OT: Who has actually been to Storrs and what impressed you

[Bald Husky]

I've been there many times for various reasons, but this topic just came to me when I visited today. I just got done watching my grandson play soccer against the Tolland team, which we won 5-1 as my grandson scored two goals. After the game my daughter-in-law said the kids wanted to go to the UConn dairy bar, and since the campus was only 10 minutes away, we all thought it was a great idea. Well, even though I was freezing my butt off from the rain and cold, that Chocolate brownie fudge cup was too good to pass up, so I didn't. The good thing was we didn't have to worry about what to have for dinner. There are a lot of great things at UConn and this is just one of them. So, who has been there, and what did you like, or dislike on your visit. PS, there is a new flavor for a limited time called the Hurley Swirl. Need to get a Geno flavor next year.

 

[savoy33]

Lol. Dairy Bar is always at the top of our list! If we're in New England and within 50 miles of Storrs, we'll detour just to renew the acquaintance.

 

[HuskyNan]

Not in Storrs but the fact the State of Connecticut ran out of room and had to stop putting the dates on the championship sign on I-84

 

[Skeets]

Haha, my daughter has a friend from PA who was going with us to Storrs for the very first time. I told her before the game we had to go to the dairy bar before the game because it was real UConn ice cream made from cream from real UConn cows. She thought I was BS'ing her until she saw the campus and how the ice cream was made at the dairy bar. You can't get anything better or fresher than UConn ice cream from UConn cows.

 

[psconn]

Grew up a short distance from Storrs and my best memories of campus predate Gampel and many of the other "new" buildings... sneaking into the leaky old Field House with my friends to play hoops (sometime with buckets on the court to catch leaks).

 

[OldSchooler]

The banners!
Gampel is truly the Home of Champions.

 

[CTtoSanDiego]

Spent '71 to '75 there as a student.... it was not very impressive back then... but I played basketball pretty much every day in the same field house as the varsity..... and the ice cream was good!

 

[CL82]

So… Dairy Bar, of course, but I also love the campus. A lot of the buildings have a really UConn feel, brick buildings in a nice layout. A friend of mine from New Jersey went up there and his comment was “that his way to college campus should look like.”

 

[Jackcatscal]

Never been close to the place.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I've been there many times for various reasons, but this topic just came to me when I visited today. I just got done watching my grandson play soccer against the Tolland team, which we won 5-1 as my grandson scored two goals. After the game my daughter-in-law said the kids wanted to go to the UConn dairy bar, and since the campus was only 10 minutes away, we all thought it was a great idea. Well, even though I was freezing my butt off from the rain and cold, that Chocolate brownie fudge cup was too good to pass up, so I didn't. The good thing was we didn't have to worry about what to have for dinner. There are a lot of great things at UConn and this is just one of them. So, who has been there, and what did you like, or dislike on your visit. PS, there is a new flavor for a limited time called the Hurley Swirl. Need to get a Geno flavor next year.

Been there many times, and what has always impressed me were the students, and the safety aspect of the campus. Also tons of room for an on campus football stadium, parking, etc. Of course the Dairy Bar, cows grazing, etc.

 

[veryolddog]

I graduated from UConn in 1964. From there I went to the University of California and got my MA in 1965. Enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1967. In 1978, I was stationed in Groton, CT and returned to see Storrs at that time. Things have changed except for the Dairy Bar. After a couple of Hot Fudge Sundaes with extra hot fudge, I ran 15 miles the next day with a full pack and rifle all around the Groton Base starting at 5:00 AM in the morning. Even at that time the campus had changed and there were more new buildings. I have not been back since.

 

[cohenzone]

Lived in the Towers (brand new in the mid 60s) where you could roll out of bed and into the Dairy Bar. Life was good.

The biggest change in the campus in (gulp) 60 years is the huge number of new buildings, including the total change in South Campus dorms , much of the development at the expense of green open space in the area across the street frim Gampel and behind the Union. It looks like a much bigger school now not to forget Storrs Center. Overall impressive. When Lou Holtz was an Asst. football coach there he would say it used to be called “Storr until they built another one”. What would he say now?

 

[vtcwbuff]

I graduated from UConn in 1964. From there I went to the University of California and got my MA in 1965. Enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1967. In 1978, I was stationed in Groton, CT and returned to see Storrs at that time. Things have changed except for the Dairy Bar. After a couple of Hot Fudge Sundaes with extra hot fudge, I ran 15 miles the next day with a full pack and rifle all around the Groton Base starting at 5:00 AM in the morning. Even at that time the campus had changed and there were more new buildings. I have not been back since.

MarDet at the Subase? I attended the last sunset parade on the golf course.

 

[BRS24]

So, the Dairy Bar - we spend 2 months in CT and are approximately 40 mins away from the DB. Sounds like a road trip and ice cream for dinner, unless someone has insight into restaurants in the area? J Fry Co? Meander around that area of campus? Hoping there might be some preseason games

 

[JellyBean]

I graduated back in '92 from UConn and when I got there in the Fall of 1987 and the thing that impressed me was, how quiet and small the campus was back then. Going from a decent size area of Minneapolis and being around the University of Minnesota all my life, I was familiar with the campus buzz and excitement. I got to Storrs back in the late 80s and was like "This is Niiiice!!" The air had that country smell to it, but it was better than city air, if that makes sense. The vibe was just laid back in Storrs back in the 80s. I have been back a few times over the decades, and it is cool to see the changes and how the vibe has changed greatly in Storrs.

 

[sno-cat]

I spent four years there, including one in the "Jungle". I slept outside one night to get MBB playoff tickets for the field house. I was there during the "Great New England Blackout". I ate many, many ice cream sundaes at the dairy bar between classes. I met my wife there. I spent many years there leading the GE corporate recruiting team. I have many fond memories.

 

[veryolddog]

MarDet at the Subase? I attended the last sunset parade on the golf course.

No.....the Navy use to drive me home after assignments were completed and unit was somewhere else most of the time.

What really struck me was the difference between the submarines that my Dad was on during WWII in the Pacific and being on one of the ones in the early 80's.

 

[Topsail]

I have been to Storrs many times for games from the 90's onward. The Campus has changed so much over that period. My daughters were there from 2010-2017 . My youngest lived in Ct Commons that no longer exists as the current student rec center occupies that space. My wife and I will stop at the Dairy Bar sometimes on our way down from MA when we visit my daughter in Glastonbury.

 

[oldhusky]

I spent four years there, including one in the "Jungle". I slept outside one night to get MBB playoff tickets for the field house. I was there during the "Great New England Blackout". I ate many, many ice cream sundaes at the dairy bar between classes. I met my wife there. I spent many years there leading the GE corporate recruiting team. I have many fond memories.

One year in the jungle is enough. Same for me in the early 70's, looked forward to better housing the second year (Alumni Quadrangle-Eddy Hall). Went to plenty of games in the Fieldhouse, liked the area around Mirror Lake, concerts in the auditorium for 50 cents for students, did a couple of men's games as a subsitute color man on WHUS radio, and took a basketball coaching course from Dee Rowe, which he allowed me to take because I indicated I was interested in broadcasting as a potential career at that time.

Never have gone to the Dairy Bar, have to add that to the bucket list, and probably haven't been back on campus for 30 years, so I'm sure there is much I wouldn't recognize.

Is the "Jungle" still there? It was an old building 50 years ago.

 

[TCC Kid]

I've been there many times for various reasons, but this topic just came to me when I visited today. I just got done watching my grandson play soccer against the Tolland team, which we won 5-1 as my grandson scored two goals. After the game my daughter-in-law said the kids wanted to go to the UConn dairy bar, and since the campus was only 10 minutes away, we all thought it was a great idea. Well, even though I was freezing my butt off from the rain and cold, that Chocolate brownie fudge cup was too good to pass up, so I didn't. The good thing was we didn't have to worry about what to have for dinner. There are a lot of great things at UConn and this is just one of them. So, who has been there, and what did you like, or dislike on your visit. PS, there is a new flavor for a limited time called the Hurley Swirl. Need to get a Geno flavor next year.

Your visit to the Dairy Bar--brings back memories. In the 60's I had my own lab on campus---the last time there was about 2000. I truly enjoyed every thng about that campus including tobogganing, the ice rink, the field house, then Gampel, I Go back to Watertown/Plymouth/Granby, Killingworth nearly every summer. But most of all at Uconn I like --the KIDS.
My kids went to Tolland HS. Typically a very good Basketball school. Good education--with limitation.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I've been to Storrs many times since 1995 for Gampel UCONN WBB games and loved the campus!
The ice cream, the student union, and seeing games (having season tickets 1998 to 2018) in Gampel were always exciting!

 

[Monte]

YEARS AGO: played in CT high school basketball tournaments in the old field house.....years later: got a Masters Degree on campus....years after that: attended many women's games in the Geno era.

 

[sun]

I was there for the "End of the World Party" in May, 1979 that happened in the South Campus quad.
The guys living in Stowe got too rowdy when they threw a huge outdoor party with 50 kegs of beer for 2000 students.
A bunch of campus furniture got burned in a bonfire & windows broken because they learned that their male dorm was going to become coed.

Alum reflects on 1979 ‘End of the World Party’ — The Daily Campus

In 1979, University of Connecticut announced that its last single-sex dorms would be turned into co-ed dorms. This announcement evoked a fiery response from the student body, nicknamed the “End of the World Party,” a disaster which caused over $15,000 in damages to the university. According to a Da

dailycampus.squarespace.com

 

[OviedoFLHusky]

As a student there (mid to late '70s), I think what impressed me the most was the then-brand new Homer Babbidge Library. The library used to be in the Wilbur Cross building and was very cramped; the new building was spacious and modern.

Also impressive to me at that time was not only the Dairy Bar, but unlimited servings of that ice cream for dessert at mealtimes; bringing the family pet Labradors up for weekends, where they cavorted in the campus ponds and invited themselves in to my homesick dormmates' rooms for surprise (and very welcome) visits; and having the local package store deliver orders placed via a simple phone call, right to your dorm room. The drinking age was 18 back then, so I don't know if they still do that last one.

(Too) Many years later, I find Gampel, the Dairy Bar, and all the new development around campus, to be quite impressive. It all blends together to offer an exceptionally beautiful campus.

 

[Argonaut]

I finished a master’s at UConn in 2011 and lived in the grad dorms for the spring 2010 semester…

Living in the grad dorms was… an experience. Other than it’s central location on campus, it was terrible. But I had a good time and would happily do it again (ya know, if I was 21 and it hadn’t been demolished to build the new rec center)… for a semester.

While living on campus I really enjoyed how the university planned so many events (It’s Storrs and, well, what are their other options?) and how many of them had a long tradition. Things like oozeball, spring weekend had such a long tradition that experiencing them almost felt like a rite of passage. Academically, I loved my program and can’t even begin to count the number of hours I spent in the library. The staff there is great and it was such a good atmosphere to get work done.

Also, campus has surprisingly decent food if you knew where to look — especially at the student union. The mac and cheese they sold at the rotisserie chicken spot is still in my top 5. It was so good. And I miss the bagel sandwiches they sold at the little cafe that was next to the Coop (which is now a Starbucks). When I moved off campus, I paid for parking in that garage so I could easily get one on the way into our office, even though it was definitely not the closest parking option.

And the access to sporting events (not just basketball…) was A+, especially when the weather was bad and people didn’t want to drive into campus. But living on campus when the women won in 2010 and the men won in 2011 are still some of the highlights of my life. It was such a good time and the place was just buzzing for like a week afterwards.
Yea, and the Dairy Bar is good. In the summer, they’d have sundae events where you’d literally get a pail of ice cream and they had all the toppings ready to go. I still use one of the pails for pens in my office.

I’ve been back quite a few times since I’ve graduated and the additions they’re making are great. It can be hard to sell a school in the middle of nowhere with rough winters, especially to out of state students, but I can’t say enough about my time there.

 

[BBallF]

I was last in Storrs for the Vermont NCAA game in March. I am always impressed by the knowledgeable and basketball crazy fans and the magnificent campus. Gampel is also one of basketball's great venues.

 

[SCHuskiedad]

I have been there dozens of times. My daughter graduated last spring, and that was my last trip to campus. Unfortunately, she attended during the dark COVID times, so she missed out on many experiences, and we missed the opportunity to share any of them with her. Thankfully she was able to go back many times and share this basketball season with her friends still at school to make up for some of it.

 

[EMLady]

Lol. Dairy Bar is always at the top of our list! If we're in New England and within 50 miles of Storrs, we'll detour just to renew the acquaintance.

We drove allllll the way from the "other" Husky coast [Puyallup, WA southeast of Seattle] to visit family and friends in New England and made sure we stopped at the Dairy Barn. We went to UCONN in 73/74, lived in Manchester for 40 years and followed UCONN WBB since 1992; Jason Lobo, Rebecca's brother, was in my law school class. It has changed dramatically since 1973!

 

[tomcat]

I taught an evening course there years ago, so I was there twice a week for several years. Our department was in Arjona Hall, which, as college buildings go, was kind of a dump, it seemed to me. That said, the students always impressed me. Intelligent, curious, friendly.

The campus is very different now -- much more developed.

 

[SCGamecock]

Lived in Connecticut for about 4 years. Went to a few UConn games during that time. The campus is nice… but the surrounding area is very beautiful. Has that small hamlet New England charm.