Blackham Coliseum 1950 . . .

[OldBullDog]

1971-72

That is how I remember the place

[RedBug58]

5 rows looks right. Might have been more than 6 sections though, it looks like they might have wrapped.

Still 9000 would be a hard # to reach.

1971-72

Great picture Turbine!!

Man that brings back memories. I didn't miss a home game from 1965 until the NCAA shut us down. It was the best show in town. I still have the programs from every one of those games in a box in my parents attic. Including the season played in the Mens Gym (Earl K Long)

[CajunCharlie]

5 rows looks right. Might have been more than 6 sections though, it looks like they might have wrapped.

Still 9000 would be a hard # to reach.

1971-72

MEMORIES

[RedBug58]

There were three sets of wooden bleachers on each side. Each set of bleachers had only five rows. Each set sat approximately 125 (X6).

There are 20 sections at Blackham, each with 16 rows. If you sat two to an aisle, that's 32X20=640.

The old Blackham did not have the seats on the court, so you have to subtract those.

Do the math, my friend. 5600 actual seats. Add the endzone seating. Add the custom bleachers....you can't get to 8000, even if you stuff the aisles.

WOW, check this out...........
According to "Stadiums in the USA" Blackham holds 9,800!!


USA Indoor Sports Lafayette Blackham Coliseum 9 800 - all-seater
USA Indoor Sports Baton Rouge River Center Arena 8 500 1978 all-seater
USA Basketball-use Shreveport Hirsch Memorial Coliseum 8 500 1954 all-seater
USA McNeese State Cowboys Lake Charles Burton Coliseum 8 000 1976 all-seater
USA LSU Tigers Baton Rouge Alex Box Stadium 7 760 1985 -
USA Lousiana Tech Bulldogs Ruston Thomas Assembly Center 7 565 - -
USA Southeastern Louisiana Lions Hammond University Center 7 500 1982 all-seater
USA SW Louisiana Swashbucklers Lake Charles Sudduth Coliseum 7 450 - all-seater
USA Louisiana-Monroe Indians Monroe Fant-Ewing Coliseum 7 085 1971 all-seater
USA Shreveport Sports Shreveport Fair Grounds Field 6 400 1986 -
USA Multi-use Alexandria Rapides Parish Coliseum 5 868 - all-seater
USA New Orleans Privateers New Orleans Privateer Park 5 225 - -
USA UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns Lafayette Cajun Track Stadium 5 000 - all-seater
USA Indoor Sports Monroe Monroe Civic Center 4 712 - all-seater
USA NSU Demons Natchitoches Prather Coliseum 3 900 1970 all-seater
USA UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns Lafayette M.L. 'Tigue' Moore Field 3 755 1979 all-seater
USA Tulane Green Wave New Orleans Fogelman Arena 3 600 1933 all-seater
USA Tulane Green Wave New Orleans Turchin Stadium 3 500 - -
USA Baseball-use Alexandria Bringhurst Field 3 500 - all-seater
USA Indoor Sports Kenner Pontchartrain Center 3 061 - all-seater
USA Grambling SU Tigers Grambling Tiger Field 3 000 2002 all-seater

[NewsCopy]

They are too numerous to list, as one would expect from 35 years of basketball competition in one arena, but the Louisiana Ragin' Cajun men and women etched some indelible memories for fans from 1950 to 1985. Cajun women actually played in Blackham longer, finally departing in 1992 after featuring a national scoring champion of their own. What follows is a list of some - certainly not all - of the special memories the Cajuns provided in Blackham. Cajuns 107, UL Monroe 104, OT Feb. 25, 1971 - Dwight "Bo" Lamar was on the way to the first of his two national scoring titles, and this game had a lot to do with it as the sophomore guard poured in a school-record 62 points, including 55 in regulation. Southeastern Louisiana 101, Cajun Women 99, OT Feb. 5, 1990 - Kim Perrot, the greatest women's player in Cajun history, shredded SLU with 58 points, hitting 20-of-40 shots from the field, en route to leading the nation in scoring with 30 points per game. Cajuns 97, Santa Clara 76 March 22, 1984 - Louisiana reached the NIT Final Four with this quarterfinal victory over road-weary Santa Clara. Graylin Warner and teammates performed a high-kick dance line to "New York, New York" at game's end. Cajuns 74, Weber State 72 March 19, 1984 - This was the game that provided the momentum for beating Santa Clara two nights later, a memorable nail-biter to go with a two-point victory at Utah State to begin the NIT. Cajuns 74, Alabama-Birmingham 72 March 6, 1980 - Dion Rainey nailed a game-winning jumper from deep in the corner, almost falling out of bounds, as the Cajuns stunned the Gene Bartow-coached Blazers of UAB in NIT action. UL then beat Texas on the road before losing at Minnesota in the quarterfinals. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

From 1950-85, Blackham Coliseum hosted some of the best players ever to play basketball for the University of Louisiana. Two-time national scoring champion Dwight "Bo" Lamar heads a list that includes seven of the top nine scorers in UL men's history who enjoyed moments of greatness in Blackham. So did Kim Perrot, the school's all-time women's scoring champion. We take a look at some of the players who made the Blackham Coliseum experience a special one for the last half-century. LADY CAJUNS Kim Perrot (1986-90) Louisiana's career leader in points scored (2,157), assists (654) and steals (421) - all by a wide margin - as well as field goals (828), field goal attempts (2,003), free throws (299) and free throw attempts (553). Perrot led the nation in scoring in 1989-90, averaging 30.0 points per game, and her No. 12 jersey is retired by the school. Lisa Merritt (1980-84) The only other UL women's player with her jersey number (32) retired, Merritt scored 1,747 points and averaged 16.8 points per game in her Cajun career. She helped the 1983-84 team to 22 wins, a total not matched until 2004-2005. Teena Cooper (1984-88) Cooper started 105 games for the Cajuns and holds the career rebounding record of 1,082, the only player above the 1,000 plateau. She hit 56.1 percent of her shots. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

RAGIN' CAJUNS First team Dwight "Bo" Lamar (1969-73) The University of Louisiana's all-time scoring leader with 3,493 points, Lamar twice led the nation in scoring at 36.0 in 1970-71 and 36.3 in 1971-72 and finished with 31.2 points per game for his career - air-mailing long-range shots before the advent of the 3-point field goal. He also ranks fourth in UL career assists with 520. The Cajuns won 90 games in his four years. His No. 10 jersey was retired by UL. Andrew Toney (1976-80) Personally revitalized Ragin' Cajun fortunes after the school's return from the abyss of NCAA probation, scoring 2,526 points and averaging 23.6 points per game. Toney, who finished his degree in 3 1/2 years and was in graduate school his final semester at UL, led the Cajuns to a Southland Conference title in 1977 and the NIT quarterfinals in 1980. Toney's No. 24 jersey is among three retired by the men's program. Roy Ebron (1970-73) The best combination scorer and rebounder in Cajun history, the 6-foot-9 Ebron averaged 19.4 points and 12.2 rebounds in his UL career and remains the career rebound leader with 1,064 caroms. The Cajuns were ranked in the nation's Top 10 and reached NCAA Tournament play behind Ebron and Lamar. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

Sure it was a barn. So what? So the roof leaked. Did anyone really care? If the seats were hard, it didn't seem to matter because you stood most of the time. And that loose nail on the court, requiring stoppage of play and a maintenance man to be summoned with hammer in hand? That's just part of the charm of Blackham Coliseum, where the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns spent 35 years and are playing four regular season basketball games while the Cajundome is under repair, including Saturday night against Charlotte. Charm, of course, is in the eye of the beholder, and opponents rarely found Blackham all that charming. For foes, it was dark, foreboding, claustrophobic and loud, sometimes downright nasty. Like the night when the famous Red Dots fans paraded around Blackham with a coffin topped by a rubber chicken painted red, announcing their plans for the Lamar Cardinals and their No. 1 raised index fingers. Or the night a Cajun fan yelled to McNeese State's Chris Faggi, he of the prominant probiscus, "Hey, Chris, it's raining. Can I stand under your nose?" The student section behind the opponents' bench was always loud and at times menacing. One visiting team moved its timeout huddle into the middle of the court to escape that group, only to be confronted by more noise from an unexpected source. Advertiser photographer Brad Kemp was leader of the Cajun pep band that season, and he promptly led his group onto the court to play in the opponents' ears. "After we did that," Kemp recalled, "I can't remember whether it was (athletic director) Sonny Roy or Dr. Authement, but he said, 'On the record, don't ever do that again. Off the record, I loved it.' " Former Cajun coach Bobby Paschal was among those who appreciated the peculiar ambiance of an arena that also hosted midwinter rodeo events. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com