Thousands upon thousands of people have watched basketball games in Allen Fieldhouse, yet only a relative few ever have been privileged to go through the second-story breezeway that leads to the Naismith Lounge.
Most people, in fact, don’t even know what the Naismith Lounge is.
Completed in 1994 as part of the last phase of the Parrott Complex project, the Naismith Lounge is a place where the deep-pocketed elite gather prior to, during halftime and after Kansas University men’s basketball games.
Now they’re going to relocate the lounge into the planned Hall of Fame structure to be built on the east side of Allen Fieldhouse and convert the Naismith Lounge into office space for new women’s basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson and her staff.
In essence, this is a pragmatic solution to two nagging problems — inferior space for women’s basketball as compared to men’s basketball and inadequate square footage for KU benefactors.
First, a little history. Back in the early 1990s, the university was conducting a fund-raising program called Campaign Kansas. In order to entice donors to target their gifts for the Parrott Complex, they were promised membership in the James Naismith Society.
Eventually, a total of 123 people contributed $50,000 or more, spread over a five- or 10-year period, to become Naismith Society members who would be able to take advantage of the lounge built with their money. Those contributors also had a voice in what the lounge would look like, and they opted for the dark wood and brass fixtures that made the Adams Alumni Center so elegant.
Inside, a half-hexagonal shaped bar became the centerpiece of a spacious rectangular reception area designed mainly for mingling. The bar, built of solid oak, features a granite top and a brass foot rail. Behind are five beveled mirrors inlaid with brass fittings. Behind the bar is a smaller area with a fireplace and several overstuffed sofas and chairs. A television sits in a doored cabinet next to the fireplace.
When not utilized during games, the Naismith Lounge is used for in-house receptions and, in some cases, media sessions.
KU officials never did reveal the cost of the Naismith Lounge. All they would say was that the lounge and the other projects in that phase — expansion of the training rooms and remodeling of a locker room for baseball — cost $1.1 million.
No doubt some of the 123 people who contributed to become Naismith Society members were upset when they learned the lounge had lasted only 10 years and that it would be converted into women’s basketball offices.
Still, current KU officials believe they have done the right thing.
“Where the women’s basketball staff is now isn’t efficient,” Jim Marchiony, an associate AD who acts as department spokesman, said. “By doing this we’ll give them the space and the stature we think they deserve.”
Meanwhile, no plans have been finalized for the new donors lounge — other than that it will be connected in some way to the Hall of Fame building — but it will quite likely be more spacious than the original.
“The Naismith room has been very, very crowded,” Marchiony said. “This year it got very crowded in there.”
What about the fixtures, pictures and other memorable items currently in the Naismith Lounge? Will they be moved to the new facility?
“I’m sure they will,” Marchiony said.
As you may know, the cost of constructing the Hall of Fame building as well as overdue renovations to Allen Fieldhouse are being funded by $7 million from the Ward family and by $5 million from anonymous donors.
In contemporary Kansas University athletics, it is increasingly apparent that new money talks, old money walks and that status quo isn’t tradition, it’s stagnation.
