OSU Buildings Histories in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center

Gill Coliseum is the home of the Oregon State men's basketball, women's basketball, gymnastics, wrestling and volleyball teams. The arena's capacity is 9,604 for competitions on Ralph Miller Court, and the building also includes a weight room, equipment center, locker rooms and offices for the athletic department and its teams. Named after the late Amory T. “Slats” Gill, who was Oregon State's head men's basketball coach for 36 years, the coliseum spans more than an acre. When it opened in 1949, it was the second largest suspended arch type structure in the nation, with no internal structural supports to hinder spectator views. Gill Coliseum was recently renovated with improvements totaling more than $3.5 million. This included the creation of the Bud and Maxine Ossey Golf Center, which honors the lifetime contributions and volunteer service of a family who have supported their alma mater through gifts of time and philanthropy for more than 70 consecutive years.

OSU Building Names Evaluation Process

In 2016, Oregon State University engaged in a campus and community-wide building names evaluation process to address concerns citing potential racist and exclusionary views held by the namesakes of four buildings on the OSU Corvallis campus – Arnold Dining Center, Avery Lodge, Benton Hall (and by extension, Benton Annex), and Gill Coliseum. Gill Coliseum was not renamed. For more information about the evaluation process see the Building and Place Names website along with the article "When Building Namesakes Have Ties to White Supremacy: A Case Study of Oregon State University’s Building Names Evaluation Process"

Namesake Controversy and Resolution: A team of OSU faculty including researchers, professors, and archivists came together in 2016 to deliberate over several building names that students had called into question due to controversial namesakes. These building names were researched in depth by the Building Names Committee, and resolutions were found for each one. In the case of Gill Coliseum, its name remained the same.

SCARC: The Special Collections and Archives Research Center contains several photograph collections, films, personal papers and manuscripts, as well as the Intercollegiate Athletics records, all pertaining to Gill Coliseum. Of note is the Memorabilia Collection, box 27.3.

Oregon Digital: Contains many historic photographs of Gill Coliseum, both inside and out, as well as periodicals pertaining to the building itself and the athletic programs it has housed.