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November 8th, 1965

tsywake

tsywake

Sheikh of Smoke
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I didn't know all of that.
Thanks for posting.
 
And that is why I don't think we will see the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum renamed.
 
I agree. Nor do I think it should be. Many thanks to tsy for the info. I always thought he was just some dude who got killed in Nam, and I could not have been more wrong.
 
Deaconblue said:
And that is why I don't think we will see the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum renamed.
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I could see the actual building renamed, but keep a prominent memorial and recognition of Joel. Last I heard, WFU was working closely with Winston-Salem to create something that was mutually accepted, and is close to finalizing a design.
 
tsywake said:
I could see the actual building renamed, but keep a prominent memorial and recognition of Joel. Last I heard, WFU was working closely with Winston-Salem to create something that was mutually accepted, and is close to finalizing a design.
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That would greatly diminish the recognition of Joel. Lawrence Joel Vetetans Memorial next to "big business name" Coliseum doesn't get the same recognition as having his name on the building. Right now mentions of where Wake plays home games includes the Lawrence Joel name. If his name is taken off the building, how often will it get said on TV?
 
We definitely shouldn't rename it, unless the memorial itself is moved down town. As long as the memorial is attached to the basketball coliseum, it should keep the name in perpetuity, but the city should be financially responsible for maintaining the memorial.
 
Thanks for posting. I enjoy the memorials outside the coliseum as when I'm walking with my kids to and from the arena, sometimes we will stop and read the names of the fallen. To me that is one way we can honor the fallen by saying their names and briefly pausing to discuss their sacrifice.
 
This discussion is especially poignant because tomorrow is Veterans Day.

Many of us personally knew one or more people who gave their lives while serving this country.
 
8th of November

Deaconblue said:
And that is why I don't think we will see the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum renamed.


Big and Rich have a song called 8th of November about this battle as told to them by one of the survivors. If you go to the video on YouTube, there is a prologue that talks about Lawrence Joel. After watching this I think you will agree that they should not change the name. Amazing valor. We should be honored to have his name on our building. Good song too.
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Deaconblue said:
That would greatly diminish the recognition of Joel. Lawrence Joel Vetetans Memorial next to "big business name" Coliseum doesn't get the same recognition as having his name on the building. Right now mentions of where Wake plays home games includes the Lawrence Joel name. If his name is taken off the building, how often will it get said on TV?
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It would be long, but I could definitely imagine hearing "welcome to Wake Forest Demon Deacon basketball at the [corporation name] Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum." Not as short as the KFC Yum Center or TD Garden, but I'm pretty confident they can eventually come up with a name that includes "Joel" and "Veterans." I'd like to keep it because it's become part of our bball program's identity.

I could easily be wrong, but wasn't there some overlap with Groves Stadium and BB&T Field? Thought they called it "BB&T Field at Groves Stadium" or something like that for a brief period of time. They did drop "Groves Stadium" entirely in that instance, but I recall some disagreement but not a lot of outrage over it. I do believe a lot of people would be outraged if the name of our bball arena is dropped.

I will say that our AD and big donors really screwed up by continuing to double down during the Bz debacle in the recent past, so I'm not completely confident they'll do the right thing here. At the end of the day, looks like PR vs money, but there has to be room for compromise.
 
FB stadium naming was the Groves family who donated the funds to build it in the first place and the newer BB&T money offered for the rebuild and refurbishment needed after 40 years.

The Joel Coliseum naming is a US Army veteran Medal of Honor winner vs corporate money issue. Very few Medal of Honor winners are actually alive to have the Medal presented to them. Most are presented to next of kin posthumously. Prominently displayed in the Coliseum there should be a very large copy of the photo of President Lyndon Johnson presenting the Medal of Honor to Lawrence Joel. If it isn't there, Wake should make that happen.

Wake should make a little bit more of honoring the man for whom the Coliseum is named.
 
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