Nothing like Kansas basketball

By Brenna Hawley

Friday, November 20, 2009

When college basketball fans walk into Allen Fieldhouse to watch the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks play this season, they are walking into a building filled with tradition. After all, the inventor of basketball started the Kansas basketball program. From newspaper to statues, Curtis Marsh, program director for KU Info, and Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director, explain some of Kansas basketball’s most beloved traditions.

Throwing newspaper

The opposing team’s lineup is announced and the student section holds up thousands of newspapers, ignoring the other team’s star forward. Then the starting five Jayhawks come off the bench, and

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Photo by Weston White

(From left) Michael Blair, Galena junior, A.J. Sidhu, Olathe junior, and Danielle Fuller, Olathe sophomore throw torn-up newspaper in the air. Students have a tradition of tossing newspaper confetti into the air as the Jayhawk starting lineup is introduced.

students throw up a shower of torn-up newspaper confetti. Curtis Marsh, director for KU Info, says it’s likely this tradition started during the Larry Brown era of coaching, but probably started after a group of college students saw something similar on TV.

“It’s obvious that the students love it, and I really do think that the other fans in the arena get as much of a charge out of seeing it as the students do doing it,” Marchiony says.

And the cleanup? Marchiony says the newspaper gets dry-mopped away, but that groups who volunteer to do the cleanup are tasked with picking up the thousands of pieces of torn newsprint.

Retired jerseys

Hanging on the south end of Allen Fieldhouse are jerseys of the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and most recently Kirk Hinrich. There used to be fewer jerseys, but Marchiony says before the 2002-2003 season, the list of retired jerseys was expanded to include consensus first team All-Americans, two-time first team All-Americans and academic All-Americans of the year. Last season, former guard Kirk Hinrich had his jersey retired at halftime of the Kansas-Missouri game on March 1. Marchiony says jerseys have about filled the top row of the Fieldhouse, so when they run out of room, they’ll just start a new row.

Pregame video

The video board comes on and fans see video of Danny Manning in his playing days, players like Raef LaFrentz and Mario’s shot during the 2008 championship game. Curtis Marsh says this groundshaking video is a new tradition, starting with the installation of the video board to replace the old light board that used to feature the Dancing Nachos. He says the video makes it easier to appreciate those who have come before in the basketball program.

“With the combination of sound and extraordinary videos, there’s no better way to get goose bumps,” Marsh says.

Marchiony says the video adds to the intimidation factor for the opposing team.

“I always look at the visiting team to see what they’re doing during that video, and some coaches allow the team to watch it and others just totally ignore it and huddle around and try to ignore it,” he says.

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Photo by Weston White

A statue of former Kansas basketball coach Phog Allen stands outside of Allen Fieldhouse. Allen coached the Jayhawks to 590 victories in his 39 seasons as head coach. The statue was dedicated in 1997 on the 90th anniversary of Allen’s first game coached at Kansas.

Phog Allen statue

Outside on the east side of Allen Fieldhouse stands a bronze statue of Forrest C. “Phog” Allen, Kansas’ third head coach and the namesake of the Fieldhouse. The statue was dedicated in 1997 on the 90th anniversary of Allen’s first game coached at Kansas. Marchiony says the statue is a monument to the history of Kansas’ basketball program.

“Having the Phog Allen statue out front just reemphasizes the history that encompasses Kansas basketball,” he says. “It’s almost like having the ghost of Phog Allen here.”

“Beware of the Phog” banner

The banner on the north end of Allen Fieldhouse that reads “Pay heed, all who enter, Beware of the Phog” was replaced in 2006 with a newer banner. Marsh says students hung the original banner during Kansas’ last national championship season of 1987-1988. The banner unfurled during the Kansas- Duke game on Feb. 20, 1988. The banner, which fans can now buy replicas of on www.payheedbanners.com, is another thing incoming teams have to see when coming into the Fieldhouse.

“It’s yet another thing that’s absolutely unique to our basketball experience,” Marsh says.

Booth Family Hall of Athletics

Allen Fieldhouse was expanded to hold the hall, which was opened in January 2006. Inside, there’s hundreds of pieces of memorabilia, including Olympic memorabilia from 1950s Jayhawks, a collection of rings from longtime announcer Max Falkenstien and items donated by Wilt Chamberlain’s family.

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Jim Mathis, of Leavenworth, reads information on the history of Kansas athletics in the Booth Family Hall of Athletics before to the game against Pittsburg State. Mathis said he has been a Kansas fan since he was 12 years old and typically attends several basketball games per season.

Marchiony says part of going to a basketball game is visiting the Booth Hall, and Marsh agrees.

“People go through the Booth Hall and say ‘this is college basketball,’” Marsh says.

Visitors can also see numerous trophies the team has won throughout the year. Hours to the hall can be found at www.kuathletics.com/facilities/kan-booth-family-hall-visit.html.

Camping outside of games

Marsh said camping started in the 1980s, but back then it was 24 hours a day, seven days a week in tents outside of the Fieldhouse. Now camping goes from 6 a.m to 10 p.m. on weekdays and starts at 8 a.m. on weekends and campers stay in the north end of the Fieldhouse. Marchiony says a student runs the camping program, and it shows dedication to the game.

“I think the KU students have a real appreciation for the history of Kansas basketball and they know that camping is a huge part of that history, and I think they want to keep it alive,” he says.

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