The Richmond Arena was a multipurpose indoor sports facility located in and owned by the city of Richmond, Virginia. It was located south of Parker Field, between Boulevard and Hermitage Road.
The barrel-vaulted arena originally was opened in 1908 as an exhibition hall and the administrative offices of the State Fair of Virginia, which was originally held at the location. After World War II, however, the State Fair moved and the hall, which had been used as a motor pool garage for the Army during the war, was turned over to the city and used as a city garage. By this time, the University of Richmond was looking for an arena to host its basketball program. No other arena in the city held more than 2,000 spectators, and the University wished for a larger venue. It was the idea of Clyde Ratcliffe, son of the former head of the State Fair, to turn the exhibition hall into an arena. The first sporting event held in the hall was a Richmond Spiders men's basketball game against the VMI Keydets.
It served as the site of basketball games for the Spiders from 1954 through 1971, and was a "regional" home of the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association during their first year in the Commonwealth. It also served as the site of the Southern Conference men's basketball championship tournament from 1955 through 1963. In addition to basketball, the 5,152-seat arena also played host to numerous exhibitions, concerts and professional wrestling and boxing events. The largest crowd to ever see an event in the building was 6,022 for a Harlem Globetrotters game in 1955.
The building, which had no insulation or cooling system, fell out of popular use after the opening of the much larger Richmond Coliseum in 1971. The building still held wrestling matches until 1977, when a promoter change led to wrestling matches being moved to the Coliseum. After a Hertz automobile sale in 1986, the arena finally closed. It remained shuttered and unused until being demolished in 1997. The land was given to Virginia Commonwealth University, and in 1999 Sports Backers Stadium was built on its site. One of the Arena's vice-presidents, E. Claiborne Robins, would lend his name to the eventual on-campus arena of the Spiders as a benefactor.
Referencesedit
Arena Lost: The Life and Times of the Richmond Arena. MidAtlanticGateway.com, retrieved April 3, 2024.
richmond, arena, this, article, includes, list, references, related, reading, external, links, sources, remain, unclear, because, lacks, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, october, 2019, learn, when,. This article includes a list of references related reading or external links but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations October 2019 Learn how and when to remove this message The Richmond Arena was a multipurpose indoor sports facility located in and owned by the city of Richmond Virginia It was located south of Parker Field between Boulevard and Hermitage Road Richmond ArenaLocationHermitage RdRichmond VA 23173OwnerCity of RichmondCapacity4 252 permanent seats900 temporary bleacher seatsConstructionBroke ground1906Opened1908Closed1986Demolished1997TenantsRichmond Spiders Men s Basketball 1954 1971 Virginia Squires ABA 1970 1971 The barrel vaulted arena originally was opened in 1908 as an exhibition hall and the administrative offices of the State Fair of Virginia which was originally held at the location After World War II however the State Fair moved and the hall which had been used as a motor pool garage for the Army during the war was turned over to the city and used as a city garage By this time the University of Richmond was looking for an arena to host its basketball program No other arena in the city held more than 2 000 spectators and the University wished for a larger venue It was the idea of Clyde Ratcliffe son of the former head of the State Fair to turn the exhibition hall into an arena The first sporting event held in the hall was a Richmond Spiders men s basketball game against the VMI Keydets It served as the site of basketball games for the Spiders from 1954 through 1971 and was a regional home of the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association during their first year in the Commonwealth It also served as the site of the Southern Conference men s basketball championship tournament from 1955 through 1963 In addition to basketball the 5 152 seat arena also played host to numerous exhibitions concerts and professional wrestling and boxing events The largest crowd to ever see an event in the building was 6 022 for a Harlem Globetrotters game in 1955 The building which had no insulation or cooling system fell out of popular use after the opening of the much larger Richmond Coliseum in 1971 The building still held wrestling matches until 1977 when a promoter change led to wrestling matches being moved to the Coliseum After a Hertz automobile sale in 1986 the arena finally closed It remained shuttered and unused until being demolished in 1997 The land was given to Virginia Commonwealth University and in 1999 Sports Backers Stadium was built on its site One of the Arena s vice presidents E Claiborne Robins would lend his name to the eventual on campus arena of the Spiders as a benefactor References editArena Lost The Life and Times of the Richmond Arena MidAtlanticGateway com retrieved April 3 2024 37 34 11 N 77 27 45 W 37 569855 N 77 462411 W 37 569855 77 462411 This article about a sports venue in Virginia is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Richmond Arena amp oldid 1217095382, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
