Even Norm loves Allen's aura
, , Published Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Traditionalists at Kansas, don't be alarmed, but one ritual just hasn't been the same for years now. It doesn't seem right to tell a coach to sit down if it isn't Norm.
Back in his days prowling the Missouri sideline, Norm Stewart didn't want to sit down. The less comfortable he felt when visiting Kansas, the better. But all along, he was having a good time and conveyed the same message to his players. That bench where KU fans wanted him to park his fanny was occupied by Stewart 32 times -- more than any opposing coach who ever brought teams to Allen Fieldhouse.
And from that vantage point, Stewart saw, and heard, it all. "It was a great place to play," Stewart said. "You make your places have a feel about 'em. "And I told my players, 'You're probably going to play your best basketball at home, but this is a place that's going to bring out the best in you.' If it doesn't, there's something wrong with you. And we usually got pretty good effort when we played over there."
Stewart was one of the first to give that effort. During his All-America season as a Mizzou senior in 1955-56, Stewart played in Allen. It was the first full season KU played in its new home and the last season the building's namesake, Phog Allen, served as the Jayhawks coach. Missouri won that game, a year after it triumphed in Hoch Auditorium to end a 33-game homecourt winning streak for KU.
Stewart spurned a recruiting pitch by Allen. Yet the legendary KU coach never held it against Stewart. For a guy who won 66 percent of his games, Norm Stewart's 11-21 record at Allen Fieldhouse may not seem very good, but those 11 wins are more than any other opposing coach has accumulated.
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File Photo/The Capital-Journal
"Doc Allen was always so good to me, and I think it always upset some of the KU people," Stewart said. "We'd go over there and play and he'd always have something nice to say, and I'd treasure that because he was such a great coach. "For some reason, I had two or three other people, like Mr. Iba and Branch McCracken, who were always nice to me. I must have been like an old pup and had some cockleburs on me, because they were always nice."
Norm, of course, didn't always come across as warm, fuzzy, or even house-broken. Over 32 seasons (1967-99) as Mizzou's coach, he was 11-21 against the Jayhawks in Lawrence. That doesn't seem great considering Stewart was 634-333 all-time with the Tigers, but you won't find another coach who has beaten KU as many times in Allen Fieldhouse.
Several games Stewart coached in served as backdrops to great KU moments -- the night Bud Stallworth scored 50 points in 1972 ... the cap guns saluting Steve Stipanovich in 1981, poking fun at the MU star's fabrication of a gunshot wound ... the gathering of almost 300 former KU players and coaches for the 100th-year basketball reunion in 1998.
It only seems fitting that KU keep Norm connected. During a recent fund-raising trip, KU athletic director Lew Perkins and chief fund-raiser John Hadl dropped in on Stewart in Palm Springs for a round of golf. Over 18 holes, the conversation never touched on the need for KU to build a new arena.
"Everybody's talking about having these nice new places so they can recruit," Stewart said. "We had old Brewer Fieldhouse and I always said, 'If I could recruit, I could win all the games, because people who came into Brewer, they didn't know how to breathe dust.' You had to acquire that to play there." Brewer gave way in 1972 to the Hearnes Center, which was vacated at the end of last season for Mizzou Arena. Meanwhile, KU still plays in Allen Fieldhouse.
"Each time you change, it takes a period of time to adjust to that change," Stewart said, "You got the boxes and all the things they're putting in today, but if you can keep (a facility) up, I'm a traditionalist. I don't like to see too many changes.
"You ever go play the Old Course in Scotland? There's a thing on the scorecard that says they're real slow to change. The last change they made was 46 years ago. I like that kind of thing, because it gives you a great feeling for the game. Basketball is a great game, and of course KU had Doc Allen, and (James) Naismith has some roots there. A lot of the traditions, eventually they'll go, but you hate to see them go." Like telling Norm to sit down.