College Basketball Arenas: Illinois State (Horton Field House)

[isuquinndog]

Yep I lived on Manchester 11 in 97/98 and 98/99 and played a lot of basketball down there as well. Good times.

 

[Manchester Matt]

Nothing was better than those chain nets! Played hours of basketball during my two years at Manchester. My 13-year-old son and I stop and shoot on the courts any time we visit ISU or are passing through B-N.

 

[fdbird83]

I don't want to date myself, but I remember playing at least one, if not 2 pick up games in Cook Hall. I was on the WZND staff which was located in Cook Hall back then. This would have been 82/83.

 

[gobirds85]

I don't want to date myself, but I remember playing at least one, if not 2 pick up games in Cook Hall. I was on the WZND staff which was located in Cook Hall back then. This would have been 82/83.

I played a lot of pick up ball at Cook Hall in '82. Most of the times it was just me and the group I hung out with. I don't think many on campus knew about it and we didn't tell anyone as we enjoyed the court pretty much to ourselves.

 

[Hamdonger]

Nothing was better than those chain nets! Played hours of basketball during my two years at Manchester. My 13-year-old son and I stop and shoot on the courts any time we visit ISU or are passing through B-N.

Dude you just made my DAY!! That is absolutely fantastic and now I'm ticked at myself for not doing that very thing with my boys. But...don't be surprised if you see a 19 yr old, a 24 yr old, and a creaky out of shape Dad hustling Manchester.

 

[Hamdonger]

I don't want to date myself, but I remember playing at least one, if not 2 pick up games in Cook Hall. I was on the WZND staff which was located in Cook Hall back then. This would have been 82/83.

Oh man yes!! I played in Cook...not nearly as often as the Manchester courts...but I did like playing there. My last RA introduced me to Cook. Called me Danny Ainge and I have no idea why, because while I would let it fly...ya gotta make a few, too. He should have called me Danny Mange because every time I went over there I couldn't make sh!$!!

 

[CaliRdBrd]

I don't want to date myself, but I remember playing at least one, if not 2 pick up games in Cook Hall. I was on the WZND staff which was located in Cook Hall back then. This would have been 82/83.

1882?

 

[fdbird83]

1882?

At the age of 66, sometimes I feel like I was born in 1882.

 

[Baltimore Bird]

I did not know Cook Hall had a court until now. I did play many games at Manchester in the late 70's.
In those days intramural basketball was played at Horton. Lots of cold walks to Horton in the winter. Fun times!

 

[Bird Friend]

I don't want to date myself, but I remember playing at least one, if not 2 pick up games in Cook Hall. I was on the WZND staff which was located in Cook Hall back then. This would have been 82/83.

Did anybody else want to date you?

 

[Manchester Matt]

Dude you just made my DAY!! That is absolutely fantastic and now I'm ticked at myself for not doing that very thing with my boys. But...don't be surprised if you see a 19 yr old, a 24 yr old, and a creaky out of shape Dad hustling Manchester.

Haha. We need a Redbirdfan member pick up game at Manchester.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

fun thread and thanks for bringing back fun memories. i lived in watterson/monroe 2 and hooped out at Manchester during the mid 80's as much as anyone during that era. 'jingled the chains" a great quote as that is the absolute perfect description of a swish at manchester

 

[fdbird83]

Haha. We need a Redbirdfan member pick up game at Manchester.

That would be a lot of huffing and puffing. Maybe we could hire the band Weezer to play while the game went on.

 

[fdbird83]

I did not know Cook Hall had a court until now. I did play many games at Manchester in the late 70's.
In those days intramural basketball was played at Horton. Lots of cold walks to Horton in the winter. Fun times!

ISU played in Cook from the late 1890's until 1925 when they moved to McCormick. They stayed there until they moved to Horton in 63 I believe.

 

[isuquinndog]

Spent many, many, many hours at Cook Hall as a music student.

Here is a little history from the Town of Normal website (Cook Hall, Illinois State University | Normal, IL - Official Website)

Cook Hall was named for John Williston Cook, the fourth president of the school (1890-1899), although it was originally called the Gymnasium. Cook was instrumental in promoting physical fitness for both men and women at ISNU. The building was once known as "Altgeld’s Folly," named after Governor Peter Altgeld, who rejected the first design in favor of a German style, reminiscent of the castles along the Rhine.

The "Old Castle" as this building is often known, was designed by Miller & Fisher, local architects, and completed in 1898. Although it contains the elements favored by Altgeld, which is the Gothic turreted-style with towers and battlements, architect George Miller gave it a Richardsonian flavor by using rusticated Bedford limestone. It was designed as a fireproof building. The University decided to move the library to this new fireproof building for protection.

Cook Hall’s original use as a gymnasium featured the exercise equipment of the day—ropes, ladders, rings, slippery pole, parallel bars, turing, huge leather horses, and racks of Indian clubs and dumbbells. Plans for the inclusion of a bowling alley and a swimming pool located in the subbasement never came to fruition.

In later years, the tower housed the University radio station, WGLT, and rehearsal halls for the School of Music. It was the first building in the Town of Normal listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

[bombay]

Jackie Robinson's UCLA team played the Redbirds in Cook Hall a million years ago.

Oops. That was McCormick.