It was the culmination of a dream. After countless delays and nearly $3 million in construction costs, Dr. Forrest C. "Phog" Allen's vision was complete. Although it was not the largest arena at the time, as Allen had wanted, it was close, holding approximately 17,000.
Allen wanted a facility that far exceeded not only the capacity of Hoch Auditorium, the Jayhawks home since the 1922 season, but the conditions as well. Opposing coaches and players, as well as his own, complained that the court, which was directly over a cement floor, caused shin splints and unnecessary bumps and bruises. In addition to the poor playing surface, the curved walls made it difficult to shoot the ball. In one part of the auditorium where two walls met, there was no room for out of bounds.
Allen got his wish with the completion of the fieldhouse in the winter of 1954-1955.
The Jayhawks played their first game in the fieldhouse on March 1, 1955, against Kansas State. Kansas won the inaugural game 77-67, led by Gene Elrutn, who scored 21 points for the Jayhawks.
Allen continued to win in the fieldhouse until the eighth game, when Kansas lost to Missouri on Feb. 6, 1956. Future Missouri coach Norm Stewart led all scorers with 20 points in the 85-78 victory Tigers. Following the 1955-1956 season, Allen was forced to step down as coach, due to the mandatory retirement age of 70.
"The Father of Basketball Coaching" retired with a then-record 746 wins against 264 losses, including a 590-219 record at Kansas. His teams won 24 conference championships and appeared in three Final Fours, including the national championship in 1952. His 1922 and 1923 teams were later awarded Helms Foundation National Championships.
In 1957, the All-American Chamberlain led a dominant Kansas team that went undefeated in the fieldhouse, going 10-0. The Jayhawks finished 24-3 that season, losing in the national championship in one of the most famous college basketball games of all time. Kansas lost to an undefeated North Carolina team 54-53 in triple overtime.
Dick Harp was hired to replace Allen. Harp's squad debuted at the fieldhouse on Dec. 3, 1956. Jayhawk fans cheered their team to an 87-69 victory against Northwestern that day, and witnessed the historic debut of a lanky 7-foot center from Philadelphia
— Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain scored 52 points and grabbed 31 rebounds, both Kansas records that still stand today.
On Dec. 14, 1959, famed Kentucky coach and member of Allen's 1923 Helms Poundation National Championship team. Adolph Rupp, returned to Allen Fieldhouse. On the court, the Kentucky Wildcats defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 77-72 in overtime. Allen was in attendance to lead a pregame ceremony in Rupp's honor.
The 1960s marked a transitional period in Kansas basketball history. Phog Allen and Wilt Chamberlain were gone. Dick Harp's teams struggled in the in the next couple years, posting a 7-18 record, including 1-9 in Allen Fieldhouse in 1961-1962, a record that still stands as the worst in the building's history. Harp retired after the 1964 season, winning his last game at Allen Fieldhouse with a 58-46 victory against Oklahoma State on March 7, 1964.
Harp finished with a record of 121-82 overall, 51-29 at Allen Fieldhouse. He coached teams to two conference championships and two NCAA tournaments, including the national runner-up team in 1957.
Ted Owens was hired as the Jayhawks fifth full-time coach before the 1964-1965 season. He coached his first game in Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 3, 1964.
One of the most bizarre moment in Allen Fieldhouse history occurred on Feb. 20, 1965. Kansas was on its way to an easy victory against Kansas State when two 6-by-12 foot banners, on opposites sides of the scoreboard, unrolled to reveal: "Go Cats, Kill Snob Hill Again." The theory was that several K-State students snuck into the building the night before the game and rigged the banners to the scoreboard when it was lowered onto the floor. No one was ever caught or charged for their role in the incident.
The first decade of Allen Fieldhouse represented a tumultuous time in Kansas basketball history. Legendary coach Phog Allen was forced to retire, due to age, after coaching only 11 games in the building that was named in his honor. Assistant Dick Harp led the Jayhawks for the next eight seasons, coaching arguably the best player in Kansas and basketball history, Wilt Chamberlain.
After Chamberlain's departure, Kansas had several down seasons that prompted the second coaching change of the decade. Ted Owens was hired and would lead Kansas for the next 19 seasons, becoming the second longest tenured men's coach in Jayhawk history. The Jayhawks' record at Allen Fieldhouse in its first decade was 60-31. Phog Allen had dreamt of an arena that would give Kansas a devastating home court advantage, and though Kansas' dominance wasn't quite established during its first decade, Allen knew that the best was yet to come. $\star$
03. 01.1955
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