Cocke Hall (Wrestling)
The home of VMI wrestling has been Cocke Hall since its opening in 1926.
Since then, the old gym has been witness to 82 years of incredible memories in VMI wrestling.
In the winter of 1992, former assistant baseball coach Kenny Creehan dubbed Cocke Hall the "Thunderdome" in his public address duties and the name has stuck ever since.
The atmosphere at Cocke Hall for home dual meetsis unrivalled anywhere on the east coast. The Corps of Cadets provides one of the most spirited and zealous home crowds, as they cheer on the Keydet wrestlers. Banners overhead trumpet the accomplishments of past VMI matmen, including 12 Southern Conference championships, and two All-Americans.
The wrestling team moved into new locker room facilities in Cocke Hall in 1997, giving the Keydet wrestling program a new permanent home close to their practice and weight training facilities, as well as being only one floor below their arena for home dual matches.
On Feb. 16, 2002 a record crowd of 1,285 fans packed Cocke Hall to root the Keydets on to a 23-11 victory over The Citadel. The overflow crowd included almost the entire VMI corps of cadets. To accommodate the ever-growing popularity of VMI wrestling, the program brought in six new sets of bleachers which were installed six seasons ago. The bleachers have greatly enlarged the Thunderdome's seating capacity.
