This story/essay appeared in Unmistakably Lawrence 2022. It is likely the most important story I've ever written in my life. The assignment was to pick my favorite place in Lawrence. I immediately thought of Allen Fieldhouse, where my magical dreams were born in 1973, when I began attending games with beloved Dad, who had purchased two season tickets shortly upon arriving to Lawrence in 1969, where he uprooted our family from New Rochelle, N.Y., home of the Dick Van Dyke show, Normal Rockwell, and Iona College. Since I was almost 3 years old when we moved to Lawrence, I have no memories of New Rochelle, just what I've seen of our huge 12-room house on film/DVD with bushels of leaves to be raked.
My father, Goodwin "Goody," was recruited by Dean Arthur "Artie" Katz of the KU School of Social Welfare to become professor at KU. Not to brag on my dad but he made it big in New York as a progressive social worker, who also taught classes at such unviversities as Hunter College. Dad rubbed shoulders with Pete Seeger (he used to see him perform, who Dad was friendly with, and performed twice for my Dad for a fundraiser at his non-profit agency) and Eleanor Roosevelt (she was my Dad's guest of honor at one fundraising event; my beautiful Mom told me once she was in "awe" once she met Eleanor, a hero for all generations). Arthur promised my Dad if he moved to Lawrence, he could teach full time at KU, earn tenure, and receive his Ph.D. All these promises turned true with Dad's dedication, relentless work ethic, and tremendous perseverence.. I don't know of any person who could earn their doctorate of any kind while teaching full time and raising a family. But my Dad did it. As consumed as he was with work, he was always there for our family. In the last one or two years of life, we were talking on the phone. He said as much work he had to do, he always made sure we went on a vacation each year. And I cherished those vacations to such places as Florida, California and Toronto. He also said, most fundamentally, at his very core, he always saw himself above all as a "family man." And, indeed, my beloved and forever hero Dad was just that!
My dad liked to say that Artie's big pitch to my dad was: "Everything is just 10 minutes away" in Lawrence. When you grew up in Toronto, when my mom was born and raised in Brooklyn, and my parents lived in an apartment on Bennett Avenue in Upper Manhattan before moving to New Rochelle, 10 minutes was a good and smart selling point by Arthur. He and his beautiful wife Ellie became quick and best of friends with my parents. My Mom worked as a field instructor at KU from 1970 to 2003, and my dad was a professor of social welfare from 1969-2003. They truly impacted thousands of lives through their teaching and mentorship, promoting social justice and progressive causes all their lives. As the current KU Dean of Social Welfare Michelle Mohr Carney emailed to me after Mom passed in January, 2023 my parents "were legends who were instrumental to the evolution of the school." While this, of course, is 100 percent true, I sincerely appreciate Michelle's kindness.
My parents are sadly gone, but their spirit and soul live eternally, and they are now reunited forever. I'm still devastated they have passed, with dad dying on March 11, 2021. While I picked Allen Fielhdouse for my tribute for this special story in 2022, it was honestly much more a tribute to my forever hero Dad, who raised me on KU hoops and we bonded over Kansas basketball for a lifetime. I will forever be grateful for him taking me to games, all those talks we had about different players, and who we thought could make the NBA, etc. Our relationship grew SO MUCH stronger attending games in Allen Fieldhouse for 21 years, and just truly a lifetime over bonding with the Jayhawks. Thank you Dad. Rest in Peace. And Rest in Peace, too, Mom. I love you both FOREVER. Thanks for all you did for me, and continue to do for me. I'm getting teary-eyed writing this.
Also, I would like to thank my wonderful and extremely kind and gracious editor Nathan Pettingill for this assignment. I am very grateful Nathan. It was such a personal story involving my Dad and also Allen Fieldhouse, and I loved the pic Nathan put in the story of both me and Dad.
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After my father moved our family from New York to Lawrence, he purchased two season tickets to University of Kansas basketball games at Allen Fieldhouse. From 1973, I began joining him as a bright-eyed 7-year-old in a ritual that shaped my life and relationship with my father.
Going to the games, we’d always park our car on Emerald Drive, just off 19th Street Terrace and then pass along the sidewalks of famed Naismith Drive. If we were late, I’d race across the field of untouched snow, battling the freezing winter and gasping for breath as I reached the entrance gates and entered the warm confines of Allen Fieldhouse.
Section 2, row 4, seat 3 is where I sat next to dad for 21 years. Once the game started, I could forget about any problems at school and live out my childhood dreams in my own secular house of worship.
I fell in love with tradition-rich Allen Fieldhouse. The chant of “Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU” gave me chills and still echoes in my mind. And my heart was captured that first year when the 1973-74 made a run for the NCAA Final Four and I placed my new heroes, Rick Suttle, Norm Cook, Danny Knight, Dale Greenlee and Roger Morningstar on a pedestal.
My dad and I bonded over these games. We’d talk about whether Jayhawks like Donnie Von Moore and Herb Nobles could make the NBA and discuss our favorite players, including All-American Darnell Valentine. After Valentine graduated in 1981, Tony Guy and David Magley became my last childhood heroes, and my dad and I loved watching them play with passion and grace.
My all-time favorite moment happened on Dec. 12, 1981, when Kansas played powerhouse Kentucky. After Guy swished a 20-foot jumper from the top of the key in overtime, I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I immediately turned and hugged my dad and didn’t want to let go. Though KU lost, I still cherish that hug with dad 40 years later and how Guy and the Jayhawks brought us closer together,
After graduating from high school in 1984, I attended KU and sat in the student section. One game during the 1985-86 season, I became so hyped that I yelled to my high school classmate Danny Manning, “C’mon Danny, take us to the Promised Land..” Manning heeded my call and led Kansas to the Final Four.
I moved back to my childhood seat after graduating from KU in 1988. Suddenly, I was at home again next to my dear dad, where I watched the next ten years of games before covering Kansas basketball as a journalist in 1998.
Through my life, Allen Fieldhouse has offered so much excitement and provided so many memories. While my amazing father, passed peacefully in his sleep on March 11 2021, I pray he died feeling the warm embrace we shared when Guy made that sweet shot against Kentucky.
You never forget your first love or that one special place that made you feel so alive. Allen Fieldhouse was where my childhood dreams were born 48 years with my father. The magical memories live on.
Sidebar:
Since Allen Fieldhouse opened on March 1, 1955, the University of Kansas men’s basketball has won 12 Final Four berths and two national titles, in 1988 and 2008. It is no exaggeration to say that KU owes its success, in large part, to this basketball cathedral and arguably the best home-court advantage in sports.
The building, which replaced 3,800-seat Hoch Auditorium and cost $2.5 million, is named after Forrest C. “Phog” Allen — “The Father of Basketballl Coaching” — who coached at KU for 39 years before retiring in 1956.
The fieldhouse—called the “monarch of the midlands” at the time—was the second-largest college basketball venue in the country behind Minnesota’s Williams Arena.
Mark D. Hersey wrote on the KU History website about the dedicatioin game against K-State in 1955 with an overflow crowd of 17,228, still a school record. “Shortly after the athletes had vacated the floor (at halftime), the lights in the building dimmed and a voice boomed across the darkness: “Tonight we are gathered to participate in the dedication of a building … this great new fieldhouse at the University of Kansas.”
KU won, 77-67, and afterward, Allen said, “Nothing’s ever touched me to the core like this. I only hope I’m a little bit worthy of it all.”
