War Memorial Gymnasium is a gymnasium on the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

campus. It was officially dedicated on October 26, 1951, to the family members of service personnel who died in the two world wars. The Memorial walls have since been updated to reflect UBC's involvement with Canada's military. It is frequently referred to as 'The' 'Historic' War Memorial Gymnasium and hosts the annual UBC Remembrance Day Ceremony. It is home to the

UBC Thunderbirds The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thunderbirds are the most successful athletic program both regionally in the Canada West Universities Athl ...

basketball and volleyball teams, as well as the central offices for the Athletics and Human Kinetics departments. There are 2,222 permanent seats, with retractable bleachers that increase total capacity of 4,836. The gymnasium has hosted the likes of the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

, the B.C. high school basketball championships, concerts by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

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and

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...

, as well as others, and is the current venue for the finals of all division of the

TELUS Telus may refer to: * Telus Corporation, a Canadian publicly traded holding company ** Telus Communications, a telecommunications company ** Telus Digital, a technology company ** Telus Health, a health technology provider ** Telus Mobility T ...

Basketball Classic. In October 2010, the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

held their first training in the province of BC in the venue. Playing sports in this facility was unique because of the floor's special spring. Folklore has it that horsehair had been inserted beneath the wood surface, which has been since removed. It is still viewed as one of the premier University level basketball/volleyball facilities in Canada.

References

Sports venues in Vancouver University of British Columbia University sports venues in Canada UBC Thunderbirds 1951 establishments in British Columbia Sports venues completed in 1951 Basketball venues in Canada Volleyball venues in Canada College basketball venues {{canada-sports-venue-stub