CHARLOTTE — Aretha Franklin, Elton John and the Jackson 5 are just a few of the big names that have come through Bojangles Coliseum and Ovens Auditorium. The venue has long been known for its wide array of performances, high school graduations and being the home of the Charlotte Checkers, and now, the BOplex is celebrating 70 years as a Charlotte staple.
The venues opened in 1955. At the time, the coliseum was the largest unsupported steel dome in the world. It still looms large, looking up at the rafters, and in the hearts of those who hold memories here.
BOplex technical director Jeff McManus is one of those people.
“When Elvis performed his last performance here, my dad had gotten some tickets for my mom and myself, and that was the first concert I ever went to in my life,” he told Channel 9’s Elsa Gillis.
McManus was just 7 years old, but he says he remembers it like it was yesterday.
After he graduated high school, he began freelancing at the coliseum and became a full-time employee 35 years ago.
The venues have housed over 20,000 events through seven decades from the likes of Frank Sinatra, Prince, Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen to the circus and various sporting events. The coliseum even served as a mass vaccination site during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s more of a feeling, I think, than something I could put in words, how important these buildings are,” McManus said. “I think there’s probably a lot of other people that probably feel the same way.”
Despite the new construction all over Charlotte, McManus said the BOplex isn’t going anywhere.
“Buildings like this, in the day they were built, they were designed to stay forever,” he said.
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