Feature: Throwing It Back To The Coliseum
December 14, 2017 | Women's Basketball
Ask Marsha Sharp, Sheryl Swoopes and Gerald Myers about memories of playing and coaching basketball in the Lubbock Memorial Coliseum – home of Texas Tech basketball teams for more than 40 years – and you'll get some stories.
(We'll get to those in a bit.)
But one memory they all share is a packed house game after game giving the Red Raiders and Lady Raiders an intense home court advantage during the decades they played in the building that opened in the 1950s.
Now, ironically, it sits next to the Marsha Sharp Freeway.
This weekend, Red Raider coach Chris Beard and Lady Raider coach Candi Whitaker ask fans to flock to the Coliseum for a pair of Throwback Games.
The 24th-ranked Red Raiders host old Southwest Conference foe Rice at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10.
On Sunday, the Lady Raiders host UT Rio Grande Valley at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5.
The games are not part of the season seat package.
Beard came up with the idea and is using it to celebrate the program's history.
"We'll have the old, retro Double T on the floor and throwback uniforms," said Beard. "We want to show the tradition and create the same atmosphere for fans."
Whitaker said she's heard from a lot of fans who are excited to see a game in Coliseum again.
"It's a really cool way to celebrate our tradition," she said.
Growing up in Canyon, she remembers watching Swoopes play on television.
"They had it going and selling out the Coliseum," said the coach, adding the Lady Raiders will start practicing in the Coliseum a few days before the game to get familiar with a different home court.
The Lady Raiders will also wear throwback uniforms and honor Sharp.
Former coaches and players will be at the men's game and will sign autographs after the game alongside this year's team.
Many of them will also participate in an Alumni Game tipping off at 5 p.m.
The rosters:
Red Team, coached by Dub Malaise
Beard is also thrilled former coach James Dickey will be there, along with Myers.
"We're really proud Coach Dickey is coming back. He's been a friend for a long time. It's long overdue. He had some of the best players, best teams and sent more players to the NBA. He's a class guy and the more we can reassociate him with the program it will be great," said Beard.
The Red Raiders are also recognizing trainers, managers, staff – anyone part of Texas Tech basketball during the Coliseum era.
Beard said he's been trying to aggressively schedule top college basketball programs to do a home and home series against the Red Raiders.
"It's a game fans can look forward to early and get us ready for the Big 12. We scheduled Nevada on purpose this year because we knew they were a top 25 team. But we have not been able to get a series with a big name team yet," he said.
That's when the throwback idea came.
"Why not play in the old Coliseum and give fans a fun game? Equally important is recognizing and celebrating the tradition of the Tech program," he said.
He hopes for a packed house Saturday.
"There's a relationship between attendance and winning. When you look back at those winning times, it was not a coincidence they played at a sold-out Coliseum," he said.
By the time Beard became as assistant coach for Bob Knight at Tech, the team was playing at United Supermarkets Arena.
But Beard saw a Willie Nelson concert in the Coliseum and attended some Cotton Kings hockey games there.
He felt the vibe.
"Old gyms are sacred places. Cameron Indoor at Duke. Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas. The Coliseum is cool," he said.
And, the time to hold these type of games at the Coliseum may be running out.
The Coliseum and adjoining Auditorium are losing about $750,000 a year and have a lot of deferred maintenance, according to Lubbock Mayor Dan Pope.
"I think their better days are behind them," said the mayor, especially with the new Buddy Holly Hall for Performing Arts & Sciences under construction.
Memories: Marsha Sharp
Long before she led the Lady Raiders, Coach Sharp knew about Texas Tech.
Her dad was a grad and an avid football and basketball fan.
"I remember listening to Jack Dale call games from the Coliseum and how he'd paint a picture. I was always in awe of how huge it was and what a great environment," she said.
Then in 1981, she was a Tech assistant coach in that same Coliseum.
"The first time I went down the tunnel for practice, I couldn't believe I was there and I was going to be sitting on the bench. It was surreal for me because how big Tech was for my family," she said.
The next year, she became head coach.
The Lady Raiders drew a few hundred people back then.
Within a decade, Sharp's Lady Raiders won a national championship, led by Sheryl Swoopes from nearby Brownfield.
By then, Sharp's teams packed the Coliseum's 8,300 seats like the men's teams had for years.
The first sellout was the year before Swoopes joined the team and sellouts continued.
"It became kind of a hard ticket to get," said Sharp.
Her favorite game in the Coliseum was the season before the Lady Raiders won it all.
"It was an NCAA First-Round game against Santa Clara and it was the loudest arena I had ever coached in," she said, and it was the first time Lubbock had hosted one.
"It was Sheryl's junior year. We could not communicate on the bench. It was standing room only and the fire marshal had to keep people from coming in. It was a special night," Sharp said.
The Coliseum was raucous because it was the first time Lady Raider fans had seen the team since it beat Texas in the Southwest Conference Tournament. They lost to Arkansas in the championship game, but the program's first win over the Longhorns meant more to Tech fans than an SWC Tournament title.
"It was a celebration after beating Texas, of our national recognition and so many people who worked so hard to get us there. It all came together that night," she said.
The Lady Raiders beat Santa Clara and went to the Sweet Sixteen.
When Sharp watches the game Sunday, she'll be surrounded by a stream of great memories.
"It's where we grew the program up. It became something not known to one of the treasures of the community. From the team breaking even to a top ten program to champions. All of that happened in that building," she said.
Memories: Sheryl Swoopes
When Swoopes attended a few Lady Raiders games at the Coliseum while growing up in Brownfield, she didn't expect to play at Texas Tech.
She wanted to win a national title and once she got a recruiting letter from Texas, she was headed to Austin.
Swoopes didn't count on being homesick.
After a sidetrip to South Plains College, Sharp still wanted Swoopes and the eventual Naismith Player of the Year discovered you could win a national championship at Texas Tech.
When asked for her favorite game, the Lady Raider, WNBA and Olympic legend – now part of Whitaker's staff – couldn't pick one moment.
Then she heard about her former coach's pick.
"Coach Sharp is right about that Santa Clara game. We fed off the fans and their energy. What made the Coliseum special was every game it was packed," she said.
Memories: Gerald Myers
The Coliseum was the main reason Myers came in Tech in 1956.
The Borger High School star had offers from most Southwest Conference schools and others, but he was excited about playing in the new Coliseum that opened about the time he arrived on campus.
"It was one of the best basketball arenas in the country," said Myers. "That Coliseum was a real showplace in the mid-'50s."
And to add to the hype, Tech was about the join the big time of the SWC.
"The first game played there was sold out and it gave the early teams in the '50s, '60s and '70s a great home court advantage," said Myers. "In those early years we didn't lose a game in there – according to our fans. It was always the referees or some other reason we lost."
Myers remembers a lot of big wins in the Coliseum during his playing days, knocking off then-No. 2 SMU on a last-second shot, beating TCU in Tech's first SWC home game after losing to the Horned Frogs right before in the SWC Tournament played over the holidays.
"We felt like we could beat anybody in that Coliseum because of the great fan and student support," he said. "They'd line up at Flint Avenue at 5 o'clock for the doors to open an hour before the game. The whole west side was the student section."
Myers came back to Tech as an assistant basketball coach for the 1970-71 season before being thrown into the head job when Bob Bass resigned on a Sunday to coach in the old ABA pro league.
His first game was a loss at TCU the following Wednesday, then the Red Raiders came home for a Saturday game against Texas.
After a Friday workout, Myers was leaving the Coliseum. Everyone had left. He looked back at the court. It was dark, but he could see the floor and stands.
After a whirl of six days, it hit him.
"I was the coach of Texas Tech and I'm going to coach against Texas," said the man who went on to become his alma mater's athletic director.
His Red Raiders beat the Longhorns 68-62 in front of another Coliseum crowd.
This weekend may be one of the last chances to be part of a Coliseum crowd and relive the experience that so many great Tech fans and teams felt.
(We'll get to those in a bit.)
But one memory they all share is a packed house game after game giving the Red Raiders and Lady Raiders an intense home court advantage during the decades they played in the building that opened in the 1950s.
Now, ironically, it sits next to the Marsha Sharp Freeway.
This weekend, Red Raider coach Chris Beard and Lady Raider coach Candi Whitaker ask fans to flock to the Coliseum for a pair of Throwback Games.
The 24th-ranked Red Raiders host old Southwest Conference foe Rice at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10.
On Sunday, the Lady Raiders host UT Rio Grande Valley at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5.
The games are not part of the season seat package.
Beard came up with the idea and is using it to celebrate the program's history.
"We'll have the old, retro Double T on the floor and throwback uniforms," said Beard. "We want to show the tradition and create the same atmosphere for fans."
Whitaker said she's heard from a lot of fans who are excited to see a game in Coliseum again.
"It's a really cool way to celebrate our tradition," she said.
Growing up in Canyon, she remembers watching Swoopes play on television.
"They had it going and selling out the Coliseum," said the coach, adding the Lady Raiders will start practicing in the Coliseum a few days before the game to get familiar with a different home court.
The Lady Raiders will also wear throwback uniforms and honor Sharp.
Former coaches and players will be at the men's game and will sign autographs after the game alongside this year's team.
Many of them will also participate in an Alumni Game tipping off at 5 p.m.
The rosters:
Red Team, coached by Dub Malaise
- Tony Battie
- Jesus Arena
- Guy Clayton
- Wally Dunn
- Rick Guy
- Koy Smith
- Clark Lammert
- Richard Little
- Curtis Marshall
- Wendell Owens
- Phil Wallace
- Bernard Lloyd
- Ross Carmichael
- Chris Cassidy
- Mark Davis
- Andy Ellis
- Jonny Grusing
- Kader Tapsoba
- Mario Layne
- Mikey Marshall
- Tom Patty
- James Rike
- Larry Kelley
- Tanner Odgen
Beard is also thrilled former coach James Dickey will be there, along with Myers.
"We're really proud Coach Dickey is coming back. He's been a friend for a long time. It's long overdue. He had some of the best players, best teams and sent more players to the NBA. He's a class guy and the more we can reassociate him with the program it will be great," said Beard.
The Red Raiders are also recognizing trainers, managers, staff – anyone part of Texas Tech basketball during the Coliseum era.
Beard said he's been trying to aggressively schedule top college basketball programs to do a home and home series against the Red Raiders.
"It's a game fans can look forward to early and get us ready for the Big 12. We scheduled Nevada on purpose this year because we knew they were a top 25 team. But we have not been able to get a series with a big name team yet," he said.
That's when the throwback idea came.
"Why not play in the old Coliseum and give fans a fun game? Equally important is recognizing and celebrating the tradition of the Tech program," he said.
He hopes for a packed house Saturday.
"There's a relationship between attendance and winning. When you look back at those winning times, it was not a coincidence they played at a sold-out Coliseum," he said.
By the time Beard became as assistant coach for Bob Knight at Tech, the team was playing at United Supermarkets Arena.
But Beard saw a Willie Nelson concert in the Coliseum and attended some Cotton Kings hockey games there.
He felt the vibe.
"Old gyms are sacred places. Cameron Indoor at Duke. Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas. The Coliseum is cool," he said.
And, the time to hold these type of games at the Coliseum may be running out.
The Coliseum and adjoining Auditorium are losing about $750,000 a year and have a lot of deferred maintenance, according to Lubbock Mayor Dan Pope.
"I think their better days are behind them," said the mayor, especially with the new Buddy Holly Hall for Performing Arts & Sciences under construction.
Memories: Marsha Sharp
Long before she led the Lady Raiders, Coach Sharp knew about Texas Tech.
Her dad was a grad and an avid football and basketball fan.
"I remember listening to Jack Dale call games from the Coliseum and how he'd paint a picture. I was always in awe of how huge it was and what a great environment," she said.
Then in 1981, she was a Tech assistant coach in that same Coliseum.
"The first time I went down the tunnel for practice, I couldn't believe I was there and I was going to be sitting on the bench. It was surreal for me because how big Tech was for my family," she said.
The next year, she became head coach.
The Lady Raiders drew a few hundred people back then.
Within a decade, Sharp's Lady Raiders won a national championship, led by Sheryl Swoopes from nearby Brownfield.
By then, Sharp's teams packed the Coliseum's 8,300 seats like the men's teams had for years.
The first sellout was the year before Swoopes joined the team and sellouts continued.
"It became kind of a hard ticket to get," said Sharp.
Her favorite game in the Coliseum was the season before the Lady Raiders won it all.
"It was an NCAA First-Round game against Santa Clara and it was the loudest arena I had ever coached in," she said, and it was the first time Lubbock had hosted one.
"It was Sheryl's junior year. We could not communicate on the bench. It was standing room only and the fire marshal had to keep people from coming in. It was a special night," Sharp said.
The Coliseum was raucous because it was the first time Lady Raider fans had seen the team since it beat Texas in the Southwest Conference Tournament. They lost to Arkansas in the championship game, but the program's first win over the Longhorns meant more to Tech fans than an SWC Tournament title.
"It was a celebration after beating Texas, of our national recognition and so many people who worked so hard to get us there. It all came together that night," she said.
The Lady Raiders beat Santa Clara and went to the Sweet Sixteen.
When Sharp watches the game Sunday, she'll be surrounded by a stream of great memories.
"It's where we grew the program up. It became something not known to one of the treasures of the community. From the team breaking even to a top ten program to champions. All of that happened in that building," she said.
Memories: Sheryl Swoopes
When Swoopes attended a few Lady Raiders games at the Coliseum while growing up in Brownfield, she didn't expect to play at Texas Tech.
She wanted to win a national title and once she got a recruiting letter from Texas, she was headed to Austin.
Swoopes didn't count on being homesick.
After a sidetrip to South Plains College, Sharp still wanted Swoopes and the eventual Naismith Player of the Year discovered you could win a national championship at Texas Tech.
When asked for her favorite game, the Lady Raider, WNBA and Olympic legend – now part of Whitaker's staff – couldn't pick one moment.
Then she heard about her former coach's pick.
"Coach Sharp is right about that Santa Clara game. We fed off the fans and their energy. What made the Coliseum special was every game it was packed," she said.
Memories: Gerald Myers
The Coliseum was the main reason Myers came in Tech in 1956.
The Borger High School star had offers from most Southwest Conference schools and others, but he was excited about playing in the new Coliseum that opened about the time he arrived on campus.
"It was one of the best basketball arenas in the country," said Myers. "That Coliseum was a real showplace in the mid-'50s."
And to add to the hype, Tech was about the join the big time of the SWC.
"The first game played there was sold out and it gave the early teams in the '50s, '60s and '70s a great home court advantage," said Myers. "In those early years we didn't lose a game in there – according to our fans. It was always the referees or some other reason we lost."
Myers remembers a lot of big wins in the Coliseum during his playing days, knocking off then-No. 2 SMU on a last-second shot, beating TCU in Tech's first SWC home game after losing to the Horned Frogs right before in the SWC Tournament played over the holidays.
"We felt like we could beat anybody in that Coliseum because of the great fan and student support," he said. "They'd line up at Flint Avenue at 5 o'clock for the doors to open an hour before the game. The whole west side was the student section."
Myers came back to Tech as an assistant basketball coach for the 1970-71 season before being thrown into the head job when Bob Bass resigned on a Sunday to coach in the old ABA pro league.
His first game was a loss at TCU the following Wednesday, then the Red Raiders came home for a Saturday game against Texas.
After a Friday workout, Myers was leaving the Coliseum. Everyone had left. He looked back at the court. It was dark, but he could see the floor and stands.
After a whirl of six days, it hit him.
"I was the coach of Texas Tech and I'm going to coach against Texas," said the man who went on to become his alma mater's athletic director.
His Red Raiders beat the Longhorns 68-62 in front of another Coliseum crowd.
This weekend may be one of the last chances to be part of a Coliseum crowd and relive the experience that so many great Tech fans and teams felt.
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