Monday Night, March 6, 1967, AFH
-
Great stuff. My earliest memories of the stadium were grade school/jr high in the 70s when I worked with our 4-H club selling cokes in the stands. We carried trays with 15-20 cups of 'Iced-cold Cokes!' up and down the steps of the stadium. I usually left very sweaty and very sticky.
The cups were blue, white or red with the historic Jayhawk mascots around the top ridge. The cups were created by Packer Plastics, a manufacturer in Lawrence. I also distinctly recall our gathering area to refill was in a dark, concrete closet in the bosoms of memorial stadium. All gone with the new stadium.
-
@JoJoAndMe loved reading this. thank you for sharing.
-
@bskeet Fun to share. Amazing what we remember and how we remember it. You even remember how sweaty and sticky you felt!
-
Here's another entry . . . from way back. Fun to share. Hope you enjoy.
From all my KU experiences, my one regret is that I didnât get to see a game in Hoch Auditorium. In 1927 the basketball games moved from Robinson Gymnasium to the newly constructed Hoch Auditorium next door to Robinson which seated 3,800 for basketball. Being a theater, it had an unusual configuration for basketball. The floor was in front of the stage with additional bleacher seating on the stage! The floor was hard, Coach Phog Allen complained. Two corners of the floor met at walls by the stage. And, both teams had to use locker rooms in still-standing Robinson Gym. That meant that both teams ran between buildings before, at half-time and after games . . . sometimes in snow storms!
When K-State opened Ahern Field House in 1951, Coach Allen pressed his long-standing hope for a new basketball venue. He obtained funding from the state legislature, but construction was held up by the federal restriction on steel during the Korean War. To get past the restrictions, they re-labeled the plans as an armory with two rooms designated for ammunition storage. The guise worked. The initial steel came from surplus steel designated for the Korean War. Architects on the project later reported that they considered the project as just a âbig barnâ with a dirt floor. (Which it was, originally!)
Coach Allen wanted the building named in honor of Coach Naismith, the inventor of the game and the University of Kansasâ first basketball coach. However, by a vote of the student body, the facility was named Allen Field House.
As the 1955 school year approached, the âBig Newsâ (pun intended) was that the first nationally recruited basketball player, Wilton Norman Chamberlain from Philadelphia, was coming to KU. âAlertedâ by a reporter that the 7â 1â Chamberlain had enrolled at KU, Coach Allen responded, âI just hope he comes out for basketball.â
Wilt was, in my opinion, the best college basketball player . . . ever, and most likely the best to play in the pros. (If you had the first pick in the âAll-Time Proâ draft, would you pick Wilt or Michael Jordan?) We could have a debate here.
Opening night of Allen Field House was March 1, 1955, and I was there, with my Dad and 17,286 other fans, an attendance record that stands to this day. Kansas won the game 77 â 67 over Kansas State. I had the program for many years, but it was later ruined in a basement flood. I really donât have any specific memories of that game except that the iconic Jayhawk on the small, overhanging center court scoreboard had a red light bulb for an eye that lit up each time KU scored â two flashes for a field goal and one flash for a free throw. Interestingly, that first Jayhawk on the scoreboard was the 1929 version. Maybe that was a request by Phog Allen who had coached during those years.
Prior to the â55-â56 season, (when freshman were still not eligible to compete at the varsity level), Wilt dominated in the traditional Frosh vs Varsity game before 14,000 at Allen Field House, scoring 42 points with 28 rebounds. Always the wit, Allen commented, âWilt could team-up with two Phi Beta Kappas and two co-eds and give us a battle.â
But then it was discovered that Allen would be unable to coach his prized recruit. Most unfortunately, Kansas state regulations required state employees to retire at age 70. Chamberlain really wanted to be coached by Allen. Coach Allen and the administration tried everything, but could not get an exception made.
It may have been a contributing factor as to why, after KUâs crushing three-overtime defeat in the 1958 NCAA Championship Game, Wilt chose not to return for his senior season. But the biggest reason seemed to be Wiltâs frustration with the college game at that time. Opposing teams would triple team him; and in one game, the Hank Iba coached Oklahoma State Cowboys passed the ball 160 times before shooting.
That 1958 championship game was played at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. I truly believe that had Coach Allen still been coaching, KU would have won that three-overtime game. I watched it on black and white TV at home. Why we didnât go to that game, Iâll never know!
By the way, in the days of the Big Seven Conference, the Pre-Season Basketball Tournament at Municipal Auditorium was always a big attraction. My Dad often took me to a game (or two) as each âsessionâ (afternoon or evening) was two games). Every team played three games, so the tournament participants finished 1 through 8. To make it an eight-team tournament, they always invited a school from outside the conference . . . and it was never a school that had any chance of winning the tournament. The neatest thing about it, from a young boyâs perspective, was that all the teams stayed at nearby downtown hotels, so they would just walk to and from the Auditorium. If you arrived very early, you could stand outside and watch the players in their warm-ups walk into the arena.
-
Here's what you younger Jayhawks need to know about John Hadl.
In 1961 Coach Jack Mitchell made an unusual change by moving Lawrence native John Hadl from halfback to quarterback prior to his junior season. Hadl was also the punter, setting a KU record that still stands and one that led the nation for many years â a season punting average at 45.6 yards. He also holds the record for the longest punt of 94 yards against Oklahoma in 1960. I was there. I saw it â a quick kick that just bounced and bounced and bounced!Hadl also holds the record for the longest kick-off return of 97-yards against Syracuse. He also set a record that stood for over 50 years with the longest pass interception return of 98-yards against TCU. He was named first-team All-American as a halfback in 1960 and a first-team All-American at quarterback in 1961. He led the Jayhawks to their first bowl victory, a 33â7 win over the Rice Owls in the Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston, Texas, signing his pro contract under the goal posts after the game. I watched the game on TV. The contract signing was carried on TV as well, as this was the beginning of the âwarâ to sign college footballers between the established NFL and the upstart AFL. Hadl was named the MVP of the East-West Shrine Game AND the College All-Star game, the only player to be so-honored. Of course, Hadl went on to a pro Hall of Fame career playing quarterback for the San Diego Chargers, still wearing #21.
-
Here's one more post from the "Way Back Machine." If I don't get any comments (Approxinfinity?), then I'll quit.
My Dad and I had a tradition for the end of each football game in Lawrence when I was young. Depending on which team was leading with two minutes left in the game, we'd go down onto the track (You could do that in those days!) and walk toward that team's locker room to watch âthe big boysâ jog off the field. On this particular day, October 1, 1960, KU was playing Syracuse, the 1959 National Champions featuring All-American-to-be Ernie Davis. With two minutes remaining, the Orange were up 14-7 (the eventual final score), so we headed out of the west stands and down onto the track. Laying beside one of the wooden benches was a pile of about ten white Syracuse jerseys. The Orange were wearing âtear-awayâ jerseys, and some of them had been replaced during the game. Dad said, âWhy don't you ask someone if you could have one of those jerseys?â Instead, I just grabbed one. I stuffed it under my gray hooded sweatshirt and walked on. Much to my amazement, Dad didn't say a thing! When we got outside Memorial Stadium, I pulled the jersey out, and it was #44, Ernie Davis'. Ernie was a great football player and a great person. He would be diagnosed with leukemia at the College All-Star Game and die within the year. The jersey was pinned to the wall of my bedroom for many years. As an adult, it was in the bottom of a drawer. -
@JoJoAndMe wow. I had no idea that the first black player to win the heismann died of leukemia before ever playing a professional game. I will have to check out Express The Ernie Davis story. Thanks for sharing this beautiful story. I need to catch up on your other tales!
-
@JoJoAndMe Hadl sounds Chamberlainlike in the freakishness of his athleticism. Would be nice if we had someone that dynamic on our teams. Everything is so specialized now. We had a few football players on Self teams. It would be really cool if one of them were good enough to play meaningful minutes
-
@JoJoAndMe I love how accessible the players
were in your stories. -
Great stories. Appreciate your posts!
