Winston-Salem State University’s C.E. Gaines Center, one of the meccas of HBCU basketball, may soon be replaced.
A capital building project titled SB 534 was introduced on March 25 that would provide funding for capital project funding at HBCUs North Carolina A&T and WSSU.
The bill proposes an allotment of $112.5 million dollars for to be used for a Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Complex for WSSU. The proposed money would be used to build a new multi-purpose facility that would include a new home for WSSU basketball.
WSSU’s basketball programs are currently housed at the C.E. Gaines Center.
Having enough seats for a basketball crowd has always been a challenge for Winston-Salem State. At least since Clarence “Big House” Gaines showed up and turned Winston-Salem Teacher’s College basketball into an HBCU powerhouse after World War II. Whitaker Gymnasium was completed in 1953, and still stands today. Coincidently, that was the same year WSSU won its first CIAA title – the first of eight under Gaines. With a capacity of anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000, the gym was insufficient for big games. It often led to games being moved to the Winston-Salem War Memorial Coliseum, which sat around 8,500.
The Gaines Center opened next door in 1978, with a seating capacity of 2,500 – and a student body that was already just over 2,000. Just like its older counterpart, Gaines Center was incapable of accommodating swollen crowds against rivals – which in those days included North Carolina A&T as well as North Carolina Central – meaning WSSU would once again be forced to use the Coliseum at least a few times a year.
When Winston-Salem State attempted to move up to Division I during Turner’s tenure in the mid-2000s, WSSU rarely played games in the Gaines Center. Most of its games were played 15 minutes away at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum or at the smaller annex complex, which seats 4,000. After that move failed, the department of athletics moved to almost exclusively playing games on campus in the Gaines Center.
However, the resurgence of the men’s basketball program during the Cleo Hill Jr. era meant crowds of students lined up hours prior to basketball double-headers for contests against CIAA rivals. Alumni and other supporters often found themselves waiting outside to get in, often having to be turned away from the stuffy gymnasium. Twice in the past three basketball seasons, WSSU has had to rent the LJVM Coliseum, which is now owned by Wake Forest University.
In addition to athletics, a gymnasium/arena could also alleviate the need for the HBCU to rent out the coliseum for its commencement ceremonies.
The effective date for the bill is July 1, 2025, should it pass the NC legislature.