Memorial Coliseum memories: Alumni share their remembrances of the historic arena

We asked alumni to share their memories of the historic Memorial Coliseum, a building that is such a key part of life on campus for many Wildcats. Whether you registered for classes there, saw President Lyndon B. Johnson speak there, listened to Jimmy Buffet play there, graduated there or watched the University of Kentucky Wildcats play basketball there, Memorial Coliseum likely remains in your memory.

We were overwhelmed with responses to our request for memories, too many to publish in the fall issue of the magazine. These additional memories were edited for publication. 

To see more, visit https://www.ukalumni.net/s/kentucky-alumni-online-magazine

Alex W. Rose ’62 AS, ’66 LAW

Memorial Coliseum is my favorite building on earth. I witnessed the first basketball game UK played in its magnificent new facility and the last, and I believe every game in between, although I may have missed one or two in the early years of Memorial.

When UK was barred from playing a schedule in the 1952-53 season, the Cats played four exhibition games against themselves. I attended all four games. As I remember, Memorial Coliseum was almost packed for the first three games and about half full for the fourth and final exhibition game played on a stormy winter night. UK had outstanding players on its roster: Cliff Hagan, Frank Ramsey, Lou Tsioropolos, Billy Evans, Gayle Rose, Phil Grawemeyer, Linville Puckett, Jerry Bird and a few others. Although the Wildcats were not allowed to play a schedule in the 1952-53 season, the basketball-starved fans like me were able to see their beloved Cats play four games in Memorial Coliseum.

If there is such a thing as a bad day at Memorial Coliseum, my worst one was January 8, 1955, when UK’s incredible winning streak of 129 consecutive home wins was snapped by Georgia Tech 59-58. UK had not lost a home game since 1943. When the game ended, there was absolute quiet in the stands. The only sounds were the excited yelling of the Tech players. I was 14 years of age, too old to cry over a basketball game. Yet tears welled up in my eyes and a few rolled down my cheeks. I was certain UK would exact revenge when we played Tech in Atlanta three weeks later. The Yellowjackets beat UK again 65-59. “Sports Illustrated” ran a big story on the two huge upsets. The next season, on January 7, 1956, UK crushed Georgia Tech 104-51 in Memorial Coliseum. They say revenge is rarely sweet, but on that day, it was the sweetest.

I was a history major and then a law school student at UK in the 1960s when students got into the Coliseum for games by merely showing their student ID cards. Some non-students were making fake student ID cards. It became a cottage industry. People didn’t make them to sell, but to use to gain admission to the UK basketball games which were wildly popular. Some of the fake cards, however, were good and difficult to identify as fakes. A good friend of mine made a fake card that was a work of art. I don’t remember the game at which we first attempted to use the card, but it was in the 1965-66 season of Rupp’s Runts. We waited until just before game time when many students would be arriving. I passed through the turnstile first with my legitimate ID card and my friend followed. The gatekeeper stopped my friend and closely examined the card suspiciously. By delaying, the gatekeeper was holding up the line of students anxiously waiting to pass through the turnstile. The students began complaining loudly and pushing forward. Noticing this, my friend faking anger said, “Are you going to let me through or not?” The gatekeeper handed the card back to my friend and he passed through the turnstile. The fake card was never questioned again. My friend was an artist – a con artist. 

I grew up in Lexington on East Cooper Drive. Coach Adolph Rupp lived only a block away on Eastover Drive. His son Herky and I were acquaintances. We traded baseball cards occasionally. Coach Rupp’s office was in Memorial Coliseum around the corner from the desk of his secretary, Mrs. Gilchrist. When I wanted Coach Rupp to autograph something for me or one of my friends, I would go to coach’s office in the Coliseum and ask Mrs. Gilchrist if I could see him. She always told me Coach Rupp was too busy. Then I would say in a loud voice, “But Mrs. Gilchrist I’m a friend of Herky.” This worked every time I tried it. Coach Rupp would overhear me and come out of his office, invite me in and sign everything I wanted autographed.

Ellen van Nagell ’74 HS

My memory is of standing on the upper level of Memorial Coliseum trying to squeeze to the rail to look down and catch a glimpse of LSU’s Pete Maravich! 

Brian Gardner  ’84 LAW

When I was 11 years old, I had the best job of my life, selling concessions in Memorial Coliseum at the men’s basketball games. Back then, freshmen were ineligible to play and instead there were frosh-only games prior to the varsity games. I will never forget the night that Tennessee, led by the great and hated Ernie Grunfeld, came to town. 

As the crowd began assembling during the freshmen game, I was hawking hot dogs in the student section. A couple of students said, “Hey kid, we will buy a hot dog if you do us a favor.” Eager for the sale I readily agreed. The UT varsity players, including Grunfeld, were sitting in the opposite stands watching the freshmen game.

The students asked me to take a hot dog over to Grunfeld. The ringleader took the hotdog out of its wrapping and removed the bun, leaving only a skinny hot dog in a weak plastic sheath. I didn’t know what Grunfeld looked like, so my newfound friends pulled out a program and showed me the team picture. They mocked the Vols star player for wearing white socks with his dress shoes and blazer in the photo. Armed with this info and the student’s bravado, I marched across the Coliseum floor to the visitor’s side.

I approached the fellow who appeared to be Grunfeld and told him I had something for him. He gave me a sideways look and pointed to the guy next to him and said “He’s Grunfeld.”  So, I stepped over to the other player who sheepishly said “No, He’s Ernie,” Finally Ernie Grunfeld, to his credit, could see the panic and exasperation on my face and took pity on me. The future NBAer said ” OK, kid, I’m Ernie” Relieved, I said “Mr. Grunfeld, the students would like to present this to you because you are the biggest hot dog in the world.”

Ernie chuckled good naturedly and took the hot dog from me as the UK students cheered wildly. Of all the magic moments I’ve spent in Memorial Coliseum, this will remain my favorite.

George Spalding ’56 BE

I remember all the great basketball players and games I saw there, including Cliff Hagan’s 50 points vs. Temple in 1953, what seemed like smoke from Frank Ramsey’s shoes when he started a drive and so many more. 

I remember all the great performers, including Arthur Rubenstein, Bob Hope and especially the Philadelphia Orchestra as part of the Community Concert Series all the years I was there, a collaboration with the city and UK. The Philadelphia Orchestra came with Eugene Ormandy conducting. It broke out a pure jazz concert during the second half. It had the entire place just rockin’. Opera singer Eileen Farrell performed there, too. And all the pretty girls in evening dresses served as ushers in the aisles during those concerts.

I tried out for the Glee Club there with James King, a music professor. He was an opera great and later became a top world heldentenor. And I sang there with a barbershop quartet there. We stood on the bleachers and sang, “Keep America Singing.” I love Memorial, it is a class place.

Tom Fitzpatrick ’68 CI

My step-grandfather Clayton Jones was a journeyman carpenter who helped lay the floor inside Memorial Coliseum. I dimly remember the outside of the coliseum when it was finished in 1950. I was 5 years old. I first went inside during my freshmen orientation in 1963. I was awestruck. I thought our high school gym was large, the whole student body fit in it, but Memorial was something else.

Freshmen were required to take PE and my class was in the Coliseum. The second half of the semester I took swimming which was held in the Coliseum pool. I was in band and we would assemble outside the Fine Arts building and march into the front doors and up into the stands for basketball games. I’m proud to say I got to see a lot of Cotton Nash, Larry Conley, Ted Deeken and the rest.

In 1966 I married my UK sweetheart and we got to see every one of Rupp Runts’ games at the Coliseum. Over the years we saw many concerts and other events at the site. Also, I got to see the huge pageantry as John Oswald was inaugurated as president of the university in Memorial.

Valyrie Walter ’69 AS, ’71 CI

I don’t have any sports memories of Memorial. My memories are of trying to register for classes. I was a second-year freshman coming from a small out-of-state junior college. I had very little preparation for this college year. My advisor told me what I needed for my first year and I went into the Coliseum with that list and was bewildered and lost. The classes available were written on large boards behind desks and lines had formed in front of the desks. I had to wait in line and sometimes, by the time I got to the front of the line, the class was already full. It could take several hours to get registered. After the first semester, I was better prepared. 

Melissa Berrier Cohen ’98 CI

I remember camping out in front of Memorial Coliseum for the student lottery for the 1996 Final Four tickets. We did so that we could share the excitement of our team going to the Meadowlands for the Final Four, the first time in a long time. The students were let inside in the morning and handed a ticket. I remember sitting in the stands as I realized that I was one of the lucky students who would be going to the 1996 Final Four in New Jersey.