This Virtual Cache brings you to Allen Fieldhouse, the home basketball arena of the University of Kansas. Here you will meet the fieldhouse’s namesake, Forrest Clare “Phog” Allen, as well as the inventor of the game of basketball, Dr. James Naismith.
There is no physical container to find here. Nor will you need to enter the fieldhouse. In order to log this cache as found, you must complete one task:
Take a photo of yourself or a personal item with Phog Allen and include it with your online log.
(You are welcome to include an optional photo of yourself with Dr. Naismith in addition to the required photo with Phog Allen. Logs which do not include the required photo will be deleted.)
Please note that parking can be difficult on school days. Free parking is usually abundant on nights and weekends. Parking information is available in the Additional Waypoints.
James Naismith arrived at KU in 1898, six years after drafting basketball's official rules. He actually came here not to coach basketball, but to be a chapel director and physical education teacher. KU's basketball program began shortly thereafter, and he was the first coach. Ironically, Naismith is the only coach in KU men's basketball history to have a losing record (55-60). The Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts (where he invented the game) is named in his honor.
From 1905-1907, Phog Allen played basketball for Naismith at KU. Allen succeeded his mentor as the team's coach in 1907. His first KU coaching stint lasted just two years before he left to train as an osteopath and then to coach at Warrensburg Teachers College. Allen returned to coach at KU in 1919 and stayed until his retirement in 1956. He coached college basketball for 50 seasons and retired with what was then the all-time record for most coaching wins (746). His pupils included future Hall of Fame coaches Dutch Lonborg, Adolph Rupp, Ralph Miller and Dean Smith. Allen's KU teams won one NCAA Championship, two Helms Championships, and he coached the 1952 U.S. Olympic team to the gold medal in Finland. Allen Fieldhouse, named in his honor, opened March 1, 1955. (The "Beware of the Phog" banner was first displayed at the fieldhouse in 1988.)
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.