Beasley Coliseum

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Beasley Coliseum
Full name Beasley Coliseum
Former names Washington State University
Performing Arts Coliseum
Location 225 N. Grand Ave.
Pullman, Washington
Broke ground February 8, 1971[1]
Opened December 1, 1973 [2][3]
(September 25, 1973) [4][5]
Owner Washington State University
Operator Washington State University
Construction cost $8.5 million ($44.7 million in 2014 dollars[ 1])
Architect John Graham & Company
Capacity 11,671 (2006-present)
11,566 (2004-2006)
12,058 (1973-2004)
Tenants
Washington State Cougars - NCAA
(1973–present)

Beasley Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. Opened in the fall of 1973,[4] its current seating capacity is 11,671 for basketball. The venue was renamed in 1981 for Wallis Beasley (1915–2008), a long-time sociology professor and executive vice president,[6] shortly before his retirement. Beasley was WSU's faculty representative for athletics in the 1960s and also served as interim president.[7][8]

The coliseum is home to both the Washington State Cougars men's and women's basketball teams. The current men's head coach is Ken Bone, and the women's head coach is June Daugherty.

First games

Its first sporting event was an NBA exhibition game between Seattle and Portland on September 25, 1973.[4][5] The first collegiate sporting event was a men's varsity basketball game against LSU on December 1, immediately preceded by a freshman game.[2][9] Intercollegiate basketball was formerly played in Bohler Gymnasium, which opened in 1928 and is now home to Cougar volleyball.

Friel Court

Located on the east side of campus, the building includes Friel Court, the name of the basketball playing surface. It honors Jack Friel (1898–1995), the longtime head coach of the WSU men's basketball team, who led the Cougars to 495 victories over 30 years. Friel stepped down as head coach in 1958 became the first commissioner of the Big Sky Conference, originally based in Pullman (from 1963–71), because that's where he lived. The court was named for Friel in late April 1977, announced by President Glenn Terrell at a meeting of the board of regents.[10]

Beasley Coliseum hosted the sub-regionals of the 1982 NCAA basketball tournament, from which Oregon State and Palouse neighbor Idaho advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

Entertainment

The building's full name reflects the fact that it is used not only for concerts, big-name speakers, dinners, and commencement, but also for basketball as mentioned above. The building may be reconfigured for seating capacities of 12,000 in the round to 9,000 in an end-stage configuration for concerts, to 2,500 in a theater configuration using an extensive system of fly-in curtains, an adjustable cloth scrim ceiling, and a portable proscenium stored under the floor.

The original opera house / theater configuration featured one of the first synthesized acoustical environments using surround speaker systems. An onsite reverberation chamber tuned with fiberglass panels for the specific acoustical configuration was combined with the first commercial use of a digital delay line, the Lexicon DD1, then fed to the side and overhead speakers. When properly set up, it was capable producing a very convincing acoustical rendition of a theater, an opera house, or by changing the delay settings and retuning the reverb chamber, even a cathedral. Unfortunately, a sewer drain line had been installed from the southeast corner restroom facilities through the reverb chamber, and if a toilet flushed when the system was in operation, the resulting sound effect was extraordinary. After discovering that, locking the restroom was a management priority whenever the theater was prepared for surround sound use. More recently full digital reverberation replaced the chamber.

The Coliseum's Hall of Fame—famous entertainers who have performed there—include comedians such as Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Jay Leno and Whoopi Goldberg and musical stars or shows such as The 5th Dimension, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Def Leppard, Metallica, Metal Church, Van Halen, Dana Carvey, Drew Carrey, Montgomery Gentry, Bill Engvall, Howie Mandel, Grease & Cats. The Harlem Globetrotters have performed there five times.

The coliseum has been the venue, for many years, for the Great Performances series, organized by Festival Dance and Performing Arts Association, of neighboring Moscow, Idaho.

Overflow crowds attended lectures by Noam Chomsky on April 22, 2005, and by Jane Goodall on March 8, 2007.

On March 6, 2010, the arena hosted a WWE SmackDown house show.

References

  1. ↑ "Coliseum Site (photo)". Lewiston Morning Tribune. February 9, 1971. p. 11. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Barrows, Bob (December 2, 1973). "Cougars beat LSU 80-78". Lewiston Morning Tribune]. p. 17. 
  3. ↑ This Week in Cougar History
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "WSU books Russell, Sonics". Spokesman-Review. August 22, 1973. p. 16. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Sonics finally win". Ellensburg Daily Record. UPI. September 26, 1973. p. 13. 
  6. ↑ "Dr. Beasley is promoted to new post". Lewiston Morning Tribune. October 26, 1968. p. 8. 
  7. ↑ "College names acting president". Tri-City Herald. Associated Press. August 16, 1966. p. 10. 
  8. ↑ "Wallis Beasley - obituary". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. May 24, 2008. p. 4A. 
  9. ↑ Barrows, Bob (December 1, 1973). "Cougars open up against LSU". Lewiston Morning Tribune. p. 16. 
  10. ↑ "It's now 'Friel Court'". Spokesman-Review. April 30, 1977. p. 19. 

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Coordinates: 46°44′6″N 117°9′27″W / 46.73500°N 117.15750°W / 46.73500; -117.15750

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