By JOE HOLTZAPFEL
Do I ever have memories from this great lady. Its very difficult to remember the times and dates but the things I saw here I will never forget.
The first time I remember visiting the Field House there on 5th Avenue. I was in high school at Ironton Saint Joseph and our high school team went to watch the Marshall basketball team in action.
The player I remember most on that team was a man among boys. His name was Charlie Slack. He believed every rebound in a game belonged to him. Talk about a human vacuum cleaner when it came to rebounds, he was it. I suggest you Google his name and you will see what I mean.
After I graduated, a friend of mine and I would go to every Marshall basketball game. During that period in time Marshall did not win many games. You could buy a general admission ticket and set any where in the building.
One night we sat under the broadcast booth for the Miami game and the legendary Joe Nuxhall was the Miami broadcaster. Joe was trying to get some crowd noise outside the booth so he was trying to mount a microphone outside the booth. He accidentally dropped the mic and it hit yours truly right on top of the head. What a way to meet a legend.
Another memorable game I saw was when Marshall was playing Bowling Green and they had a player by the name of Butch Komise. Butch had just tied the NCAA record for most free throws in a row the previous game. During the very beginning of the game Butch was fouled and went to the foul line in hopes of breaking the record. Well the first shot was nothing but net and the record was his.
The Field House announcer informed the crowd that Komise had just broken the record for most free throws in a row. Now being that it was a two shot foul, Komise stepped back to the line to shoot the next shot. And believe it or not, he missed the second shot. As the teams were running down the floor, Mr. Komise hit the announcer with what some call the Beverly Hills high sign or the bird is the more popular name.
The announcer was none other than Bud Daily from WSAZ.
Stay tuned for part two of my memories from the field House.
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