Show Me Center's 20 years of impact

See the Show Me Center's past in pictures

Born in controversy over its location, funding and even its name, the Show Me Center will turn 20 years old this month amid praise for its impact on the economic and cultural life of the region.

More than 5.6 million people have passed through the turnstiles in those 20 years. And that only counts those who needed tickets to attend the more than 7,700 events -- an average of more than one each day -- held there since the first concert featuring George Jones and Tanya Tucker christened the coliseum.

News stories about the creation and financing of the Show Me Center echo through the years in the issues that surrounded the birth of the new River Campus facility. There were lawsuits over whether the city could participate in funding the facility as well as political issues to overcome with lawmakers to gain state money to help with the construction.

Jerry Ford, a band leader, athletic booster and former state representative, said he doesn't think the River Campus will need long to join the Show Me Center as an indispensable part of the Cape Girardeau scene. Along with the main campus of Southeast Missouri State University, the Show Me Center and River Campus are "the three main anchors that set our town apart from the rest of the region."

In its first year, the Show Me Center saw its first sellout concert, by Tina Turner; some exciting basketball, when Southeast beat Central Missouri State University by 21 points in front of 6,635 fans; and a visit by President Ronald Reagan.

In more recent years, those traditions have continued with big-name shows like Alison Krauss, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Larry the Cable Guy. In addition, the Show Me Center continues to draw some of the biggest audiences in the Ohio Valley Conference for basketball games, including 6,607 for a doubleheader men's and women's contest against Austin Peay on Jan. 22, 2005.

The anniversary will be celebrated in smaller ways than the opening year, said Shannon Buford, Show Me Center marketing director. The show schedule is light so far, but he expects to be able to make announcements soon on some items.

"I really think we have exceeded what the original view of the Show Me Center was going to be," Buford said. "If we could get into a time machine and go back to 1987 and read the Southeast Missourian and watch KFVS, we have really outdone over the past 20 years what we thought we would be able to do."

From the time the first idea was floated to create the Show Me Center in 1975, it took 12 years to bring it to fruition. In the intervening years, the idea was put aside several times, until a citywide vote in 1984 authorized Cape Girardeau to invest $5 million toward its completion.

That's when controversy erupted over the city's legal authority to participate. The Missouri Supreme Court eventually decided in the city's favor. And there was a struggle over a site -- the Drury family offered land by Interstate 55. And finally, there were differences of opinion about the name, with the Liberty Center, the Lorimont Center or simply the Coliseum among the finalists.

In fact, the final name wasn't on the list when a naming committee was formed. But no one interviewed for this article would have it called anything else.

"It is a really good name," said Ron Hines, sports information director for Southeast. "It ties us to Missouri, it is easy to say, easy to write and easy to put in a headline."

The name comes from the state motto, the Show Me State.

The main motivation for building the center was the need for a new basketball arena. Hines, who has attended 780 Southeast games without interruption, and Ford, who has attended almost every game played in the Show Me Center, said it was time for a new home.

"Houck Field House was packed to the top every game," Hines said. "People would line up at 3 or 4 in the afternoon for a night game and that led to the momentum for a new facility."

The most exciting game ever played in the Show Me Center? For Hines, it was the OVC opener in the team's first year in Division 1 against Austin Peay. Southeast won on a last-second shot. "Curtis Shelton brought the house down. There was new excitement, we were Division 1, Shelton hit the shot, and we had the win."

For Ford, it was any game against Murray State.

Ford also said he attended the first concert, starring Jones and Tucker. He said the center brought something to Cape Girardeau it didn't have before.

"What better way to spend an evening than to see some big-time entertainment right here in my hometown?" Ford said.

The Show Me Center has paid for itself many times, said John Mehner, president and CEO of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce. The center has been the facility that made large events, such as the annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention, and annual shows, such as the Harlem Globetrotters, put Cape Girardeau on their rotations.

"It has been a tremendous asset to the community," Mehner said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126