University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 1, 1955
Pageant to Feature 64 Years of Basketball
By JOHN McMILLION
The history of basketball from 1891 to 1955 will be the theme of the pageant for the half-time service tonight at the dedication of the Allen fieldhouse. The pageant will lead up to the actual dedication ceremony, which will include many dignitaries.
Among those expected to participate in the dedication are Gov. Fred Hall; Oscar Staunfer, member board of regents; Tex Winter, Kansas State basketball coach; Larry "Moon" Mullins, Kansas State athletic director; Dr. James McCain, Kansas State president; Ernie Quigly, former K. U. athletic director, and A. C. "Dutch" Lonberg, athletic director.
Also in the ceremony will be Coach Phog Allen's family, including Mrs. Allen; his three daughters, Mary, Jane, and Eleanor, and his two sons, Milton and Bob, both former K.U. basketball players. The general contractor of the fieldhouse, Charles Bennett, and the architect, Charles Marshall, also will be present. State Architect John Brown will participate.
Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy will preside over the dedication and the alumni will be represented by Scott C. Ashton, president of the greater Kansas City alumni organization. The student body will be
represented by Bob Kennedy, president of the All-Student Council. In addition to these more than 100 former basketball lettermen will take part.
The pageant, directed by Gene Courtney, '49, and Herk Harvey, '48, both of Centron corporation of Lawrence, will commence with a scene showing the many uses of Allen fieldhouse.
The next scene will show the invention of basketball by Dr. James Naismith at the Springfield, Mass., Y.M.C.A. Following this will be a scene showing the international spread of the game and then a skit on the first women's basketball game which was played in 1895 between Stanford and California.
New, Old 'Join To Heat Arena
New and old will join hands tonight, when the fieldhouse heating system formally begins its gigantic task. The "new" is, of course, the equipment in the fieldhouse itself, while the "old" is the time-tested University heating plant.
By J. P. STEPHENS
A heralded world's championship game in 1905 between Kansas City and Buffalo, N. Y., will furnish one of the surprises of the pageant. The game was won by Kansas City.
Necessarily, the "new" is a modern improvement of the standard steam radiator seen in many University buildings. The new system uses steam piped from the heating plant, via a tunnel, to the new science building. From that point the steam lines are covered by insulation and asphalt and are buried in the ground.
- In the fieldhouse blower-radiators, called "Trane Volume Ventilators," push the air across steam-heated pipes and out into the building. For this mammoth job there are 22 $1,000 "Trane" units, and since the air must be circulated, a $40,000 system of air-ducts has been installed. These ducts, in carrying warm air to the various dressing rooms and sections of the auditorium, serve about six million cubic feet of space.
Exits Limited For Tonight
No doors will be open on the west side of the fieldhouse. The south end doors will be used primarily for officials and participants in the half-time pageant.
Entrances to the Allen fieldhouse will be rather limited for the opening game, according to Louis Creamer, state superintendent of construction.
Only the southeast and southwest doors on the south side will be open for use. In between the two doors on the inside, fieldhouse workers plan to store construction equipment temporarily. The equipment will be covered with tarpaulins and will not allow passage through the middle doors.
Two doors, probably on the north side, will be used by students. Others will be locked. For the general public, entrance to the fieldhouse will be only by the east doors. Two of the south doors, in the furthest corner, are 3-4 truck trucks to enter the fieldhouse. The trucks will be able to drive around the entire inside of the fieldhouse. But if the portable bleachers are set up, trucks can only come so far as the bleachers.
All doors to the fieldhouse, with the exception of the two overhead south doors, are glass paneled and have separate key-locks.
The beginning of Coach Allen's coaching career is the next phase of the story.
The props used in the pageant have taken on tremendous proportions. Some of the things needed were seven footballs of the type used in 1892, a lighted torch for the Olympic scene, 30 flags, and numerous foreign costumes.
The final scene of the pageant shows the acceptance of basketball as an international game and its place in the Olympics.
Maple Floor One of Finest Arena Features
When the Jayhawks and the Wildcats meet tonight in the brand new Allen fieldhouse they will have the privilege of playing on one of the finest, if not the finest, basketball courts in the country.
"It's a great floor to play on." is what Coach Phog Allen says about the new maple court. "It just seems to give you a pickup when you step on it."
The floor was built at a cost of $15,732 by the Welch Planing Mill, Inc., of Midvale, Utah, and was purchased and installed by Thatcher, Inc., contractors. The floor is divided in two 4 by 8-foot sections and will be removed and stowed away at the conclusion of basketball season.
The painting scheme on the new floor will be identical to that on the court now in place in Hoch auditorium.
The backboards are made of glass and were installed by Benny Bubb, Associated, of Topeka.
Other courts made by the Welch firm are installed at the University of Wyoming, Bradley university, Denver university, and Kansas State.
Read and Use the Kansan Classified Ads.
Another Sign of Progress in Lawrence
WE CONGRATULATE KANSAS UNIVERSITY FOR THE ALLEN FIELDHOUSE. A JOB WELL DONE
843 Massachusetts
Phone 915
"Where the College Man Shops"