Big-time memories as Coliseum turns 40

The arena-level seats weren't in yet, and there were only a few rows of temporary chairs set up around the court, under a hand-me-down spartan scoreboard. Most seats in the 200 and 300 levels were in, but the numbers weren't on them yet, presenting a challenge for the ushers. Some construction dust still was in the air, but so was a ton of excitement.

On Feb. 11, 1972, opening night, Nassau Coliseum was a lighthouse, seemingly directing Long Island into the major leagues.

"It's great to be in a place like this," Rick Barry said that night after scoring 45 points to help the New York Nets defeat the Pittsburgh Condors, 129-121, in an American Basketball Association game. "I was sorry that it couldn't be fully ready . . . but the future here is tremendous."

Yes and no. The future never did make Nassau Coliseum into a glittering suburban version of Madison Square Garden.

Barry left within seven months, forced by the courts to honor a contract and return to the NBA's Golden State Warriors. The Nets stayed only five more years, then left for New Jersey.

These days, the Coliseum has just about run out of future, what with the Islanders having made it clear they will not stay in an outdated, unprofitable arena once their lease is up in 2015.

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Still, that unofficial opening 40 years ago -- the ceremonial dedication was May 29 -- did plant some seeds. The Coliseum became the world capital of hockey for four years. Elvis, the Jacksons and Pink Floyd played there. Billy Graham preached there. Joe Frazier and George Foreman boxed there. Thousands of Long Islanders went there to see ice shows, children's shows and all kinds of other events.

For better or worse, it still is standing while Yankee Stadium, for instance, was completely renovated once and then replaced. The building in Uniondale sure seemed spiffy and promising on Day One. The cover of Newsday of Feb. 12, 1972, said: "Coliseum Debut Is a Smash Hit."

"That was a big-time arena in those days, especially for the ABA," said Lou Carnesecca, who coached the Nets back then. He considered it a major upgrade from the folksy Island Garden, the Nets' previous venue. "I always thought the elephants were going to walk out any minute," Carnesecca said of the Quonset hut-shaped building three miles west of the Coliseum on Hempstead Turnpike. "They had the circus there and you could smell it five miles away."

"It was like being a kid, growing up in a barn and moving into a nice full-sized house. It was just more professional," said Herb Turetzky, the Brooklyn native who was the Nets' scorekeeper then, still is now and plans to be on the job next season when the team moves to Barclays Center in his old neighborhood -- the Nets' fourth home since the Coliseum.

The first-night crowd of 7,892, including then-Nassau County Executive Ralph Caso, experienced a mix of curiosity and expectation. The folks got to see a competitive, offense-rich ballgame (in contrast with modern basketball, though each side made only one three-pointer). They also caught the first look at the Nets' trademark stars and stripes uniforms, designed by the wife of owner Roy Boe and still worn by the team on "throwback" nights.

Despite all of that, the Coliseum was the star.

Much-needed facilityBuilding it cost $28 million and required lots of persistence. "Roy Boe had a vision. He realized how important a facility was. No matter how underfunded and undercapitalized as he might have been, the reality was he brought in a pretty good product," said Charles Theokas, the Nets executive who had worked with Nassau County officials on the project before leaving to run Broome County Arena in Binghamton (later returning to the Nets as general manager as they moved into the Meadowlands).

Edward A. Hollie of Freeport, a security official who moved with the Nets from Island Garden and began working at the Coliseum before the opening, remembers the gathering excitement, "What they should have done was make it a larger building, maybe 20,000, and put up false walls when they didn't sell out," said Hollie, who has a full-time security job with a Manhattan firm but still works regularly at the Coliseum for Islanders games.

At the beginning, he saw signs that made him wary. "They were too heavy with manpower. There would be three event supervisors and an event coordinator. That's why the county had trouble making money," Hollie said.

Still, he has plenty of good memories, such as the four Stanley Cups, having tended to Elvis fans who camped out for tickets and having helped contain chaos near the stage when the emcee introduced the Jacksons.

"Forty years went by awful quick," he said.

Theokas, who also has been the athletic director at Temple and commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference, said the other day: "I can see the need for a new arena and I can also appreciate the county's financial situation. What the answer is, I don't know."

One thing you can say about the Coliseum: It has shown staying power, just as Barry did when he was the only Net to play all 48 minutes in that first game. As he described it that night, "A Coliseum record."