J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome
“The Dome is the greatest thing to happen to Northern Arizona University and all of Northern Arizona.”
Raul Castro
-Former Arizona State Governor
History Behind the Skydome
The J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome is an indoor multipurpose stadium located on the South part of campus at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. The year 1973 is a key year in the history of the Dome. For early in March “the snowiest and coldest March on record in Flagstaff.” Another movement to obtain a major all-weather facility was launched. This was all inspired by the Idaho State University’s successful “minidome”.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
Dr. Walkup took lead calling in a lunch meeting on May 17, 1973, at the Flagstaff’s Continental Country Club to discuss the idea of the Dome. Later in the meeting, Arizona Lumber and Timber Co. said that they would donate a 26-acre piece of land located on the west side of South Milton road (South Campus). This was convenient for both the university as well as Downtown Flagstaff, and this would become the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome project.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
The Walkup Skydome was opened without an official set and stone name in the year of 1977. On September 17, it hosted five games within the first season, with an average attendance of about 13,000 fans/viewers. The Skydome was then officially named after J. Lawrence Walkup (February 26, 1914 – August 7, 2002) the eleventh president of Northern Arizona University from the years of 1957 to 1979. This was a period of tremendous growth for the university.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
The Walkup Skydome building underwent a major renovation from December 2010 until September of 2011 at a cost of about $26 million dollars. The project included bringing the fire, life, and safety up to date while remodeling the bathrooms, concourse, offices, suites, locker rooms, ADA Disability access, and press boxes as well as the Dome lighting and its efficiency. The athletic training and equipment on the main floor were also remodeled and three elevators were added to the building. After a logo rebranding in April 2014, the Skydome turf was rebranded with NAU’s newest logo in the center of the field and the wordmark in both endzones.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
Fans, students, parents, and other general visitors now enter the building to a panoramic view of the field on the east and west concourses. Capacity was then reduced to 10,000, but it now features 21-in-wide chair-back seating. With that, the long-held dream of President Walkup, and many others for whom the University has a special place in their lives had finally become a reality and for President Walkup, the dream had come true.
Video was taken and edited by Christopher Caterinicchio and voiced by Gustavo Cardenas
Architecture & Construction of the Dome
The Skydome has a total area of 272,00 square feet, (6.2acres) and a diameter of 502 feet. The height of the dome ceiling is 142 feet measured from the inside floor level. The arena floor is 97,000 square feet. There are 132 doors around the dome and one 17′ x 17′ freight door
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
1.5 million board feet of Southern Yellow Pine went into the construction of the computer designed wood roof. The roof consists of a spherical framework of triangles connected by patented hubs. The framework system is made entirely of glue-laminated, all wood beams.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
The Walkup Skydome was the world’s largest clear-span timber dome, until the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, was completed in 1983. The building has a total cost of around $33.2 million and the current seating capacity is 11,230, with 10,000 permanent seats and 1,230 seats in portable bleachers.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
Uses for the Skydome
The original purpose for the Skydome was to “provide an economical, all-weather sport, recreational, educational and entertainment facility for NAU’s thousands of students, as well as for the citizens of Arizona who live, work or play in Arizona’s northern area.” All the home football games are held at the Skydome where students gather to cheer on their team, as well as events for families.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
Along with the football games are indoor track and field meets and basketball games. Volleyball games also use to be held in the Dome and each year the graduation commencement ceremony is held in the Skydome as well. Occasionally there were concerts held in the Skydome as well as flea markets for the students. In 1984, the fourth annual flea market was held in the Dome. Homecoming events are held throughout the week and end with the tailgate outside of the Dome before the home football game in the Dome. Homecoming is the time for Alumni to visit and reminisce on their time spent at NAU and enjoy the events put on by the student body.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
The Dome was also used to hold meetings and conferences because of its large size which enabled there to be large groups of people gathered. One conference that was held annually in the Dome was the Vocational Education Conference held by Kathy Dunn. The conference hosted “70 national business exhibitors who displayed the latest educational material” and “39 vocational education projects and activities” were displayed.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
Achievements within the Dome
At the first game held in the Dome, which happened to be football, NAU won 25-24 against Montana with a field goal at the last second. At one of the Homecoming football games, “in 1977 the largest crowd ever to assemble under one roof in Flagstaff history up to time, twelve thousand eight hundred fans.” The first basketball game held in the Dome against Alaska Anchorage was another win for the Lumberjacks, 101-76.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
Special events have been held inside the Dome as well. In 2003 during a Family Weekend Event Jay Leno, the comedian made an appearance. The Arizona Cardinals previously used the Dome as the place for their training camps, but the Dome is now used as a training camp for the Phoenix Suns. A WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) game was held in the Dome in 2000 with Phoenix Mercury versus the Detroit Shock. There was a concert held in the Dome in 1980, ZZ Top came to the Dome where there was an expectation to have over 8,000 people possibly attend. The concert was the first one of the semester as well as the only appearance by ZZ Top in Arizona.
Picture was taken by Alyssa Schultze
Photo Gallery
All pictures taken by Alyssa Schultze
Another perspective of one of the endzones 
Middle of field with NAU logo 
NAU logo in concourse area of the Dome 
Far perspective of one endzone 
Ceiling and one endzone 
Student seating section (front view) 
Outside of the east side of the Dome 
Another perspective of the east side of the Dome 
Outside of the Dome by the parking lot
Contributor Biographies
Gustavo Cardenas – Exhibit Designer & Multi-Media Contributor
Christopher Caterinicchio – Multi-Media Creator & Photographer
Chris is a freshman at Northern Arizona University. He is currently an Environmental science major with a double minor in bio-medical and environmental engineering. He joined us up in flagstaff in the fall of 2019. Chris contributed information pertaining to the architecture and the renovations at the Walkup Skydome. Chris also produced the video highlighting some of those major renovations.
Alyssa Schultze – Photographer & Exhibit Designer
Alyssa is a sophomore at Northern Arizona University. She is majoring in journalism and minoring in photography. She transferred to NAU from a community college, Folsom Lake College, in Northern California. Her main focus for the exhibit was to gather information about the uses and achievements made by the Skydome and inside the Skydome. She also took most of the photos for the exhibit and designed the layout.
Bibliography
Feltner, Nicholas. “NAU: The Year 1978.” The Lumberjack , 19 Jan. 1979, pp. 7–12.
Fossum, Jim. “Concern Expressed over Playing Field Shortage.” The Lumberjack , 27 Sept. 1979, p. 13.
“J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.” Northern Arizona University Athletics.
NAU. (n.d.). J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://nauathletics.com/sports/2017/5/30/information-facilities-skydome.aspx.
NAU. (n.d.). The building of the NAU Dome: a Brief History. Flagstaff, AZ: The University.
NAU. (2016). Walkup Skydome. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://library.nau.edu/speccoll/exhibits/louies_legacy/walkupdome.html.
Northern Arizona University Associated Students. “Lumberjacks lose first game; Lady Jacks fall to Lady Sun Devils.” The Lumberjack, 7 December 1989, p. 17.
Northern Arizona University Associated Students. “NAU to switch to single graduation ceremony.” The Lumberjack, 8 December 1993, p. 1.
Northern Arizona University Associated Students. “Partnership reinforced.” The Lumberjack, 8 August 1984, p. 3.
Northern Arizona University Associated Students. “Skydome flea market.” The Lumberjack, 22 March 1984, p. 2.
Northern Arizona University Associated Students. “Wild West’ Homecoming events planned.” The Lumberjack, 16 September 1976, p. 7.
Northern Arizona University Associated Students. “ZZ Top to Rock in Skydome.” The Lumberjack, 30 October 1980, p. 1.
Passe, Micheal. “Athletic Director Quits, Hockey Dropped.” The Lumberjack , 11 Sept. 1986, p. 11.
Velotta, Rick. “From a Dream to a Dome.” The Lumberjack , 6 May 1976, pp. 1–3.
Walkup, J. Lawrence, and William Graves. Hoyt. Pride, Promise, and Progress: the Development of Northern Arizona University . Author Universal Pub., 1984.
Walkup, J. Lawrence. Pride Promise Progress. Author Universal Publishing, 1984.