Ahearn

[Cem Blasoflas]

No this isn't to bash on Bramlage, which I'll freely admit gets louder than Ahearn did.

But when people talk about what they miss about Ahearn this picture sums it up. 

That's the student section behind Mitch.

Note how close the students are to the court (right on it) and note that beyond the first row all you see are heads.



Give it up for Mitch on Saturday.   

[ksu_FAN]

Early days of the 'Gon allowed for the early students to get courtside seats like that.  Those students were allowed to put one foot on the wood floor and the other had to stay on the concrete.  It was still that way when I came to K-State in 93-94, but not too many years later that changed when Asbury moved the benches.

[fatty fat fat]

 

KSU 2006-2009 >>> any three year stretch since at least the 70's

[Cem Blasoflas]

If you took a picture like that in the Bram you would get about 3 rows of students in the background.  There are like 15 rows in that photo.

[BostonPancake]

Damn, I loved those Converse shoes!

 

[Cem Blasoflas]

KSU 2006-2009 >>> any three year stretch since at least the 70's

I'm not starting a pissing match.  There's no reason not to embrace the past as well as the present.

[fatty fat fat]

guess i never understood the big deal about ahearn. everytime i walk in there, i lol @ the fact we had basketball games there. the place is a sh*thole

[sonofdaxjones]

I am LOL'ing because I know about 7 people in the stands in that picture, and I was at that game myself, but I sat in the endzone with the pull out stands that had the green chairs.

LOL @ Fatty . . . he would've definitely sought out the stall in Ahearn's restrooms.

[Cem Blasoflas]

It was never about the building.  It was about the basketball and the fact that 11,500 people could be crammed in so close to the court.

Oh, and of course the sound meter was a huge hit!   

[Thin Blue Line]

Loved going to the games at the "hearn" in the 70's. Ah, the days............

[RonLongshaft]

I am LOL'ing because I know about 7 people in the stands in that picture, and I was at that game myself, but I sat in the endzone with the pull out stands that had the green chairs.

LOL @ Fatty . . . he would've definitely sought out the stall in Ahearn's restrooms.

Mr. Popular! But for reallzies, how can you tell who people are in a photo that is 30+yrs old and of that crapty quality??

*I realize you probably recognize them from going to school w/ them back in the dizay.

[sonofdaxjones]

They're mainly right up front, several of them I've known for 30 years . . . I'm old.   

[Thin Blue Line]

I remember that there were the rolling basketball goals on the track behind the stands. Used to shoot hoops during halftime. Also remember scrounging the stands after the games and ending up with 100's of the purple and white plastic cups.

[doom]

guess i never understood the big deal about ahearn. everytime i walk in there, i lol @ the fact we had basketball games there. the place is a sh*thole

True, but so is Allen.  ku could do A LOT better.  It's the tradition.  I think they should do a throwback non-conference game there.  Would be intense.  Especially if they make it against someone decent or at least notable mid-majorish that people would come see. 

[catzacker]

I think I would like Ahearn more than the OOD.  The boo'ing at Ahearn would be incredible, imo.  Think about brandon rush inbounding a ball there.   

[Cem Blasoflas]

Allen is a complete copy of Ahearn.  KSU went and built a brand new field house and hired the best coaches they could find.

ku refused to be outdone, so they built a bigger field house and hired the best players they could find.

[SuperG]

guess i never understood the big deal about ahearn. everytime i walk in there, i lol @ the fact we had basketball games there. the place is a sh*thole

True, but so is Allen.  ku could do A LOT better.  It's the tradition.  I think they should do a throwback non-conference game there.  Would be intense.  Especially if they make it against someone decent or at least notable mid-majorish that people would come see. 

This is a great idea. I'm sure if would have to be updated to a certain extent to meet NCAA regulations... I would think so anyway. I will drive back from Denver to see a game in Ahearn. We should play a game against Wichita there. Who can make this happen?

Here's the wiki on Ahearn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahearn_Field_House

[sys]

Also remember scrounging the stands after the games and ending up with 100's of the purple and white plastic cups.

used to search under the bleachers for change that fell out of people's pockets.  always found a couple bucks.

[VGibsonLives]

Also remember scrounging the stands after the games and ending up with 100's of the purple and white plastic cups.

used to search under the bleachers for change that fell out of people's pockets.  always found a couple bucks.

used to "search" under the bleachers to look up chicks skirts(yes, alot of the girls wore skirts back in the day), good times when a guy was twelve.

 

[blackman-era-front-rower]

ahearn... 'forever it holds me in magic spell'  (sorry, i'm old) 

will never forget when a sweaty 'nub jack moore, who is still top five or six all-time freethrow percentage (henson is there too) was body-blocked by rolando into the wife's lap (front row middle of course) ...tragically, he was killed not long after graduating

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=10556600

[SkinnyBenny]

1.  Fire codes.
2.  ADA compliance codes.
3.  Giant, crippling depression

[Cem Blasoflas]

Another game at Ahearn might look something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzrY5CWc9o8

[yoga-lika_abana]

why don't we just send estro ball to play over at ahearn.

[Double D]

Tues nights , I believe, were open gym nights in the 'Hearn back in '79-80. KSU has just purchased a new wooden portable floor that was the new fad then. It overlayed the tarton spungy court. The open Gym was East and West under what was the south end riser section. The new court was roped off, and since we didn't see anybody around, we invited ourself onto "Jacks Court "to play.  Well, it wasn't about 10 min passed before a janitor abruptly and sternfully told us we were tresspasssing !!!         

[Thin Blue Line]

ahearn... 'forever it holds me in magic spell'  (sorry, i'm old) 

will never forget when a sweaty 'nub jack moore, who is still top five or six all-time freethrow percentage (henson is there too) was body-blocked by rolando into the wife's lap (front row middle of course) ...tragically, he was killed not long after graduating

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=10556600

So....What is your position with the team?

[hemmy]

Ahearn is great for VB games (loud)

[nicname]

Any real thought to "playing a game" in Ahearn is absurd.  If anything the thought should have been to have done a complete renovation of the Fieldhouse rather than building DOOM.  Keep in mind that with fire-codes and other regulations the capacity would have been only around 10k max.  When Ahearn opened the crowd would exceed 15k at times.  It could have been done and it would have costed a lot o money to have done it right. 

Another thing to remember is that DOOM, while it has been upgraded throughout the years is really a poor excuse for what was originally planned for the structure.  They should have built DOOM in the original fieldhouse style with windows etc but equipped it with the modern chutzpah of the times IMHO. 

[Cem Blasoflas]

IIRC, Bramlage cost something like $8 million...total.  It's a freaking hole in the ground with concrete poured in and a standard warehouse roof put on top.  They couldn't afford to build another Ahearn.

The biggest reason they moved was because they thought they needed a new structure to entice more talented recruits.  It didn't work for the first 20 years, but it sure is working now.  The building was way ahead of it's time.

[StocktonCat]

Oh Ahearn!!!  I am not getting into the aspects of Ahearn vs Bramlage.....but just the feeling of Ahearn!  It was a special place that attracted the students like bees to honey.  The atmosphere was special at games, both inside and outside prior to the games.  The officials were a little more leniant also...more chickens before tip, throwing bananas on the floor for a special ku player as an example, and the deafening roar of feet stomping on the metal floor under the bleachers!!  This is just a start! Ha!!  You youngsters will laugh at this one...at halftime the students and fans alike would stomp the floor and keep time to the music and two floor sweepers sweping the wood floor at halftime.  No big deal but the crowd sure got a bang out of it.  We didn't have jumbotrons etc. at the time, we just sort of made our own atmosphere and everything just sort of went together.  Students would carry banners around before , during, and halftime creating more laughter..such as " will rogers never met a ku fan ".  Not bagging on the Bram but geez times were special back then!!

[michigancat]

Ahearn.