@MIZZOU ASKS YOU

Hearnes Memory Lane

@Mizzou readers share their favorite Hearnes Center memories…

My most fond memory of Hearnes was while playing with Mini Mizzou back in 1974. During a basketball game time-out, right after a particularly bad call, we started playing “Three Blind Mice” while one of our band members walked around in front of us dressed like a blind man complete with shades and a cane. The referee with myopia came over and threatened to call a technical foul on us if we did that again. As the ref seemed to be thin-skinned with no sense of humor, we followed his orders and put that song and skit away for good.

– Leo Downey, BS Ed ’93, M Ed, ’95

I have many memories of great games at Hearnes, both as a student and as an alumnus. I sat in every section and was lucky enough to have A-section seats for one year when Mizzou set a school record for margin of victory against Chicago State, who called a time-out while down by 50 points in the second half. I saw Mizzou beat Iowa State in four overtimes a few years ago, and my introduction to Missouri basketball was the final game of the 14-0 conference season. But the best Hearnes Center moment was in 1997 when a not-so-good Missouri team took Kansas to two overtimes and beat the No. 1 team in the country. A friend and I snuck into the B section and stood there screaming the whole game, willing the Tigers to victory. It was the second year in a row that we raced home to see highlights on SportsCenter, and we weren’t disappointed. The announcers led off that night’s show saying, “It was a bad night for a top-5 team to play in a town called Columbia.”

– Brad Perkins, BA, BJ ’98

I was a Golden Girl from 1995-98. Some of my favorite college memories include dancing at the Hearnes Center. The MU-KU games were among my favorites. The crowd was unbelievably loud, and there was so much energy. I loved it when Truman would enter the Hearnes Center from the rafters before the games. I loved having the Mizzou Pep Band at every game and the familiar upbeat songs they played at every time-out. The Hearnes Center was the place where I made so many friends and had the time of my life.
I’m sure I will enjoy the new basketball arena, but it will never be the same as Hearnes.

– Stephanie Clower, BHS ’99

I marched in Marching Mizzou in 1989-90. We always used to play a pre-game concert in Hearnes before every home football game. Afterward, the marching band would line up in the west tunnel and start to really get pepped up for the game. We would make so much noise and ruckus that when the whistle blew for us to start our parade around the stadium, the crowds were always behind us, marching and singing with us all the way around the stadium right up until we stepped off for the game. It was awesome! I’ll miss Hearnes just for that reason. Thanks for letting me share!

– Laurie Splater, BS Ed ’92

I was a senior (1981-82), and I never missed a Mizzou basketball game. Even if I had a test or paper due the next day, I always managed to work in the game. My favorite memory from the Hearnes Center is when Mizzou was ranked No. 1 nationwide, and they put it up on the big scoreboard that hung above the center of the court. I forget who we beat that day, but our ranking was displayed big and bright on that big scoreboard. After the game, some friends and I stood and admired those words for some time, and I even took a picture of it. I could probably find it if I dug around hard enough in my boxes of college photos.

Sure hope we see that ranking again some time in the Tigers’ future ...

– Mary Caldwell, BA ’82

It’s hard to top the excitement we felt when the Tigers were highly ranked and playing well, especially when they beat OU in early 1982 to take over the top spot in the polls. However, my favorite memory (albeit somewhat quirky) happened in 1979 when I was a newly-transferred student from California. I attended a Mizzou-KU game and watched Kansas coach Ted Owens walk on the court, stomp on the Tiger emblem, then turn to the crowd with a big smile. The resulting animal howl of rage and disdain from the crowd taught me volumes about that rivalry. Ted, wherever you are, here’s a big Mizzou raspberry.

– Jeffry Burden, BJ ’82

My favorite Hearnes memory would have to be the MU-KU game in February 1997. The game was the most exciting one I had ever watched. We were in overtime and, of course, everyone was on their feet. By the time we were in triple overtime, it wasn’t enough for me to just be on my feet, I had to stand on the bench as well. MU finally ended up winning the game and everyone was excitedly jumping up and down. Unfortunately, I miscalculated my jumping and fell off the bench, spraining my ankle. It hurt like you wouldn’t believe, but I’ve always said that “I took one for the team.”

– Raegan Rinchiuso, BJ ’98

Two of my most memorable times at Hearnes: Dressing up in my tiger gear (tail, ears and all) to attend Hoops of Horror on Halloween and sneaking through a partially open door (which a friend and I spotted by sheer luck) into a sold-out basketball game. What a great place with so many great memories!

– Julia Buehler, BS Ed ’02

My most memorable moment at the Hearnes Inferiority complex (that’s what we called it in 1973) was the Jethro Tull concert when I had a sprained ankle and my new girlfriend (now my spouse of 30 years) put up with my ice pack leaking all over the place and the fact that I wasn’t able to get up to get sodas and snacks.

– Jim Bates BS BA ’73

In addition to all the great athletes and exciting basketball games played at Hearnes under coaches Stewart and Snyder, I remember the many good concerts performed there. One of my favorites was Jefferson Starship back in the mid-1970s.

A dull building architecturally, but many great memories nonetheless!

– Tom Tobben, BA, BS Ed ’72, MA ’76

I know this sounds lame, but one of my favorite memory of the Hearnes Center was donating blood during Homecoming and Greek Week for the American Red Cross. I was filled with pride knowing my donation would save someone’s life.

– Molly Statz Sabatino, BJ ’98

My favorite Hearnes memory is the Jan 13, 2001, quadruple overtime win over Iowa State. Because it was a “Truman Day,” which meant that kids who were members of the Truman Club could get tickets, my wife and I brought our then 4-year-old daughter to the game.

She was interested in the surroundings and was quite excited about all of the goings-on for most of the event because it was her first men’s basketball game. However, as the afternoon wore on, she got more and more tired and somewhat unhappy (as tired kids do). We patiently told her that the game would be over soon, that we could go home shortly. As the minutes wound down in regulation, we told her that it would be five more minutes, four more minutes, etc. Much to our surprise, the game went into overtime, and the people sitting behind us who had been observing our various explanations and promises to her said, “Oh, now you’re in trouble.”

But our daughter took it in stride as we explained it would “only be about five more minutes,” and after our suggestion that she take a quick nap, laid down on our coats with her head on my wife’s lap and promptly went to sleep only a minute or two into the first overtime. There she remained through that overtime and for the next three overtimes, sleeping soundly as the crowd cheered, jumped and hollered around her, totally oblivious to the tumult. When the fourth overtime was finally winding down and it was clear that Mizzou was going to win, she awakened on her own, almost on cue, never realizing that instead of a five-minute nap, she had a four-overtime siesta.

– Rod Massman

I worked at Hearnes in the late 1980s as an usher, and I’ve never forgotten the bench-clearing brawl between the Oklahoma and Missouri Women’s Basketball teams. I was looking down from B level, but my boyfriend at the time was on the floor. What a scene!

– Michele Short McCawley, BJ ’89

I served as MSA president during the 1967-68 school year. During that year the students were asked to tax themselves to help build the Hearnes Center. Taxes are never very popular, but I supported them, and the fee was approved.

I’ve been back for a few games at Hearnes and became friends with the nephew of the former governor. It’s a small world.

I am now retired from management consulting and doing real-estate investing from
Seattle.

– John Leet

Not to be insulting towards my university, but I will never forget the first time I entered the Hearnes Center for a game and looked at the interior. My first reaction was, “Why are all the seats GREEN? Why not black and/or gold?”

I am from St. Louis, and for me, green seats are the old way of seating in outdoor baseball stadiums. I loved it when the new Busch Stadium was built and had RED seats. I hope more consideration will be given to the seat color in the new facility at Mizzou.

– Robert Harrison, BA ’64

My favorite Hearnes Center memory is of my junior year (1993-94) when Mizzou beat Kansas on ESPN, and Mizzou went 14-0 in the Big Eight Conference. I got lucky that year and had a great number for the all-sports pass lotto. My friends and I had great seats! We made posters and were on TV several times. All the basketball games at Hearnes were great, but I will always remember that one!

– Kim Detjen, BS HES ’95

I was a freshman in 1970 and watched basketball in Brewer and later the construction of Hearnes. We made several trips to explore the building site in the days before OSHA closed construction sites. We walked on the catwalks above a giant dirt bowl before the concrete for the seats was poured. I took a friend over at dusk when it was starting to get dark. We were wandering the concourse looking for an exit, timidly exploring each dark doorway, most of which turned out to be dead-end offices. My friend stepped into one doorway and promptly dropped from sight, scaring us both half to death. Luckily he only fell a couple of feet.

My favorite memory was beating Oklahoma to clinch the Big 8. They played “Victory” by Kool and the Gang over the PA while Nathan Buntin danced at center court with the Golden Girls.

– Duane Perry, BES ’88

Sunday afternoon in 1978, a group of my fraternity buddies were playing flag football in the larger room used for multiple activities.

Two of us (including me) decided to take a tour of the basketball arena. We walked on the floor of the arena — what an imposing view with all those empty seats looking at us!

We were at center court, and all the lights went out suddenly! It scared the daylights out of both of us! We ran for the first exit we could find. We had no idea why they went out – we didn’t care.

– Mark Braun, BS PA ’79

Some years after I graduated from Mizzou, I discovered that besides the Hearnia (as we called it), Warren Hearnes had two other buildings named after him (one on the Missouri Western campus and one on the Missouri Southern campus). At that time in the early 1970s, Hearnes had more buildings named after him in Missouri than Harry S Truman, and Hearnes was still alive!

Favorite memory of the Hearnia: My student fees were raised to help pay for the thing, and then I had to pay to use it.

– James A. Broshot, BA ’72, JD ’74

My husband and I met at the Hearnes Center in 1982. I was on the MU volleyball team, and he was a building supervisor. We met in section B-11 on my way into practice one day. We still disagree about who said hello first. We spent many days together at Hearnes, studying, hanging out, sleeping overnight while he was serving as “security” for various events, even watching fireworks from the roof. Hearnes holds so many great memories for us, and we enjoy every second when we come back for all of the sporting events. For our 10th anniversary in 1996, I got MU license plates that read, “BE-11,” the place where we met in Hearnes (someone already has B-11!)

– Sandi Strother, BJ ’86, and Tom Strother, BS FW ’84

– Barbara B. Mason, PhD ’99

Apartment memory sent in after the March issue of @Mizzou was already published …

The accounts of off-campus housing in basements reminds me of a piece of MU folklore about the great social thinker, Thoirstein Veblen, who briefly taught at Mizzou in 1911. The “folk” from whom I got this lore was Professor of History Elmer Ellis, later first president of the UM System, with whom I took a course in 1950.

According to Professor Ellis, Veblen rented the basement of President A. Ross Hill’s house. Mrs. Hill was horrified to discover that when Veblen used a dish, the great economist put it on the basement floor to one side of the drain. When all of his dishes were dirty, he hosed them off and left them to dry where they sat. As he used them, he moved the now dirty dishes to the other side of the drain until it was time to “wash” them again.

Thus did Veblen pioneer a trendy idea in kitchen design: Two dishwashers are installed. From one, dishes are withdrawn clean, used, and put into the other until the first is emptied and the second filled. When they are washed, the process is repeated in reverse. By avoiding the conspicuous consumption that he described in his Theory of the Leisure class, Veblen spent no money on either dishwashers or cupboards. Or soap.

– Gordon E. Parks, BA ’50, MA ’55

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Last Update: March 12, 2007