The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
The sound of 'The Drum' is the sound of money
03.25.2008 | Texas Athletics
Back in the mid-1970s, Austin was still known as a quaint, college town of eclectic tastes and a laid-back atmosphere. Its population of about 300,000 people liked to say it "went with the flow," and that prevailing sentiment was often best seen at its many, small outlets for music and entertainment -- places like the Armadillo World Headquarters, Soap Creek Saloon, Mother Earth, Raouls, The Hole In the Wall, The Broken Spoke, and (to a lesser extent) Palmer Auditorium and City Coliseum.
That all changed when the Frank Erwin Center, then called The University of Texas Special Events Center, opened its doors in 1977. Visible for miles when orange floodlights illuminate the facility at night, the Frank Erwin Center is a beacon on UT's campus.
And while Austin has managed to keep many of its small-venue charm of yesteryear, it was the big drum shaped building on the southeast edge of The University of Texas that brought the city and the Central Texas region into entertainment's major leagues.
"Before the Erwin Center was built, Austin attracted touring shows and events that were on usually on their way down rather on the way up," said Dean Justice, the Frank Erwin Center's director for its first 14 years. "Once we persuaded booking mangers that we were a viable option, bands and events that were at the height of their popularity included a stop in Austin at the Erwin Center as one of the "Texas Triangle" (along with Houston and Dallas) of their tours in the state."
This season, the Erwin Center celebrates its 30th anniversary with a permanent photo exhibit on the concourse called "Inside the Arena: Three Decades of Legends." The exhibit showcases some of the amazing talent that has performed at the Erwin Center.
Also highlighted are special athletes, coaches and sports moments that occurred in The Frank Erwin Center's history, including photographs of former Texas men's basketball coach Abe Lemons, former players Kamie Ethridge, Kevin Durant, Clarissa Davis and T.J. Ford, former women's basketball coach Jody Conradt's 700th and 800th career victories, the first NCAA Women's Final Four sellout and the victory that made current Horns men's basketball coach Rick Barnes the all-time winningest coach in UT history.
With a 32 line-set theatrical rigging system that can easily transform the facility from a basketball arena to an intimate theatre, the Erwin Center has also gained renown as a concert center, bringing in artists such as Bob Dylan, John Denver, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Prince, George Strait, Cher, Johnny Cash, John Mayer and Coldplay, just to name a few.
Since opening its doors, the Frank Erwin Center has served as home to the Texas men's and women's basketball teams and has hosted some of the best in live entertainment. The multi-purpose facility hosts a variety of events, including concerts, theatrical performances, family shows and sporting events.
The first event to take place in the Frank Erwin Center was a UT sports event. The women's basketball team defeated Temple College, 67-64, on opening day, Nov. 29, 1977. Eventual Texas guard Evwella Munn scored the very first basket ever in the arena while playing for Temple that year.
Later that same evening the arena hosted its first public ticketed event (for a Texas men's basketball game against Oklahoma), and since then more than 24 million fans have attended upward of 6,000 events at the distinctive, drum-shaped facility.
DeLoss Dodds, men's athletics director of The University of Texas, says having the Frank Erwin Center helped put Texas basketball into the "major leagues" as far as awareness and nationwide prestige.
"Old Gregory Gym had its advantages -- it was small and the crowd was right on top of you, which made it a very tough place for visiting teams -- but The University of Texas needed the Erwin Center, and it has been a great home for our basketball teams for the past 30 years," Dodds said. "The renovation several years ago allowed us to bring fans closer to the action, and moving the students to seats behind each basket has created a real home-court atmosphere that was lacking in the early days of the arena. I am very proud of the Erwin Center and what it provides to our student athletes and fans."
More memories have been made and performances and games have been enjoyed at the Frank Erwin Center than most any facility in Central Texas. It is one of Austin's most distinctive and hallowed buildings, and -- because it was built to be just that -- it has more than fulfilled the hopes and dreams of those who made sure the facility was ready to meet, and exceed, the needs of Central Texans as well as the basketball teams of The University of Texas.
As chair of the UT System's Board of Regents, Frank C. Erwin had a very focused goal in mind -- he wanted to expand The University in all dimensions. Indeed, Erwin kept to that goal as construction of Bellmont Hall, Jester Center, the Perry-Casteneda and LBJ libraries, and the Performing Arts Center began under his guidance.
While all those buildings are instrumental to the UT campus in different aspects, only the building that bears his name has encompassed Erwin's efforts to bring in more educational, entertainment and cultural activities.
"Mr. Erwin used to just stop by whenever there was an event going on to make sure everyone was being treated to the best experience possible," Justice said. "I think he would be very pleased with the way this building and its staff have represented The University of Texas and Central Texas throughout the past three decades."
The Frank Erwin Center was built as a state-of-the-art facility, driven by the will of Erwin after he and a handful of associates roamed the country and explored the nation's top arenas. They brought the things they learned back to Austin and those ideas helped fashion the oddly-round arena (then known as The University of Texas Special Events Center).
"When the Erwin Center was erected, it was considered the 'college version of the Madison Square Garden,'" said John Graham, associate athletics director for The University of Texas and the man in charge of its daily operations.
Graham, who has been with the Erwin Center since 1989 and has been its director since January 1990, came to Austin from Champagne, Ill., where he worked as the director of Assembly Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois.
"There are a lot of similarities between Assembly Hall and the Erwin Center, and Assembly Hall was one of the facilities Mr. Erwin and his group visited back in the mid-1970s," Graham said. "Both service the flagship universities of their respective states and both provide so much more than being just a basketball arena for their schools."
According to Graham, the Erwin Center staged an all-time high of 47 professional entertainment events (touring shows, concerts and other staged events) in 1987, a number that was the most among college arenas nationwide. Since it reached that zenith, the facility's events have tapered to just more than half, mostly because of the prevalence of amphitheatres and additional arenas in the region that were not an option in the Erwin Center's first decade.
"We have always been within the top two or three college arenas as far as professional entertainment events," Graham said, "and that has continued to be the case since the late 1980s when we had so many shows come through this building. The most recent trend is away from the large amphitheatre shows and back into building of our size, and we have seen our bookings increase because of that trend."
Graham said in 2004 the Frank Erwin Center hosted 18 professional entertainment events. That number grew to 22 in 2005 and 27 in 2006. It was expected to stay at that level through the end of 2007.
Including basketball games and practices, indoor football games, boxing cards, wrestling matches, private events, graduations, concerts, shows and visits from the circus (and just about anything else you can think of), the Frank Erwin Center hosts about 250 events a year and is in use about 310 total days.
With the completion of 28 luxury suites at the top of the arena section, the capacity for the Frank Erwin Center has increased to 16,755 (largest in the Big 12 Conference). The arena also features a Jumbotron scoreboard and an LCD screen that loops around the top of the arena section. Concession and restroom areas have been remodeled and moved to widen the concourse areas.
"This place is a hub of activity virtually 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Graham said. "We have full-time day and night shifts, and when a concert or game is held in this building we have as many as 400 workers on site, both out front with our customers and behind the scenes."
