of Rick Barry of the Nets talks to reporters after...

of Rick Barry of the Nets talks to reporters after the first game ever played at Nassau Coliseum on February 11, 1972. Credit: Newsday

There was a time when the old barn seemed more like a new palace, or at least an upgrade over what preceded it.

As the Nets’ Bill Melchionni put it then, "It’s like going from the outhouse to a bathroom with plumbing."

That was on Feb. 11, 1972 — 50 years ago Friday — after the Nets beat the Pittsburgh Condors, 129-121, in the first event at Nassau Coliseum, an otherwise nondescript ABA matchup.

It was a low-key milestone that arena officials sought to position as a soft opening, reminding reporters that the official opening gala would not be until spring.

That was in part because on Feb. 11, the arena still lacked certain amenities. Like concession stands. And seats.

Attendance was only 7,892, about half the eventual capacity for basketball, because that was about how many chairs had been installed.

That process continued into game day. Arena manager Earl Duryea was quoted by The New York Times saying, "As soon as we put in a seat, we rush to the box office and tell them to sell a ticket."

But that was not the strangest part. Most of the seats that were in place were in the upper rows rather than in lower ones, leaving many season-ticket holders baffled at how they ended up in distant, not-so-cheap seats.

Marvin Furman of Woodmere was furious about paying the top price of $7.50 to sit in the last row. "I’d like to open a stand here to sell binoculars and oxygen," he told Newsday.

Vincent Ferrantelli of Wyandanch and John Donnelly of Oakdale put...

Vincent Ferrantelli of Wyandanch and John Donnelly of Oakdale put finishing touches on one of the food concession areas during the final preparation for the opening of the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale.  Credit: Newsday/Bill Senft

There also was a leak near the locker rooms. But traffic and parking went relatively smoothly for a new venue.

The floor, baskets and scoreboard were borrowed from the Nets’ previous home, the Island Garden in West Hempstead, which the Nets had left six days earlier after a loss to the Virginia Squires and their rookie phenom, Julius Erving, from nearby Roosevelt.

Condors coach Mark Binstein, who earlier had been a Nets executive, said after the opener, "I’m surprised that they built a $28 million arena and still are using the same scoreboard I bought five years go for $1,800."

Despite all of that, no one disputed the Coliseum was more of a big-league facility than the Island Garden, even in its unfinished state. So the teams, fans and reporters mostly accentuated the positives.

That included the excellent sightlines, a contrast from Day One to the new Madison Square Garden, which had opened four years to the day earlier.

"We knew everything wouldn’t be perfect," Nets coach Lou Carnesecca said at the time. "It’s like when you’re commissioning a new ship. You go aboard first to make sure the lifeboats can be lowered."

Nets star Rick Barry said he hoped the available stands would be filled to help with shooting backgrounds, but he added, "If you’re looking at the seats while you’re shooting, you’re in trouble."

Former Newsday sportswriter John Jeansonne was a 25-year-old new to pro beats when he wrote about that first game. He recalled that even in its salad days, the Coliseum hardly was state of the art.

"It wasn’t," he recalled this week. "It was a no-frills, affordable situation. It was kind of bare-minimum stuff."

Jeansonne noted that even adjusted for inflation, $1.1 billion UBS Arena cost about six times as much to build.

"I just remember that first game," he said, "because there weren’t that many people there, and because it was, as I said, bare bones and it wasn’t finished — it felt that way."

Still, Jeansonne was then and remains a fan of the building for its contribution to Long Island as a community, for its famous sightlines and for what he called its "humble efficiency."

The crowd at the concession stand lines up for hot...

The crowd at the concession stand lines up for hot dogs and soda during half-time at a Nets game at the Nassau Coliseum on February 11, 1972. Credit: Newsday/Dick Morseman

The famously non-humble Barry had 45 points, nine assists and six rebounds and played all 48 minutes against the Condors, which he quickly deemed "a Coliseum record."

(Barry also made the first three-pointer in Coliseum history, one of only two in the game for both teams combined.)

Billy Paultz added 26 points for the Nets and John Roche scored 25. George Thompson led Pittsburgh with 36 points, Bob Verga scored 29 and John Brisker 25. (Walter Szczerbiak, father of Wally, was on that Condors team but did not play in the Feb. 11 game.)

Those Nets reached the ABA Finals, losing in six games to the Pacers, with the 108-105 clincher coming at the Coliseum before a crowd of 10,434. (The Knicks and Rangers also lost in their league’s finals that spring.)

Come October, the expansion Islanders moved in and became the team most associated with the arena, but the Nets had their moments there, clinching both the 1974 and ’76 ABA titles on their home floor. They left for New Jersey in 1977.

It all began on a peculiar Friday night a half-century ago, when a Long Island sports dream was filled — if not every row of eventual seats.

"People wanted this Coliseum to be a success," Newsday columnist Stan Isaacs wrote that night, "and that, in part, helped to make it a success."

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