Please help settle an argument (re: Lloyd Noble Center)

WaymansFadeaway

WaymansFadeaway

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My brother is saying that we havent always played on a wooden floor in LNC. He says that when we were kiddos and going to the games (79-82ish) that the Sooners played on a giant rollout mat-like surface.

I think he's high, but hes dead-serious. If I'm wrong its okay, but I'd be interested in knowing exactly what it was and if it was unique to OU.
 
WaymansFadeaway said:
My brother is saying that we havent always played on a wooden floor in LNC. He says that when we were kiddos and going to the games (79-82ish) that the Sooners played on a giant rollout mat-like surface.

I think he's high, but hes dead-serious. If I'm wrong its okay, but I'd be interested in knowing exactly what it was and if it was unique to OU.
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No, it wasn't a "rollout surface", it's the original floor which was called "tartan". It's like a rubbery surface, kind of cream in color. Mizzou used to have a gray tartan surface when the Hearnes Center was built at about the same time.

It's still there under the wood floor, or it was before the renovations back in 01 or 02.

When I went to Billy Tubbs basketball camp in 1985, it was the court we played on, as the wood was taken apart and we never even saw it. The wood floor is put together like a puzzle, in pieces. Not sure if they are all the same size or what.

I think they started using a wood floor sometime after Tubbs took over, or maybe a few years before. I will ask my older brother as he probably remembers this.
 
When I attended Sampson's hoops camps in the 90's we played on the rubbery surface.
 
WaymansFadeaway said:
Wow, didnt realize that. I guess he's right, except for the rollout part.
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I've emailed my brother to find out it was a rollout surface. When I was at BT's camp, I don't remember seeing any evidence of it being a rollout floor, but maybe I'm wrong.

According to my brother, Billy Tubbs first year is when we started using the wood surface.
 
My kids played on a few surfaces like that when they were in elementary and middle school. It was all the rage for a short while, but it didn't last long.
 
MsProudSooner said:
My kids played on a few surfaces like that when they were in elementary and middle school. It was all the rage for a short while, but it didn't last long.
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Me too. I attended a little school in rural Oklahoma that only went to the 8th grade (didn't have a high school). Most of the schools in our conference, which included Bridge Creek since they didn't have a high school back then, had tartan surfaces (Bridge Creek was one of the schools that had one).

Once I was in high school, I don't recall playing any teams that had a tartan surface, but some church basketball courts, even my current church, has a tartan surface.
 
Big Old Booger said:
I've emailed my brother to find out it was a rollout surface. When I was at BT's camp, I don't remember seeing any evidence of it being a rollout floor, but maybe I'm wrong.

According to my brother, Billy Tubbs first year is when we started using the wood surface.
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According to my brother, the tartan surface is, or was before the remodel in 01 or 02, the main floor of the LNC. It's the cream colored floor you can see behind the media tables before the crimzone was created and placed there.
 
Thanks for the knowledge, you learn something new everyday. I've played on those surface as well in churches, middle schools, etc... just never thought much about them and definitely would have never thought a school like OU would have had that as a main floor. Now I get to buy my brothers dinner before the game tonight.
 
WaymansFadeaway said:
Thanks for the knowledge, you learn something new everyday. I've played on those surface as well in churches, middle schools, etc... just never thought much about them and definitely would have never thought a school like OU would have had that as a main floor. Now I get to buy my brothers dinner before the game tonight.
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I know the Hearnes Center (Mizzou), Devaney Center (Neb) and Hilton Coliseum (ISU) were all built around the same time period as the LNC. I know the Hearnes Center has a tartan surface as the main floor surface, and I would guess so does the Devaney and Hilton. UNC's old basketball court (before they built the Dean Dome) had one, and so did Memphis State's old arena.

Back in the late 70's that type surface was all the rage.
 
I played on a carpet court in junior high. Rug burns, the constant thwump-thwump of the ball, the silence, no sneakers squeaking... I'm shocked it didn't catch on.
 
Big Old Booger said:
Me too. I attended a little school in rural Oklahoma that only went to the 8th grade (didn't have a high school). Most of the schools in our conference, which included Bridge Creek since they didn't have a high school back then, had tartan surfaces (Bridge Creek was one of the schools that had one).
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Ok man, I have to ask - was it Pioneer Elementary? You mentioned playing Bridge Creek in the past, and now saying your rural school only went to 8th grade...or maybe Friend?
 
calaway said:
Ok man, I have to ask - was it Pioneer Elementary? You mentioned playing Bridge Creek in the past, and now saying your rural school only went to 8th grade...or maybe Friend?
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I went to Friend. Pioneer had a tartan court as did Bridge Creek. At Friend, we had an old parquet floor, but they have since remodeled the gym and it is now a longboard wood floor.

How did you know?
 
Graduated CHS in 95 - think I recall you saying somewhere you graduated a few years before me. I was racking the old brain last night - I think Friend's coach was Coach Kinneman (sp?) when we used to play them. Those little rural schools were great - wish my daughter could go to one before they all get closed and consolidated.
 
calaway said:
Graduated CHS in 95 - think I recall you saying somewhere you graduated a few years before me. I was racking the old brain last night - I think Friend's coach was Coach Kinneman (sp?) when we used to play them. Those little rural schools were great - wish my daughter could go to one before they all get closed and consolidated.
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