The Old Field House

[HCCForever]

As a student in the late 70's my memories were of pickup basketball and our dorm's intramural teams. Our men's team was not too good but plenty of fun. We also had a coed team which I believe had 3 men and 3 women on the floor at the time. The women got more points per basket than the men. We had a big gal on our team named Peggy who enjoyed the physical play and could score so the team did okay. I also took a lacrosse phys-ed class from there as well.

One of my last memories was the Dream Season. In one of the last games before Gampel opened, I was at a urinal standing next to Nadav. The facilities have certainly improved since then.

 

[Waquoit]

In the last week...

Grad student?

 

[Brett95]

Lifting weights in the Cage

 

[alphasigko]

Seeing Calvin Murphy in the state playoffs..............at least I think I did. There was a 5'9" kid, besides Murphy, who could dunk like he was 6'6" that was really fun to watch.

Saw Calvin play at Danbury HS when they held him to below 40 points! That was the only victory the Hatters had that evening!

 

[EASTFLA]

Watching Tony Hansen working magic on the baseline

Watching Lee Otis Wilson knocking down ill advised shots from beyond the hash mark.

 

[HooperScooper]

Questions stimulate dialogue and cause people to think.

Both in my college and professional training, I was taught by many instructors via the Q&A format. Of course, people can just give a comment without it being in response to a question. And, a professor can just be a lecturer, but if the information imparted is beneficial, I respect the instructor and what he has to offer.

Personally, I find the answers on the BY very instructive and help me to understand the thinking of those commenting, many of whom seem to be in my age range. Their views have broadened my knowledge base, and I very much appreciate them.

I hope this answers your question.

If you have a posting with a question or with many questions, and I have some knowledge of the subject, or have experienced in life what you are inquiring about, I would be more than glad to respond to your post.

Fair enough?

Cool. Was just wondering.

 

[HooperScooper]

You’re tough Hooper man, he’s just trying to keep things alive. What got into you? LOL

No malice. I was just wondering. Where was I harsh?

 

[uchusky32]

Ray Broxton's, RIP, missed dunk. Almost broke his back. Forget who it was against.

 

[huskiesouth]

Senior year at Hillhouse, we beat Wilbur Cross in state championship game at buzzer, Jimmy Brown banked in a short jumper, FH was packed and hysterical, couldn't hear yourself think, was on bench, played for about 90 seconds in 2nd quarter, almost pissed my pants, could barely hear ref's whistles, Coach Bender (and Coach Verderame) were yelling instructions, players on court never heard them, controlled (barely) pandemonium, unbelievable and unforgettable experience.

 

[mauconnfan]

No malice. I was just wondering. Where was I harsh?

I’m busting balls! Hence the “lol” and wink.

 

[king conn]

I went to one FH game when I was a kid. We were late and the game was SRO so we stood 2-3 deep all game in a corner. That was over 4,600 people in 1973 for a game against Yale. That's more than AAC games at Gampel.

Yep that's how I remember it. Vermont, UNH, Maine it didn't matter the place was electric. I remember thinking it doesn't get better than this.

I did see them take a loss when Rutgers was actually decent and before Sellers. They had some guy named Smogyi hit bomb after bomb from it looked like between mid court and top of the key. Nobody would guard him because the % were low that he would make the next, plus it was only 2 pts. Except he never missed. The only time I heard that place quiet.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

It use to have netting/curtains that could surround the basketball court while the track was being used. I remember while playing on the court a gun shot went off and everybody went down on their stomachs only to be told it was just a starters pistol.

 

[Improviser]

Senior year at Hillhouse, we beat Wilbur Cross in state championship game at buzzer, Jimmy Brown banked in a short jumper, FH was packed and hysterical, couldn't hear yourself think, was on bench, played for about 90 seconds in 2nd quarter, almost pissed my pants, could barely hear ref's whistles, Coach Bender (and Coach Verderame) were yelling instructions, players on court never heard them, controlled (barely) pandemonium, unbelievable and unforgettable experience.

Sounds like this was 1963 when you played as a senior?

Hillhouse, I think .won the championships in 1964 and 1965 or at least one of those years, with some of the players in 1964 including Billy Gray and Tom Chapman, Billy Evans( BC and then Nets for one year), Walt Esdaile, and others. I think Gray and Chapman graduated in 1964, replaced by Tony Barone and Cliff Bush. The other starter was Russell Joyner in 1965.

Was quite a rivalry.

Bender and Verderame was an old rivalry. He was called "Red." Sam coached afterwards for a semi-pro New Haven team.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

When I was a sophomore in h.s., I went to visit my bro and played pick-up hoops with him and his friends one afternoon. A couple of the '89-90 players showed up and I ended up guarding Chris Smith one game. He wasn't going hard but man it was eye opening seeing the level they played on even at half speed.

 

[huskiesouth]

Sounds like this was 1963 when you played as a senior?

Hillhouse, I think .won the championships in 1964 and 1965 or at least one of those years, with some of the players in 1964 including Billy Gray and Tom Chapman, Billy Evans( BC and then Nets for one year), Walt Esdaile, and others. I think Gray and Chapman graduated in 1964, replaced by Tony Barone and Cliff Bush. The other starter was Russell Joyner in 1965.

Was quite a rivalry.

Bender and Verderame was an old rivalry. He was called "Red." Sam coached afterwards for a semi-pro New Haven team.

'63 is correct, rivalry with Wilbur Cross was always great, games were played on neutral sites such as the NH Arena or Payne Whitney, remember when I was in junior high Dave Hicks ruled the roost for WC, we had Cliff Branch, a great player, but Hicks was at another level, he had been in the Hillhouse district, Verderame moved his family during the 9th grade, Bender went nuts to no avail.

 

[wheelerdog]

Dunking during warmups of an intramural game.

 

[dvegas]

Also the guy's who used to hand you a roll with a towel, shorts, shirt, and a jock all seemed to be cut from exactly the same cloth. As I remember it, they were all older, somewhat muscular and wore white.

Earl Kelley tried to cut me in line once to get a "roll". I was ready to fight him. Seeing how his UConn career ended, glad I didn't. And for the record, the cage people took care of me before him

 

[husky8273]

Playing racquetball.

on squash courts

 

[husky8273]

the universal gym in the corner behind the bleachers. They should put an old photo at the new rec center.

 

[CL82]

What got into you?

What business is it of yours?

It’s been talked about here a bunch of times, but when the crowd really got going on the noise would shake down desk from the rafters and create a cloud over the court. I always thought that was pretty cool.

Someone mentioned seeing a game from under the curved rafters or in the standing room only corners, that place used to be packed. You get there in the stands would fill up everybody squeezing in tight on the bench seats. Once the benches were filled then everyone would fill in the aisle in between them. Once those were filled, then people would say one or two deep on the floor in front of the bleachers. Any other place was standing room only if you could squeeze in you were in. The place was packed with loud enthusiastic fans. The home court advantage was incredible.

 

[FillTheRent]

I made a basket during an intramural game at the Field House.

Everyone on my team was yelling, "No!" or "Don't do it!" as I got the ball and looked up at the rim. My teammates told me before the game that I wasn't allowed to shoot the ball. I was strictly there for defense. I took the shot anyway, and made it.

It was the highlight of my UCONN basketball career.

 

[Old school]

The first game that I went was in 1964 vs. New Hampshire. At that time they had freshman games before the varsity game. Uconn had a great freshman team led by wonderful Wes and Bill Holowaty who was the best ofthe freshmen. It’s too bad he injured his knee or he would have been a special player. still had a solid career and later became a great College baseball coach at Eastern. Was crazy as a coach but won an amazing number of games.
was also there the night Wes had 50 against Maine. Would have been 65 if there was a 3 point line at the time.

 

[gtcam]

Watching Dr J play while tracksters are throwing shot puts and pole vaulting!
But that was almost an every game occurrence in the 60s
The best was listening to the thud of the ball hitting the catchers mitt while it was quiet for UConn freethrows
Watching Wes hit 50 vs Maine and it allowed him to lead the nation in scoring for a few days
Loved that filed house

 

[Guapo]

We played intramural basketball on the same court that the varsity played. Kind of cool. Do current students get to play at Gampel?

We played intramural basketball on the same court that the varsity played. Kind of cool. Do current students get to play at Gampel?

Nope...they still play at the Fieldhouse lol

 

[Giscombe12]

I only saw two games there, Maryland-Eastern Shore & Virginia Commonwealth.

I also was on Gerry Besselink’s team in the summer of ‘87 for Calhoun’s first summer camp.

 

[Dove]

What's with all the questions? Just curious.

They should change their handle to Interrogator.

 

[MyDorona]

It was 2000 or '01- watching a friend play in the co-ed intramural soccer championship. With about five minutes left, my buddy chases down a gal who has an open breakaway goal and kicks the back of her knee, causing her to collapse to the floor. It was Sue Bird. I never heard the gym so quiet before.

 

[Sky ball]

My dad brought me to game there vs 14th Ranked Hawaii. Loved their Multi Colored rainbow uniforms. Don't think NCAA allows those anymore. It was a big deal then playing a highly ranked team. Must have been 1968 or so.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

In '05, I invited everyone on my floor to play on an intramural basketball team. There were like 21 of us on the roster, we played full court press 100% of the time, none of us played for our high school teams and we lost every game. There was even one game where I was the leading scorer because I made one three.

My roommate tore his ACL the previous spring, so he dressed up each game in a full suit, acting like a crazed basketball coach from the '50s. A rolled up Daily Campus in hand, talking like Red Auerbach.

There was one team we played against called "We Only Shoot Threes", and apropos to the name, their only field goal attempts were three pointers. If any BY'ers played on that team, hat tip to you.

We were god awful, but it was so much fun.

I have so many great memories playing intramural and pickup games at the field house. My intramural team played in the independent division. We were OK, but there would always be 2 teams in our division that were much better than us, and then we would lose another 1-2 games we should have won because we were idiots, so we were always right around .500.

My senior year we recruited this guy that could really play ball, and we won the first game by like 30 points. We played really well and the team we played sucked, but he started talking like we were going to win it all. He was going to learn soon enough. The next opponent was really good, and we reverted to our normal behavior. My buddy got 2 T's in the first 5 minutes and was tossed. I think I got a T. All of us were arguing with each other the whole game and then it became every man for himself on offense. We got destroyed, losing by at least 50 points. We were laughing about it the next day, but the new guy didn't think it was that funny. I think that was the last game he played with us.

The last game of that season we played this team that was terrible. I scored 2 baskets in the first minute, and am expecting a 20 and 10 night, but we got up 10+ and then the guards stopped passing and it was once again every man for himself on offense. Of course, against teams like this, no one wants to come out of the game so those on the sideline were arguing with those on the court. I think we almost got a technical for fighting between ourselves.

Anyone watching us for a whole season would wonder what was wrong with those guys, but I think we were pretty much like every other middle-of-the-pack intramural team. I really miss those days.

 

[60'sfan]

Back around '69 or '70 watched Doug Melody give a Marques Haynes type of dribbling exhibition throughout a four-corners/slow-down game against URI. What a great display of dribbling skill that was!

Also saw Dr J there as well!

I went to that slowdown game against URI. As I recall, URI was heavily favored because we lost two starters and a top reserve just prior to the game. I think it was academic issues. Uconn was leading something like 10-8 at halftime and went on to win by about 5. They had to give Melody oxygen several times during the game. One of the most exciting that I ever saw!