Beloit College

Roger Hull, president of Beloit College 1981-1990
 
Basketball at Beloit means, to me, great student-athletes, Bill Knapton, the Field House, and the Flood Arena. It also brings back wonderful memories.
 
Bill, a fixture at the College for a quarter of a century before I arrived on campus, was there during my time at the College and continued for nearly a decade after I left. What an incredible run!
 
During my first year at Beloit, the Field House produced some amazing games. At the top of the list was a quadruple overtime win against the University of Chicago, which, if my memory is correct, included a bucket off the wires holding up the basket (which I didn’t know was legal). 
 
The Field House (now the Marvin Field House, thanks to Matt Marvin) was an “unusual” venue for a basketball court. So “soft” was the floor on players’ knees, though, the Chicago Bulls used the Field House as their “summer home” for two years. Having Michael Jordan, Gene Banks, and the rest of the Bulls to the President’s House for dinner and conversation was a benefit the Field House provided.
 
As with everything, though, times change. One of those changes, of course, was moving basketball to the Flood Arena. Like the Field House, the new venue that Jim and Joanne Flood provided saw great games over the years. Prowling the sidelines with half a basketball on my head (not every-day attire for a college president and not particularly “presidential”) and encouraging fans to “get loud” still stands out in my mind.
 
Beloit is a great college. Sports certainly have their place at Beloit (winning at all costs does not), and student-athletes play their part in making the college what it is, with basketball, and its long tradition, playing that part particularly well.