Memorial Coliseum: 75 Years as Monument, Stage, and Arena

Opened in 1950 to host the ever-popular University of Kentucky men’s basketball games, Memorial Coliseum has been a stately fixture along the Avenue of Champions in Lexington for 75 years. Known as ＂The House That Rupp Built,＂ at one time the venue was the largest arena in the South and could seat 12,000-plus. Perhaps more importantly, the building was designed as a monument to the nearly 10,000 Kentuckians who lost their lives during World War II, and it continues as a memorial to the Commonwealth’s honored war dead through today. In his book, Memorial Coliseum: 75 Years as Monument, Stage, and Arena, author Kevin Cook takes us on a visual tour of the coliseum from its planning stages and construction, through its glory years in the 1950s-70s, and today as the renovated home of UK women’s athletics, including the school’s basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and stunt teams. Memorial Coliseum: 75 Years as Monument, Stage, and Arena is a beautiful tribute to one of Lexington’s most celebrated and elegant structures.

Kevin Cook writes on UK sports history and travel. He grew up in a navy family, living in Hawaii and traveling to twenty countries, but always following UK basketball. His first memory of the Wildcats was the near-championship season of 1974-75, when his family moved back to Jessamine County. His first experience of Memorial Coliseum was seeing the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA, with Dan Issel and Louie Dampier, defeat the Utah Stars and a teenage Moses Malone. Kevin has degrees in engineering and American history, and has worked as a naval officer, high school teacher, and corporate sales representative. His previous books include Where Am I, Rick Steves?, and House of Champions: The Story of Kentucky Basketball’s Home Courts. He lives in Nicholasville, Kentucky, with his wife, and they have two adult children.