Country-western singer Lynn Anderson and more than a dozen world champion cowboys were featured in the 37th annual Fat Stock Show and Rodeo in February 1977 — the first event ever to be held in the Burton Memorial Coliseum.

Anderson rose to fame in 1971 after winning a Grammy Award for her recording of “Rose Garden.” She was also an avid horsewoman herself with state and world competition titles under her belt for riding in quarter horse competitions.

The 1977 event was supposed to be the beginning of a bright future for the parish, it’s agriculture industry, 4-H programs and entertainment outlook. But things got off to a very rocky start.

Construction on the Gulf Highway coliseum began in 1976 on a 45-acre tract of land that was donated to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury by the late W.T. Burton.

The coliseum is actually two, full-service buildings in one — the arena and a 168,000- square-foot Livestock and Exhibit Building.

The domed roof arena stands 105 feet from the floor to the top of the room and it can seat 6,500 on permanent high-rise seating. Seating capacity can be expanded to 8,000 for events other than rodeos with the installation of portable seating on the arena floor.

The livestock building can accommodate 2,500 animals.

Before McNeese State University took over the administration of the building the coliseum had a multi-year history of deficits and detractors.

Construction costs topped $8 million — double the $4.1 million budget — which forced simplifications of design in order to minimize expense. After the facility opened, Calcasieu voters also rejected a tax that would funded the facility’s maintenance.

Operating losses forced the Burton Coliseum Authority — the official government body responsible to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury — to close the facility between March 1980 and January 1981.

McNeese took over administration of the facility shortly thereafter with the agreement that it could be returned to the Police Jury at any time if it became an economic hardship to operate.

That ended up not being necessary.

By 1983, the coliseum was generating between $100,000 to $120,000 annually, according to then-Coliseum Director Johnny Suydam.

In the July 15, 1984, edition of the American Press, Suydam said that though the coliseum was still paying off a $4.5 million construction ad valorem tax after the parish issued the bonds in 1972, he predicted a bright future ahead for the structure.

Suydam said in the 1984 edition that the coliseum was receiving $350,000 per year from the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge Trust and had recently been awarded a state grant of $2.7 million because of its association with the university.

“The Rockefeller money covers maintenance and overhead expenses,” Suydam said. “The $2.7 million, earmarked for improvements, will make Burton Coliseum a multipurpose facility.”

Other than that, he said the complex operated solely on donations and generated revenue and drains no funds from McNeese’s academic programs.

“We’ll come out even with the grants,” he told the American Press. “No municipality can exist just on revenue generated.”

Suydam served as a McNeese State University football and baseball coach for nine years before becoming coliseum director on July 1, 1983. He and his then-staff of five were all university employees and they also had student workers through the school’s financial aid office.

McNeese’s rodeo team began using the coliseum when the school took over the administration of the complex, but the university’s basketball team didn’t start playing there until 1986 after Suydam had the coliseum’s original dirt floor paved, ordered a portable wooden basketball floor, installed dressing rooms, improved acoustics and hard-surfaced the parking lot.

Those changes proved fruitful. Today the facility hosts high school basketball games, cheer and dance competitions, gymnastics meets, martial arts competitions, volleyball tournaments and wrestling matches in addition to its original use as a rodeo arena.

There are also spaces for 250 RV units, with 104 of those spaces furnished with water and electricity.