For more tha 50 years Allen Fieldhouse, named after former Kansas head coach Dr. Forrest “Phog” Allen, has been the home court of the Jayhawks. There’s just something about old basketball arenas in general, and Allen Fieldhouse in particular. If you’ve never seen a game there you haven’t seen basketball as it was meant to be played. As part of our Basketball Week I thought I’d share this little poem, written by yours truly, about the the mystery, the wonder, and the Phog, of Allen Fieldhouse. Check it out in the Full Diagnosis. Oh, and Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk!
“Beware of the Phog”
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A warning to all, beware you who enter,
For this is no normal gym, nor expo-center.
Here in the heartland where this game was born,
And championship banners on rafters do adorn.
The ghosts are still strong, for here legends were made,
Here, the Dean bled, and here Wilt played,
Where Danny and the dreamers first emerged,
And all purple has long ago been purged,
Big Country was shut out, and Norm can only sigh.
Listen carefully and you might hear the cry,
From the rafters it comes, softly at first,
Then rising until the fieldhouse will burst,
Rock…Chalk…Jayhawk in deafening sound,
Here is where true champions are to be found,
Coaching legends these sidelines have seen,
Naismith, Brown, and Williams, just to name three.
This is Allen, a fieldhouse of universal renown,
For here the Jayhawks of Kansas are to be found.
A warning to every Tiger, Cowboy, Tarheel, or Hog,
Beware you who enter, Beware of the Phog.