After the structure was completed, the last aluminum panel affixed to the roof and the final seat bolted into the concrete, the soul of the Hawaii athletics complex’s new centerpiece was infused on Oct. 21, 1994.

After toiling in steamy Klum Gym for his first two decades as Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach, Dave Shoji had walked through the facility prior to his team’s debut in the then-Special Events Arena.

But the final element that would validate the arena’s construction and define its impact wasn’t evident until the doors opened that evening nearly 20 years ago.

"I’d been in there almost every day, so that part wasn’t so overwhelming," Shoji recalled. "But when people started coming in — and I think mid-week it was announced as a sellout already — it was just chicken skin to actually walk in there and see all the people."

Renamed the Stan Sheriff Center in 1998, the arena has hosted 43 sellouts in three sports and countless chicken skin moments since the Wahine pulled out a four-set victory over San Jose State that night. A few days shy of the 20th anniversary of opening night, the Stan Sheriff Center remains a testament to the vision of its namesake.

"I think he would just be proud," said Rich Sheriff, Stan’s son and arena manager since the position was created. "He was more the type of person not to take the limelight. He would just be proud it’s been so successful for the university and the state."

Given the logistics involved in assembling a staff and overseeing the operation of a 10,300-seat facility, Sheriff remembers being "exhausted by the end of (opening) night."

But he did take a moment to breathe in the atmosphere in an arena that would eventually be named after his father, who had long pushed for an on-campus home for UH’s indoor sports and died in January 1993, about a month before the ground breaking on the lower campus.

"Once the game was going, I was able to just walk up on the concourse and look around and say, ‘wow this is really what he dreamed of,’" Sheriff said, "and I think he would have had a big smile on his face."

Riley Wallace shared in that gratification, having worked with Stan Sheriff to lobby for the arena’s construction.

The early success of Wallace’s basketball teams helped spur the discussion, particularly after the ‘Bows won two NIT games before raucous home crowds in 1990 but were sent to New Mexico for the third round due to a scheduling conflict at Blaisdell Arena.

"We were good at that time, the crowds showed up and showed a demand for it and everything came together at one time," Wallace said.

"We knew the importance of having a good place to play and fan support and the arena brought people out."

Wallace’s teams attracted 22 sellout crowds, 13 in the Anthony Carter/Alika Smith-led 1997-98 season. Wahine volleyball has accounted for 14 and led the nation in attendance every year since the arena’s opening until last season. A men’s volleyball team headlined by Yuval Katz fostered rock star appeal in the mid-90s and packed the arena eight times.

Basketball wins over Kansas, Indiana and Michigan State are among Rich Sheriff’s most memorable moments as well as volleyball regionals, including a five-set loss to Michigan State in 1995.

But he noted his father envisioned a multi-purpose facility for the campus and the arena has fulfilled that function.

UH hosted a Toyota convention, a Miss Universe pageant and training camp for the Los Angeles Lakers. High schools have competed in athletics and robotics. The U.S. Olympic basketball team passed through on its way to Sydney and the women’s volleyball national team visited this summer.

The Dalai Lama spoke in the arena in 2012 and President Barack Obama sat courtside last year for the Diamond Head Classic.

Through it all, Wallace and Shoji credit the younger Sheriff for keeping the arena from showing its age after two decades.

"I’m really proud of the fact of Rich Sheriff being the (manager) because he keeps it like it’s brand new because there’s family pride there with his dad’s name on it and he’s done an outstanding job," Wallace said.

While Shoji remembers the transition from Klum to the Special Events Arena, some of the younger players on this year’s team weren’t yet born when the arena was unveiled.

Even so, "I still think our players realize it might be the best place in America to play volleyball," Shoji said. "So I think they’re well aware of how fortunate they are."

UPCLOSE / STAN SHERIFF CENTER

Opened: October 21, 1994

Seating capacity: 10,318 (10,254 grandstand, 64 courtside)

All-time UH record: 1,072-404 (Women’s Volleyball 366-43, Men’s Basketball 254-110, Women’s Basketball 219-133, Men’s Volleyball 233-118)

ARENA MANAGER RICH SHERIFF’S …

Favorite moments: “Beating Kansas was huge. Beating Indiana and being able to tell the stories about Bobby Knight walking back to Waikiki is always a good one. Beating Michigan State when they were ranked No. 2 in the country. Women’s volleyball has had so many great ones, regional finals with Georgia Tech, regional final with Michigan State which was a five-set loss (after being) up 2-0, but it was a great game.”