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Post by BBFran on Mar 7, 2011 11:20:07 GMT -6
How many games did you see in Baker? Put it this way -- when the Klotsche was built after I left school at UWM, I thought it was a palace.
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Post by jhart05 on Mar 7, 2011 15:28:05 GMT -6
"How many games did you see in Baker?"
Nope wasn't in this area of the state at that time.
The oldest Badger I remember seeing is Rick Olson. That kid could shoot.
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Post by Hack on Mar 7, 2011 15:45:07 GMT -6
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Post by uwm97 on Mar 7, 2011 17:22:34 GMT -6
Watching the Panthers beat the Badgers at the Fieldhouse was one of the top three sporting events I've ever attended. The absolute shock of the crowd at the conclusion of the contest was hilarious. Now, watching them destroy us there the following year......not so much.
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Post by alumni1 on Mar 8, 2011 12:37:37 GMT -6
I went to most of the games at Baker back in the '70s, and even got to do the play-by-play for a few games there, including one vs. Long Beach State when they had 2 guys who went on to play in the NBA. Imagine what they thought of the place! There was a dirt track around the court because they held indoor track meets there. The floor was raised about two feet above the track, so they had this net at each end of the court so you didn't end up on the track. But a lot of good memories of games played there, and coaches like Charlie Parsley.
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Post by BBFran on Mar 8, 2011 13:44:06 GMT -6
alumni1, I was at that game. Ed Ratleff was their star. If you remember how tight the seating was, the teams and coaches sat directly in front of the fans -- I mean directly in front. I got there early and sat right behind LBSU's coach. Some of you may have heard of him -- a fellow named Jerry Tarkanian! Every time Tark the Shark sat down he knocked my knees and turned around and said "sorry."
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Post by Hack on Mar 8, 2011 13:45:22 GMT -6
Was he chewing on a towel by that time already?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2011 13:53:10 GMT -6
I have never seen a picture of Baker until minutes ago. Kind of makes the Cell look like MSG.
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kcwhite
Redshirt
Relocated to Texas, still try to keep up with the black and gold.
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Post by kcwhite on Mar 8, 2011 14:00:06 GMT -6
Could you put up a picture here or link one jpanther?
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 8, 2011 14:03:06 GMT -6
When i first started working at UWM, 25 years ago, Baker was going through its last days. i never got to see a game there, and scarcely remember even seeing the building, so i'd love to see a picture, too.
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Post by BBFran on Mar 8, 2011 14:05:39 GMT -6
That's what gives some of us oldtimers the perspective we have on the state of the program. You want to complain about "only" 3,000 people in the seats, or a front page story in the J-S that doesn't have a color picture? In our lifetime we have seen it where a hundred fans and a three inch story on page 7 was the norm.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2011 14:05:43 GMT -6
Gentelmen, look at Hack's post about 5 spots above mine and he has a link from the UWM library collection.
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Post by uwmplanner on Mar 8, 2011 14:07:36 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 8, 2011 14:11:59 GMT -6
Thanks for the link.
i absolutely loved the track meet picture...they have runners on the track passing the pole vault landing pad, and the pad is right on top of the track. Baker truly was the bandbox that folks on the board have been describing.
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Post by milwsport on Mar 16, 2011 13:32:53 GMT -6
I was also at the Long Beach State game. It was my first UWM BB game. They were ranked something like 6th. We played a slow down game going for 5 minutes or so without taking a shot. I think the halftime score was something like 7 to 5. We wound up losing but it was exciting nontheless.
I actually spent an extra year in school because of Baker. We had by far the smallest amount of rec space in the system per student. I was up in Madison lobbying so much I wound up dropping too many classes.
For me the last straw was when we had a game rained out. Yes RAINED OUT. We were supposed to play Oral Roberts which was ranked in the top 10 at the time, in the last game of the season. An NIT bid was on the line for us. (And that's when the NIT was almost as good as the NCAA). So the game was moved the Arena (now the US Cellular Arena) and held two days later.
A crowd of about 5,000 showed up. ORU had a big phenom who was averaging over 40 points a game. I was less impressed then the refs were, who seemed to let him take NBA travels whenever he scored. We led most of the way but lost in the last five minutes or so.
But the rain out was an embarrassment to the system and finally allowed us to convince the people on the State Building Commission to okay the new facility.
Baker did have its moments though. Some nights the crowd was sparse but alof of the time, it was pretty crowded (students had to pay a reduced admission charge). I remember one game when we played Illinois Chicago Circle (Now UIC). For 10 minutes we not only held them scoreless, they couldn't even get the ball over the half court line. It was hilarious.
The court had dead spots and warped boards that definitely gave us a home court advantage. Our team knew were everyone one of them were.
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