Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
Indoor arena in Kent, Ohio, United States; home to the Kent State Golden Flashes
The Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center, often referred to as the MAC Center and the MACC, is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. The building is primarily used as an athletic venue that is home to five Kent State Golden Flashes varsity athletic teams: men's basketball, women's basketball, women's volleyball, women's gymnastics, and wrestling. In addition, it hosts commencement exercises, speakers, and concerts throughout the year. The building houses the offices of the Kent State Athletic Department and the coaches of each of the university's varsity athletic teams.
The MAC Center opened in 1950 as the "Men's Physical Education Building" to replace Wills Gymnasium as the home of the men's basketball, wrestling, and men's swimming programs and men's physical education department. From 1956 to 1991, it was known as Memorial Gymnasium in honor of Kent State students who died in World War I and World War II. It was expanded in 1977 and underwent a major renovation between 1990 and 1992. Since 1992, the arena seating capacity has been listed at 6,327 in the basketball configuration. The MAC Center is a regular site for the Mid-American Conference championship meets for both wrestling and women's gymnastics and a past host of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) events. As of 2024, the building is the 21st-oldest arena in NCAA Division I college basketball and oldest in the Mid-American Conference.
History
Plans for the MAC Center were drawn up in the late 1940s as Kent State saw a rapid enrollment increase in men following World War II. It was one of multiple construction projects at KSU during the post-war period, which included the first men's dormitory, Stopher Hall, in 1948, and a new practical arts building, later named Van Deusen Hall, in 1951.
The public source identifies “Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center” as indoor arena in Kent, Ohio, United States; home to the Kent State Golden Flashes. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Memorial, Athletic and Convocation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12061677. Authority coordinates are 41.148, -81.344. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950, 1956, 1991 and 1977.
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This entry incorporates text from “Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.