georgia Tech announced that Alexander Memorial Coliseum would undergo a $45 million renovation and would be renamed Hank McCamish Pavilion in honor of a $15 million donation from the McCamish family. During the renovation, Georgia Tech's basketball teams will play their 2011–2012 games at Philips Arena
Philips Arena
Philips Arena is an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia.Completed in 1999 to replace The Omni, at a cost of $213.5 million, it is home to the Atlanta Hawks, of the National Basketball Association, and the Atlanta Dream, of the Women's National Basketball Association...
or Gwinnett Arena.
Location
The Coliseum is located just next to the Downtown ConnectorDowntown Connector
In Atlanta, Georgia, the Downtown Connector or 75/85 is the concurrent section of Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 through the core of the city. Beginning at the I-85/Langford Parkway interchange, the Downtown Connector runs generally due north, meeting the east-west Interstate 20 in the middle....
, Atlanta's major Interstate thoroughfare. It is just south of 10th Street, on the northeast corner of the Georgia Tech campus.