Glaxtico,
Please also be certain to include that we are a Land Grant University. The university was originally the site of a Pottawatomie Indian burial ground. However, the land was gifted to the University by Major General Bennett C. Riley after he killed the last surviving Pottawatomie warrior, some 300 yards due south of where the Bill Snyder Family Stadium sits today. This geographic point is known as the Octagon of Doom, in reference to the shape the surrounding American soldiers made around that last warrior....before they executed him and removed his head.
Later, a wealthy donor named Fred Bramlage provided the funding to build a basketball arena at this location. Ever mindful of the ominous past of this particular spot, the architects produced a rendering that bears witness to those historic events...in the shape of an octagon. To this day, we still call it the "Octagon of Doom," and it and it’s terror-inspiring presence is clearly visible from the Bill Snyder Family Stadium playing surface immediately to the North.
Legend has it, that on cold evening practices in November, after all the Bill Snyder Family Stadium lights have been turned out, you can still hear the whispers of the ghost of that last Pottawatomie warrior crying out in vain. Some say it’s just the wind, others know better.
