Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse
Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse

The Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse is a 8,500-seat (6,500 for basketball) county-owned multi-purpose arena in Huntington, West Virginia. It was built in 1950. Prior to the completion of the Huntington Civic Center in 1976 it was the only large arena in the city. In addition, the building was the home of the Marshall University basketball teams until the completion of the Cam Henderson Center in 1981. It also hosted the West Virginia public high school championships on a rotating basis with Charleston and Morgantown between 1962 and 1970, and the state Catholic championships every year from 1950 until the public and Catholic leagues were merged in 1977. It hosted the Huntington Hornets minor league hockey team in 1956, which was not successful. It was the home of all high schools in the city until 1990 and remains the home of St. Joseph Catholic High School.

Since the completion of the Civic Center, which is now known as the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, and Marshall's Henderson Center, the Fieldhouse has been the home of smaller concert events. The facility was built in an era when boxing was more popular and thus was designed around that sport and remains an excellent venue for boxing and professional wrestling. It was the home of the Huntington Heroes American Indoor Football League team in 2005-06 before they moved to Big Sandy Superstore Arena. In addition, the venue also hosts several high school athletic events, including wrestling and basketball matches.