The Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (also known as LJVM Coliseum, Joel Coliseum or simply The Joel) is a 14,407-seat multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...

, in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the Li ...

. Construction on the arena began on April 23, 1987, and it opened on August 28, 1989. It was named after

Lawrence Joel Lawrence Joel (February 22, 1928 – February 4, 1984) was a United States Army soldier who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. While serving in South Vietnam as a medic with the rank of specialist five assigned to 1st Battalion of the 503rd ...

, an

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

medic A medic is a person involved in medicine such as a medical doctor, medical student, paramedic or an emergency medical responder. Among physicians in the UK, the term "medic" indicates someone who has followed a "medical" career path in postgra ...

from Winston-Salem who was awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

in 1967 for action in Vietnam on November 8, 1965. The memorial was designed by James Ford in New York, and includes the poem "The Fallen" engraved on an interior wall. It is home to the

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

Demon Deacons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ...

men's basketball and women's basketball teams, and is adjacent to the

Carolina Classic Fair The Carolina Classic Fair, formerly the Dixie Classic Fair, is an annual fair held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The fair takes place every autumn on the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds (formerly the Forsyth County Fairgrounds), which is part of t ...

grounds. The arena replaced the old

Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem War Memorial Coliseum was a multi-purpose arena in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The arena, which opened in 1955, held 8,200 people and was eventually replaced by the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in 1989. It was home to ...

, which was torn down for the LJVM Coliseum's construction.

Events

Basketball

The Coliseum is primarily home to the

men's and women's basketball teams. Its construction allowed Wake Forest to move all of its home games to Winston-Salem for the first time in three decades. Since 1959, they had moved the bulk of their ACC schedule to the larger

Greensboro Coliseum The Greensboro Coliseum Complex, commonly referred to as Greensboro Coliseum (the first and biggest building on the site), is an entertainment and sports complex located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Opened in 1959, the complex holds eight ven ...

, as well as other games against popular opponents that could not be accommodated at the 8,500-seat Memorial Coliseum. However, other basketball games are held there, such as the

Frank Spencer Holiday Classic The Frank Spencer Holiday Classic is a nationally recognized basketball tournament held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in late December. The tournament is named after Frank Spencer, former sports editor for the '' Winston-Salem Journal'', and i ...

basketball tournament, an annual event for high school basketball teams in the area. Since 2003, the LJVM has hosted the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) Western Regional Basketball Tournaments. The LJVM was the site of the

Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. CIAA institutions mostly consist of historically black co ...

(CIAA) basketball tournament from 1994 to 1999. Also, the first and second rounds of the

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball In Unite ...

have been held at the Coliseum four times (1993, 1997, 2000 and 2007). It also hosted the

MEAC men's basketball tournament The MEAC men's basketball tournament (popularly known as the MEAC tournament) is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). The tournament has been held every year since 1972. It is a sing ...

from 2009 to 2012. In a memorable NCAA second-round game at the Coliseum on March 15,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

gave head coach

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel H ...

victory number 877, surpassing

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

legend

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Un ...

as the winningest

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach in history. The

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of ...

have played in the Coliseum as well.

Wrestling

It hosted the annual

Fall Brawl Fall Brawl was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and was held in September from 1993 through 2000. The name was derived from the fall edition of ''Clash of the Champions'', c ...

pay-per-view event from 1996 to 1999 which also featured the

WarGames match WarGames is a specialized steel cage match in professional wrestling. The match usually involves two teams of either four, five, or more wrestlers locked inside a steel cage that encompasses two rings placed side by side. The cage may or may not ...

es from 1996 to 1998.

Concerts

The arena has hosted concerts by many famous artists, spanning many different genres. The LJVM's amply large size makes it an ideal location for performers who wish to perform at smaller venues. The main arena can also be curtained off to create a theater-like settin

Other events

Inside of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum

The LJVM has played host to large-scale events such as the quarterfinals of the

2007 Davis Cup The 2007 Davis Cup was the 96th edition of the Davis Cup, a national teams competition in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and 123 took part in different regional groups. The final took place 30 November - 2 December ...

, but has also hosted

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

bull riding Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." To recei ...

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

, religious conferences, conventions and other events. Barney's third stage show, and first national stage show tour ''Barney’s Big Surprise'' was taped at the coliseum in 1997 and was released in 1998 The movie '' The Longest Ride'' filmed a bull riding scene at the Coliseum in August 2014.

Coliseum Complex

Prior to being purchased by Wake Forest in 2013, the LJVM was the centerpiece of the

Winston-Salem Entertainment-Sports Complex The Winston-Salem Entertainment-Sports Complex is a group of arenas, sports venues, and entertainment venues in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. The complex consists of six structures, five of which are found in the same area along ...

. This complex originally included Joel Coliseum,

Truist Field Truist Field is a baseball stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Uptown-area stadium hosts the Charlotte Knights, a Triple-A Minor League Baseball team in the International League. It is also the third sports building to be built in Uptow ...

(Groves Stadium), David F. Couch Ballpark (Ernie Shore Field), the Fairgrounds Annex and the off-site

Bowman-Gray Stadium Bowman Gray Stadium is a NASCAR sanctioned asphalt flat oval short track and longstanding football stadium located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most legendary venues, and is referred to as "NASCAR's longes ...

Ownership

The Winston-Salem Foundation donated the land the coliseum now sits on to the city of Winston-Salem in 1969. The city of Winston-Salem completed construction of the coliseum in 1989 at a cost of $20.1 million. On May 20, 2013, the Winston-Salem city council approved the sale of the Joel Coliseum to Wake Forest University for $8 million. Wake Forest may consider buying the naming rights to the arena as well, which is currently owned by the city. Wake Forest University completed the purchase of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the surrounding 33 acres on August 1, 2013. Wake Forest has made numerous upgrades to the coliseum, including LED court lighting, which improved energy costs, and a 1,400-foot center hung display monitor at mid-court.

References

External links

* {{Triad sports venues 1989 establishments in North Carolina Basketball venues in North Carolina College basketball venues in the United States Event venues established in 1989 Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Sports venues in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Wake Forest Demon Deacons basketball venues Winston-Salem State Rams men's basketball Sports venues completed in 1989