60th Anniversary of the Assembly Hall (Sat. March 4)

[altgeld88]

Next Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Assembly Hall on Monday March 4, 1963. The Illini prevailed that evening against Northwestern, 79-73, and shared the Big Ten title with Ohio State after beating Iowa in the Hall the following Saturday. The team made it to the Elite 8 that season, losing to Loyola by 15 (sound familiar?!)

U of I architecture alumnus Max Abramovitz designed the building. At 400 feet in diameter, it was the largest dome in the world until the Astrodome was built in 1965. It remained the largest edge-supported, reinforced-concrete dome until the Kingdome was built in 1976 and, with the demise of that stadium in 2000, reclaimed the title and holds it to this day.

The photo below is from the initial game in the Hall v. the ‘Cats. I love that beautiful old scoreboard and lol that it’s hanging that close to the ceiling. It was still there in ’84 when I became a student, along with rounded glass backboards in use nowhere else in the BT.

I have some other old photos that I’ll post, too, and encourage everyone (especially those who played there) to share their memories of the AH over the years. We’re truly blessed to call this global architectural masterpiece our basketball home.

 

[altgeld88]

 

[altgeld88]

 

[Illinirog70]

I started school there in '65 and loved watching games there. It is so accoustically perfect that you could hear a conversation across the entire facility. I still think it is the best place ever to watch a game, especially when it's full and loud.

A couple of years later during a game, a ref had a seizure and fell to the floor, twitching. An absolute silence struck the crowd, until you heard some yell "should have been the other one!"

Every one gasped and booed the comment. the ref turned out to be okay, and the game went on.

I think they pulled some random guy out of the stands to fill in and he did way better than the other refs, despite his white cane and guard dog.
I think he's still reffing Big-10 games today...

 

[pruman91]

Robbie Hummel and co-announcer commented on how loud it was in the nu game 2nd half comeback by the beloved .....said they couldn't hear the refs whistles most of the time.......

Has the House of Paign finally made a comeback also ????............I say YES, no I say H*lls Yeah !!!!!!...........JMHO....

 

[chiefini]

Great post and thread, Altgeld. My favorite memory in the Assembly Hall was on September 13, 2008 - the Night of Legends. This was the ceremony (after a scrimmage of former Illini basketball players) where the first 30 honored jerseys were raised. It was an amazing and incredible night for our family, one none of us will ever forget.

 

[Rap47]

In 1969 Rudy Tomjonovich of Michigan swished a shot into a very tight net during the game. The ball had so much backspin it spun back out of the rim. The refs said no basket because it didn't clear the net.

 

[altgeld88]

Great post and thread, Altgeld. My favorite memory in the Assembly Hall was on September 13, 2008 - the Night of Legends. This was the ceremony (after a scrimmage of former Illini basketball players) where the first 30 honored jerseys were raised. It was an amazing and incredible night for our family, one none of us will ever forget.View attachment 23672

What an awesome memory @chiefini . My first memory of the Hall is, coincidentally, the same weekend that the 1984 IHSA photo I posted above was taken. As a high school senior I had testing for admitted students that Saturday in late March. (I still remember I took the tests in the main lecture hall of the Mining & Metallurgy Building.) My dad and I drove over from Ohio on Friday. I was staying with a couple other high school seniors overnight in an empty quad in Garner Hall (it was so raucous on the hall that night that I left around 11 and walked over to the Illini Union where my dad was staying so I could get some sleep!)

Anyway, after arriving on Friday afternoon, we walked across campus to the Six Pack to check into my room and see Snyder Hall, where I'd chosen to live the following year. We wandered into the AH when it was empty between the high school games. I remember just being dumbstruck at how beautiful that arena is and those unique backboards. Such an exceptional and wonderful venue.

 

[blife]

This thread puts it all in perspective. This is truly a shrine in college BB. Think over those 60 years of all the great BB Players that have put on the uniform and competed on that floor. Some of the best ever have laid it all out on that hardwood. I hope our players recognize what a privilege it is to play on that court and call it home.

 

[altgeld88]

 

[pruman91]

View attachment 23678 View attachment 23677
View attachment 23679 View attachment 23674View attachment 23675

AWESOME pic's my friend ......thanks for posting...........................I really really mean that.......I really really do......

 

[Big Jack]

@altgeld88 Thanks for the posting of these historical pictures. That final one sure looks like something out right of a @pruman91 epic gif post.. Did they find those aliens?

 

[InDaAZ]

Next Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Assembly Hall on Monday March 4, 1963. The Illini prevailed that evening against Northwestern, 79-73, and shared the Big Ten title with Ohio State after beating Iowa in the Hall the following Saturday. The team made it to the Elite 8 that season, losing to Loyola by 15 (sound familiar?!)

U of I architecture alumnus Max Abramovitz designed the building. At 400 feet in diameter, it was the largest dome in the world until the Astrodome was built in 1965. It remained the largest edge-supported, reinforced-concrete dome until the Kingdome was built in 1976 and, with the demise of that stadium in 2000, reclaimed the title and holds it to this day.

The photo below is from the initial game in the Hall v. the ‘Cats. I love that beautiful old scoreboard and lol that it’s hanging that close to the ceiling. It was still there in ’84 when I became a student, along with rounded glass backboards in use nowhere else in the BT.

I have some other old photos that I’ll post, too, and encourage everyone (especially those who played there) to share their memories of the AH over the years. We’re truly blessed to call this global architectural masterpiece our basketball home.

View attachment 23665

Nobody has mentioned all the top-tier concerts that have taken place in the Hall (it will always be the Assembly Hall to me…).

I’ve been to quite a few - seeing Journey with Steve Perry (‘80 / ‘81?) running all over the stage, jumping on & off huge speakers, all while keeping his breath control for that signature voice of his is one of my memories.

James Taylor was my favorite show there… so personable & connected with the audience, and his voice somehow sounded better live than on his recordings.

Speaking of JT, there’s the story that came out about a janitor doing his work after the show. He’s in the bowels of the AH, and he hears noises when he thinks he’s all alone. He follows the sound to the laundry area, and there’s JT at the dryer cleaning the lint screen after pulling out the shirt he wore for the concert. The dude was doing his laundry! Very humble man…

Does anyone here have a favorite AH concert memory?

 

[chiefini]

Two more memories to contribute: My first time in AH was in March of 1967 when in my freshman year at Elmhurst York, my Dukes went downstate in the Elite Eight. I sat in the very top row and watched the Pekin Chinks demolish my team. It was awful and wonderful at the same time with a long school bus ride home. My other memory is a blur of many when I was a freshman at Illinois in 1970-71, and I was chosen as a member of Star Course, the student music usher group. I got to see almost all the concerts that year, that I think included Johnny Cash, Chicago, the Moody Blues, Elton John, Boston, and Sly and the Family Stone, (who were three hours late and stoned out of their minds). Fun times!

 

[altgeld88]

Nobody has mentioned all the top-tier concerts that have taken place in the Hall (it will always be the Assembly Hall to me…).

I’ve been to quite a few - seeing Journey with Steve Perry (‘80 / ‘81?) running all over the stage, jumping on & off huge speakers, all while keeping his breath control for that signature voice of his is one of my memories.

James Taylor was my favorite show there… so personable & connected with the audience, and his voice somehow sounded better live than on his recordings.

Speaking of JT, there’s the story that came out about a janitor doing his work after the show. He’s in the bowels of the AH, and he hears noises when he thinks he’s all alone. He follows the sound to the laundry area, and there’s JT at the dryer cleaning the lint screen after pulling out the shirt he wore for the concert. The dude was doing his laundry! Very humble man…

Does anyone here have a favorite AH concert memory?

JC Mellencamp (Fall '85), Stevie Wonder in the round (Fall '86), R.E.M. (Fall '87). Each a fantastic show. Didn't get tickets for Peter Gabriel or U2 my junior year in '86-'87 but heard they were spectacular. Also Eddie Murphy in (IIRC) '85.

My girlfriend's cousin ran the lighting console for R.E.M. on its '87 Document tour. I'd seen them in Foellinger Auditorium in Nov '85 on their previous tour with 10,000 Maniacs opening for them. We got soundcheck access, great floor seats, and backstage passes. I'll never forget meeting the band in an AH conference room after the show (a Saturday night in Nov. '87 IIRC.) Guitarist Peter Buck was a complete ladies man on the make, bassist Mike Mills was carrying a biography of western film star from the '30s, Tom Mix. Lead singer Michael Stipe had smoky kohl eye shadow and seemed to be the most socially awkward introvert I'd ever met. (I felt badly that his management subjected him to meeting random fans like us.) Drummer Bill Berry, however, was completely normal and we had a nice chat with him. I got out of there quickly, however, because I was afraid Buck was going to hit on my girlfriend! ("Penniless student over here, millionaire rock star over there. Hmmm. How to choose?!")

 

[Big Jack]

Nobody has mentioned all the top-tier concerts that have taken place in the Hall (it will always be the Assembly Hall to me…).

I’ve been to quite a few - seeing Journey with Steve Perry (‘80 / ‘81?) running all over the stage, jumping on & off huge speakers, all while keeping his breath control for that signature voice of his is one of my memories.

James Taylor was my favorite show there… so personable & connected with the audience, and his voice somehow sounded better live than on his recordings.

Speaking of JT, there’s the story that came out about a janitor doing his work after the show. He’s in the bowels of the AH, and he hears noises when he thinks he’s all alone. He follows the sound to the laundry area, and there’s JT at the dryer cleaning the lint screen after pulling out the shirt he wore for the concert. The dude was doing his laundry! Very humble man…

Does anyone here have a favorite AH concert memory?

Def Leppard i believe it was in spring of 94... First concert i saw on a round revolving stage.. I was in the first row and was totally deaf when the concert ended. Took 2 days to regain it.

 

[dbeaverfg]

Still very disappointed that the naming rights agreement didn't make it the State Farm Assembly Hall. Why the original name had to disappear is beyond me.

 

[GrayGhost77]

I saw Dave Chapelle in about 2004 there, also Blue Man Group, Foo Fighters, RHCP, and Rise Against/Bad Religion. All great shows. Best time ever though was Wake Forest game in December 04. Will never forget it.

 

[Tophe]

I saw Def Leppard in 88 (also with the rotating stage), Huey Lewis and Eddie Murphy in 87, and Stephen Wright in 86.

 

[pruman91]

@altgeld88 Thanks for the posting of these historical pictures. That final one sure looks like something out right of a @pruman91 epic gif post.. Did they find those aliens?

I'm right here peeps.....does anything look eerily familiar ??....................we share stuff all the time , you just need to know where to look ...........................you really really do.........................

 

[pruman91]

JC Mellencamp (Fall '85), Stevie Wonder in the round (Fall '86), R.E.M. (Fall '87). Each a fantastic show. Didn't get tickets for Peter Gabriel or U2 my junior year in '86-'87 but heard they were spectacular. Also Eddie Murphy in (IIRC) '85.

My girlfriend's cousin ran the lighting console for R.E.M. on its '87 Document tour. I'd seen them in Foellinger Auditorium in Nov '85 on their previous tour with 10,000 Maniacs opening for them. We got soundcheck access, great floor seats, and backstage passes. I'll never forget meeting the band in an AH conference room after the show (a Saturday night in Nov. '87 IIRC.) Guitarist Peter Buck was a complete ladies man on the make, bassist Mike Mills was carrying a biography of western film star from the '30s, Tom Mix. Lead singer Michael Stipe had smoky kohl eye shadow and seemed to be the most socially awkward introvert I'd ever met. (I felt badly that his management subjected him to meeting random fans like us.) Drummer Bill Berry, however, was completely normal and we had a nice chat with him. I got out of there quickly, however, because I was afraid Buck was going to hit on my girlfriend! ("Penniless student over here, millionaire rock star over there. Hmmm. How to choose?!")

wise decision , my friend......................

 

[Ransom Stoddard]

ZZ Top in 86/87. It snowed that night, and there was a lot of extra "ambience" in the air inside AH, so me and my buddy were not quite ourselves as we made our way outside. The combination of the snow in the air, the bright lights, and the white roof resulted in us having no idea where we were relative to Kirby St. I think we staggered around the hall twice until we finally made our way back home.

Great concert (RIP Dusty) and a fun story. I was also at that Leppard show in 88, saw U2 on the Joshua Tree tour in 87, R.E.M., and I can't remember who all else during my time on campus. The AH was a good stop for national acts back then, never a shortage of entertainment.

 

[InDaAZ]

Here’s another memory, sort of…

My brother & my roommate, who were alway peer-pressuring me to try pot (to this day, I never have - so much for peer pressure), were securing tickets for Ozzy Osborne at the AH.

For some reason, they really wanted me to go with them. I had zero interest (zero!) in seeing Ozzy. They offered to buy my ticket, thinking there’s no excuse for me to turn down a free show.

When I declined, they started to sweeten the pot, from $20 all the way up to $100. Even for free tix & a Benjamin, I did not want to subject my ears to that (apologies to Ozzy fans, but I think his “music” is awful).

So, they go without me, and the show starts with a long, slow buildup before Ozzy appears on stage. When he finally does, he grabs the mic, speaks about four unintelligible syllables, and falls over backwards. He is assisted off the stage, the house lights come on, and the crowd is informed how they can get their tickets refunded.

My brother & roommate come back way too early and tell me what happened.

Laughing hysterically, I say, “Man, I should have taken the hundred bucks!”

 

[bleedsorangenblue]

Moved to Champaign in '65 so lots of AH memories. Attended several events as a kid. Went to a lot of concerts later. First big concert of my life was Cat Stevens at AH. Still one of the best I have seen. We had moved to Kankakee by then so drove down for it. Came back and was a student in '73. Think they used to sell cheap unsold concert tickets to students the day of the concert. Want to say they were only $1.00 (maybe $3.00)? Attended quite a few this way. Used to sit in the very last row because the acoustics were so good there. Attended a few BB games during this time period. Moved away but returned to work on a Masters in '84. Held season BB tickets then. Continued to go to concerts. One of the best concerts was Jethro Tull. Having great seats definitely helped. Todd Rundgren, twice! Santana!!!! Really enjoyed Laurie Anderson. Worst concert, without a doubt, was Joni Mitchell. They couldn't get the acoustics right and she ended up cutting the concert short. Biggest disappointment was Yes. I was stoked to go, had great seats, but the show was uninspired. Laser light show was just stupid. Have been a townie since then. Make it to a few games but haven't attended a concert in years. Really appreciate the renovation. It would have been a shame to lose this great building. I just hope it continues to be appreciated by future generations.

 

[bleedsorangenblue]

ZZ Top in 86/87. It snowed that night, and there was a lot of extra "ambience" in the air inside AH, so me and my buddy were not quite ourselves as we made our way outside. The combination of the snow in the air, the bright lights, and the white roof resulted in us having no idea where we were relative to Kirby St. I think we staggered around the hall twice until we finally made our way back home.

Was at that concert as well. ZZ Top created the most intense music from 3 guys ever. My brother was a huge fan and I went with him. I am sure our experience was also enhanced.