@MIZZOU ASKS YOU

Campus Recreation Recollections

@Mizzou readers share memories of student recreation at Brewer and other Mizzou settings…

I remember the days of the old Brewer locker rooms and the Show-Me-State Games in a leaking Rothwell Gym. After having worked for the department of recreation services all four years and being a member of the expansion planning committee, it is great to see that my time spent at Mizzou meant something not only to me personally, but to the thousands of patrons who use this facility every day. It is truly an honor to have been part of something so great and to have given back a small portion of what Mizzou has given to me.

— Jason Oatis, attended MU, 2001

I worked at the “old” rec center from 2001-04 and my college career would not have been the same if I hadn’t. I met so many great people through MU Rec. It’s a spectacular facility, and I believe it’s the main reason MU is the greatest university. To all of those Team Mizzou members, past and present, enjoy all you have and go Tigers!

— Mike Johnson, BS ’04

In 1970, there were a lot of concerts in Brewer Fieldhouse. At the time I lived on campus in a large house situated exactly where the law library is now. Brewer was only a half block away, so even if I didn’t have tickets for the concerts, I still got to enjoy them! The one that changed my life was Ike & Tina Turner and the Ikettes. I had a front row seat for what turned out to be the most incredible performance I have ever witnessed. Tina’s scintillating, electric energy was totally liberating, and I can verify that I was not the only woman in the audience for whom that was true.

— Patrice Koehner, MU staff member

Student fee capital improvements funded renovation of Brewer in the mid ’70s. As chair of that committee I had the chance to help plan how best to “open” the newly renovated area. Since this included newly resurfaced basketball courts, a free throw shooting contest seemed appropriate. The “contestants” were Chancellor Schooling, “Boot” Stewart, chair of the physical education department, and me. There was some crepe paper hung over the basket, and the first person to make a free throw officially opened the new area. We went in the order listed, and it is a fond memory of mine that despite often missing free throws when it came time to choose sides for pick-up games, I did sink my free throw that day after the other two missed.

— Betsy Garrett, MD ’79, MS ’88

As a student from suburban Long Island, it’s hard for me to believe that I received physical education credit one semester for learning how to fly cast. The aim (pardon the pun) of the winter program was to accurately hit targets on the fieldhouse floor. My prowess was rewarded by the instructor, who advised I was ready for the Ozark lakes.

— Richard L. Ornauer, BJ ’47

My fondest memory of Brewer Fieldhouse took place in early 1973. There was an intramural competition with one of the events being a free throw shooting contest. Each team participating was supposed to have five shooters in the contest. When our fifth shooter backed out, I was asked to go over just so we could have a fifth shooter and still be eligible. So, one of my frat brothers, Mike, went with me to rebound my misses. According to the contest rule, each contestant had to attempt 25 shots. On this day, the basketball lord (or was it Coach Stewart?) must have been smiling on me. I made 21 and finished third among all the contestants.

— Rich Segal, BJ ’75

I remember the track at Brewer Fieldhouse vividly and attribute it to my current love of running. After being hit with the “freshman fifteen” and the “sophomore spread,” I was determined to lose weight as I began my junior year at Mizzou in 1987. I took up running that fall to help my weight-loss effort and headed to Brewer Fieldhouse track nearly every morning at 6:30 a.m. It was conveniently located across the street from Johnston Hall, where I lived as a resident assistant.

At that early hour, I didn't have a whole lot of company. Rod Gillett of the journalism school used to be there, and there was a 6:40 a.m. running course that was taught there, but other than that, there was nothing to distract me from the focus of running around and around the track. As I recall, it took seven laps to make a mile, and I think I eventually built up to four miles each morning. I tried to run in the evenings on occasion, but Brewer was much, much busier at that time of day, so I learned to prefer the building's quietness in the early morning.

By the beginning of my second semester, I was 25 pounds lighter, and my Brewer running routine was a fixture in my life until the end the year. In the fall of 1988 as I began my senior year, I still ran, but this time it was in the brand new student recreation center that had just been completed. Sure it was bigger, and I only had to run six times around a suspended track to make a mile, but it just wasn’t the same as it had been the year before in the Brewer Fieldhouse track.

— Holly Sell Higginbotham, BA ’89

I used to ref the intramural games and enjoyed playing them too. I'll never forget playing co-rec basketball with a few friends. We had three girls and three guys on the team, and my friend named us the “Chick Magnets” and made T-shirts. It was pretty embarrassing being a girl and playing for the Chick Magnets.

— Valerie Kelly, BGS ’92

There was a bowling alley downstairs in Brady Commons. When they closed it for renovations, they gave away the shoes. I still remember passing other students on campus with half red, half green leather shoes with the size on the back. We would share a knowing nod and a smile.

— Mark Stone, BA ’81

Favorite season memories submitted after the November issue of @Mizzou was already published…

Some of the best memories that I have of Mizzou are returning to the football games in the fall from Chicago and appreciating the beauty and warmth of fall and the “Indian Summer.” I especially miss the oak trees in Missouri and in what is now the North Quad.

I have also enjoyed watching the football program continually gain momentum over the years and return to the bowl game scene. I remember listening to the radio in the early ’90s in the computer lab in Memorial Union South to the demise of the Tigers vs. Texas A&M, 77-0. And we still let them into the Big 12 Conference!

— Alan Forester, BA ’95, M Ed ’99

I shall always remember my first day at MU. I arrived by bus, after a long train ride from my home in New York State. I arrived at mid-year break after a real Missouri ice storm. I slipped and slid up to a nearly deserted campus. I found my way to my quarters in the (World War II) barracks near the stadium. It was ice cold, and I was all alone. I said to myself, “What have I done?” After a day or so my roommates arrived, and the heat was on. It was the beginning of four great years.

— Andy Hall, BS ’53

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Last Update: March 12, 2007