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Last Updated: Dec 19, 2008 - 3:40:45 PM |
As a basketball player and referee, I’ve had the tremendous opportunity to visit numerous venues where the sport is played in all parts of the country. Recently, I was trying to recall some of the best known or historical facilities in which I’ve either been a participant or have tooted a whistle. Madison Square Garden, Allen Fieldhouse, Pauley Pavilion, The United Center and Kemper Arena are a few that instantly come to mind.
When I played at the University of Missouri in the 70s, the only schools in the Big Eight Conference that had modern, fan friendly facilities were Mizzou’s Hearnes Multi-purpose Building (as it was then called) and Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum. The rest of the league played in older “fieldhouse” types of arenas. Though cramped and uncomfortable for the fans, those buildings were often known for providing an overwhelming home court advantage for their respective teams. I’ll never forget my first visit as a college freshman to Allen Fieldhouse, when nearly 16,000 Kansas Jayhawk fans chanted repeatedly in unison “Sit down, Norm!” every time our coach, Norm Stewart, stood up during the game.
However, none of the dozens of arenas I’ve seen compare to my favorite, one in which I never played or refereed, the Iowa Fieldhouse. As a child, it was the biggest building I had ever seen. Opened in 1927, the Iowa Fieldhouse cost $300,000 to erect and was billed as “the finest and largest building of its kind that has ever been erected in the world.” Attached to the old armory, Iowa Fieldhouse contained a fifty yard long indoor pool, the basketball arena and a huge north gymnasium. Balcony seating was added following the 1929 season when seats from the football facility, Iowa Field, were salvaged and installed in the field house - as a result of what is now Kinnick Stadium being built.
Iowa Fieldhouse will always be remembered as the home to Iowa’s only three Final Four teams, 1955, 1956 and 1980, three Hall of Fame Coaches, Sam Barry, Ralph Miller and Lute Olson, and players like Murray Wier, Don Nelson, Fred Brown and Ronnie Lester. It’s was the home of “Miller’s 6-Pack”, the undefeated 1970 Big Ten Champions who averaged over 100 points per game while playing there. The seating capacity for basketball was listed at 13,365 but there were probably 5,000 seats that had view obstructions consisting of steel posts and other fans in their seats in front of you.
But what I remember most about the old fieldhouse were the things that gave the facility its “charm”. I recall the wooden bleacher seats in the lower level, the steel seats in the balcony where your seat was shared with the people feet behind you, the five level rows of folding chairs court side, the enormous curtain covering the opening to the armory, the steel beams blocking numerous views of the court, the crossed steel cable backboard supports running to the suspended ceiling installed between the massive iron beams of the roof and the open restroom toilets with no stalls.
I officiated numerous games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which replaced the fieldhouse in 1983, and I can attest to the loyalty and support shown by the Iowa crowds in the new facility. But something was lost in 1982 that wasn’t moved to Carver. Something intangible, but real just the same. Perhaps it was just a bit of my childhood so fondly remembered, me and my dad walking into the warmth of the old barn on a cold January evening, peering around a post or sitting on someones feet after jumping up to cheer a great play or boo the Big Ten refs. I miss the old place.
This weeks question is from Tom in Belle Plaine who writes “I am an avid fan of the game of basketball and have been since I played in the 1950s. I watch alot of it on TV and one thing I don’t understand is all the handchecking that is allowed. Isn’t it illegal for a defender to have his hands all over the dribbler when he is dribbling down the court? Why is a foul rarely called for this?”
In the officiating guidelines section (Appendix III) of the NCAA Rulebook, there are three specific handchecking instances listed when a personal foul should ALWAYS be called. They are as follows: a) When a defensive player KEEPS a hand or forearm on an opponent, b) When a defensive player put two hands on an opponent and c) When a defensive player continually jabs by extending his arm(s) and placing a hand or forearm on the opponent. Any other contact by a player’s hand or arm resulting in a foul is strictly a judgement call on the part of each indiviual referee. However, the NCAA expects this rule, as all others, to be addressed at the beginning of the game and called consistantly throughout the game. I can assure you, Tom, that if a given referee is not addressing handchecking as the rules committee intended, his evaluations would certainly reflect that and would be subject to correction by the league’s Director of Officiating.
Prior to a game against the University of Texas in the mid 1970s, Missouri Coach Norm Stewart forewarned all of us about Texas’ legendary wisecracking basketball coach, Abe Lemons. Late in the first half, as I was running past the Texas bench, I was the victim Lemons’ dry humor. “Hey number 52, you only got one rebound in the first half”, Lemons yelled at me as I trotted past him, “that’s one more rebound than a dead guy”.
Send your questions to ref@eiherald.com or write to P.O. Box 336, Victor, IA, 52347.
© Copyright 2008 by The East Iowa Herald
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