IM PEELER: A Bustling Day at Reynolds Colseum
Courtesy: NC State
Release: 03/16/2007
Note: Because of all the activity around Reynolds Coliseum today, the NC State ticket office is encouraging all fans to avoid long lines by picking up their NIT tickets in advance at the Vaughn Towers Box Office between noon and 6:30 p.m. The Wolfpack's second-round NIT matchup with Marist is slated for 9:30 pm in historic Reynolds Coliseum.
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. ? When Reynolds Coliseum opened its doors on Dec. 2, 1949, it was an unfinished masterpiece, lacking in the famous green chairs in portions of the upper deck. Some fans sat on bare concrete as they watched Everett Case?s team destroy Washington & Lee in the building?s first event.
But the long dreamed-about facility, originally intended to be an armory for the military training programs at North Carolina State College, had begun its long life as a multi-purpose facility, capable of hosting basketball games, concerts and the Ice Capades. The public skating rink that was supposed to generate income to pay for the operating expenses didn?t last long ? the humidity created by the ice-making equipment caused ceiling tiles to fall to the floor from two and half stories above. So the South?s first collegiate hockey team never materialized.
Along with a near disastrous electrical fire in the summer of 2006 were among the few set-backs in the history of the ?House that Case Built.?
The spacious basement, which was once Raleigh?s largest fall-out shelter, is still providing work and storage space for Wolfpack athletics. Among its features are a rifle range, a softball batting cage and indoor driving nets for the golf team.
But the brick and granite building that bears the name of William Neal Reynolds ? a Winson-Salem tobacco magnate who didn?t particularly care for basketball, but got his name on the building out of the generosity of his niece, Mary Reynolds Babcock, and her husband, industrialist Charles Babcock, who donated $100,000 to the construction of the building ? has been Raleigh?s most versatile venue for nearly six decades.
In all those years, though, few days were as hectic and busy as today, when NC State hosts a 4 p.m. gymnastics meet and a 9:30 p.m. National Invitation Tournament men?s basketball game between the Wolfpack and Marist. Head coach Sidney Lowe, who played all his home games for four years at Reynolds, will guide the Wolfpack to its first post-season action there since 1999.
With so much going on, the Wolfpack wasn?t sure where it might be able to play its home game against Marist. The RBC Center, the home of NC State men?s basketball since 1999, was booked for a Josh Groban concert tonight at 8 p.m. Reynolds had a gymnastics meet scheduled for 7 p.m. There was some thought about going to either Marist or the Greensboro Coliseum. But Lowe, who spent four years playing his home games at Reynolds, jumped at the opportunity to coach on the sidelines once roamed by Case, Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano. Tickets for the contest sold out in just three-and-a-half hours Wednesday afternoon.
But the game didn?t come without sacrifice. Gymnastics coach Mark Stevenson was hoping for a crowd between 3,000 to 4,000 fans for his squad?s final home meet, which will include a Senior Day farewell for seven gymnasts. Moving the meet ahead by three hours will likely reduce the crowd to about 500 and drop the No. 24 ranked Wolfpack out of the nation?s top 10 in attendance.
But he was willing to make the change for the benefit of national exposure for the school and Lowe?s basketball program. Attendance at this afternoon?s meet against EAGL opponent Pittsburgh would be an appropriate ?thank you? for anyone who wants to absorb a little of the Reynolds magic.
?Our team has handled it very well,? Stevenson said Thursday afternoon. ?They deserve a lot of credit.?
The changeover from basketball to gymnastics back to basketball began for Reynolds maintenance supervisor David Bowles and his crew Thursday night around 7:45 p.m. That?s when Marist, the Wolfpack?s opponent tonight?s nationally televised basketball contest, finished its basketball practice. Meanwhile, in the basement and hallways, the crew began moving in parallel bars, balance beams and floor mats, with the help of Stevenson and his assistants Karen Pleasants and Todd Henry.
At the same time, the Campus Crusade for Christ held its weekly jam session of Christian music in the north end zone of the arena.
This was the leisurely part of the change ? this afternoon, following the gymnastics meet, Bowles and his crew will have about 45 minutes to get the arena reconfigured for basketball.
?Normally, it takes us about three hours,? Bowles said. ?We will have about three times as many people working on it this time, and it should take us about 30 minutes to get the floor cleaned after we get all the equipment removed. Once the floor is cleaned, everything for basketball should fall into place.?
Throughout Friday, as usual, ROTC classes were in the hallway classrooms, while the offices of several varsity sports were bustling with their daily activities. None was busier than women?s basketball, which normally makes its home at Reynolds. This weekend, however, Coach Kay Yow?s team is preparing for Sunday?s NCAA Tournament opener against Robert Morris. Fortunately for Yow and her squad, they get to stay close to home, since NC State is hosting the eight-team sub-regional at the RBC Center.
However, the women?s team will also be displaced for practice this afternoon, having its daily drills at the Dail Practice Facility adjacent to the Weisiger-Brown Building on campus, because of the concert at the RBC Center, which will go through a similar transformation from mid-night until dawn in preparation for eight open basketball practices Saturday morning and afternoon for the teams here in Raleigh for the NCAA Tournament.
March Madness? No doubt.
