NEWS
4B • THEUNIVERSITYDAILYKANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2003
Visiting the past of the fieldhouse
By Joey Berlin and Stephanie Horner jberlin@kansan.com Kansan sportswriters
Allen Fieldhouse isn't just the home of University of Kansas basketball. The old, dark brown-orange gymnasium, sitting on Naismith Drive in Lawrence, is a basketball palace crammed with memories, adorned with banners, trophies and retired jerseys immortalizing those memories. A cramped cluster of of 16,300 seats sit below a ceiling sign bearing a curious phrase to the uninitiated:
"Pay Heed, All Who Enter,
Beware of the Phog."
Workers build the court of Allen Fieldhouse. Under construction in 1954, the fieldhouse cost $2.65 million and seated 17,000
No one holds more memories of the fieldhouse than Max Falkenstein, who has been broadcasting Jayhawk basketball games on radio since 1946. Falkenstein is an icon of the historic gym who actually predates the building itself. As such, he has an appreciation for what the fieldhouse has meant to Kansas basketball.
“It's old,” Falkenstein said. “But it has a certain ambience. A smell, feel and sound that no other arena I've been in can match.”
In the mid-1950's, Kansas coach Forrest "Phog" Allen campaigned for a new gymnasium to replace the cramped confines at Hoch Auditorium, commonly known as "Horrendous Hoch."
The University made plans to construct a $2.65-million facility that would seat nearly 17,000 making it the second largest college basketball venue in the country at the time.
As construction on the new fieldhouse continued through 1954, a debate took place on what to call the facility. Many thought the University should name the building after Allen, who had won more than 500
"It's old,but it has a certain ambience.A smell,fell and sound that no other arena I've been in can match."
Max Falkenstein
Jayhawk basketball broadcaster
Courtesy University Archives
games and the 1952 national championship. Others thought James Naismith, the inventor of basketball and Kansas' first coach was a better choice. Some even suggested a hyphenated name honoring both. In December 1954, Kansas Chancellor Franklin Murphy decided the new gym would be named after Allen.
The fieldhouse opened its doors for the first time on March 1, 1955, when the Jayhawks hosted Kansas State. As 17,228 fans — still a fieldhouse record
— watched the Jayhawks beat the Wildcats 77-67. Allen, knowing he would be honored at halftime of the game, turned coaching duties over to assistant Dick Harp. During the 35-minute halftime ceremony, Allen received the keys to a new Cadillac.
The following fall, the fieldhouse's first superstar, Wilt Chamberlain, arrived on campus. Chamberlain couldn't play until the 1956-57 season, because at the time the NCAA did not allow freshmen to play varsity. But the 7-foot African-American from Philadelphia made a big impression on a predominantly white student body. Pete Anderson, a Kansas yell leader during Chamberlain's years with the Jayhawks, recalls how the man known as the "Big Dipper" stood out.
"I remember how big he was going across campus." Anderson
said. "Here was this big black man, head and shoulders above everybody else, and you could see him coming. It was awesome."
Chamberlain's fieldhouse debut against Northwestern on Dec. 3, 1956, was a spectacle no one in attendance would forget. Standing several inches over the tallest Northwestern defenders, Chamberlain scored a Kansas record 52 points, many on dunks, as the Jayhawks cruised to victory.
"I remember he completely dominated the game." Falkenstein said. "We were saying 'Who is this monster, and what is he going to do to the game of basketball?' He just completely changed the way teams tried to play defense."
The 1956-57 team, coached by Harp after Allen's retirement, was the first of 17 conference
champions and nine Final Four teams to play in the fieldhouse. Ted Owens, Larry Brown and Roy Williams each coached the Jayhawks to at least two Final Fours during a 32-year period, beginning with the 1970-71 team.
The 1987-88 Jayhawks, coached by Brown and led by Kansas all-time leading scorer Danny Manning, are usually remembered for their improbable run to the NCAA tournament championship.
But it was that season's Senior Night, the Jayhawks final home game of the year, that gave Falkenstein one of his most enduring fieldhouse memories. Guard Archie Marshall, despite an injured knee, was hoping to get into just one more game as Kansas took on Oklahoma State.
"He was suited up, there was
no way he could play." Falken-
stein said.
Near the end of the game, coach Larry Brown inserted Marshall into the lineup. Emotion boiled over in the crowd and on the bench. Oklahoma State coach Leonard Hamilton told his players to pull back and let Marshall take a final shot.
"They passed to Archie, and he tried to hit a shot from the side, which would have brought the house down," Falkenstein said. "But unfortunately, he couldn't make it."
Senior Nights are typically emotional. This year was no exception, as two of Kansas' greatest four-year players ever, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich, became choked up as they addressed the crowd after the game.
"Both Nick and Kirk told me this year, I'm not going to cry out
there," Falkenstein said. "And they both did."
Among memorable games at the fieldhouse, Falkenstein also fondly recalls Kansas' meeting with fellow basketball powerhouse Indiana on Dec. 22, 1993. Point guard Jacque Vaughn, then a heralded freshman, knocked a guarded three-pointer with 0.2 seconds remaining to give Kansas an 86-83 win over the Hoosiers.
Kansas basketball begins new era this fall, with Bill Self taking over for Williams as coach. But as Self tries to create his own niche in Kansas basketball history, he'll be surrounded by reminders of what came before him, in an old gym that continues to push forward and keep its reputation as one of college basketball's lasting gems.
— Edited by Abby Sidesinger