"Herd Madness" Basketball 10/19
- Thread starter herdinatl
- Start date
I will be there... 15 years ago I never thought we would be looking forward to men's basketball!
I hear you. I am equally disappointed in our football season and excited for our basketball season. November 7 can’t come quick enough.
Well, I became a Herd fan in 1956. I did so because my hometown hero, Lou Mott, came to play for Marshall. My first Herd hoops game was in that year and I have been hook on Herd Hoops ever since. Football has always been and will always be #2 for me.
I've only been a Herd fan since the late 1990s... And in my sophomore year at Marshall Ron Jirsa took over the program, so its fair to say those were some lean years for mens hoops. Maybe that makes me appreciate the recent success even more. Lol
Too bad ole Ron's teams didn't play as well in all games as they seemed to play against WVU!!
‘meister - where were the hoops games played in 1956? I know before the Vet, there was an arena of some sort where those Cam teams played....
Hey W-S. I am not Herdmeister but I can tell you that they played at the Radio Center located on 4th Ave in downtown Huntington. My Dad said that he got to see some games there and he said you wouldn't believe that amount of cigarette smoke that hung over the arena. Marshall had a 35 game winning streak at Radio Center during the 40's. I believe Memorial Field House opened in 1955.
HUNTINGTON - For decades, Huntington's venerable Vanity Fair building - built in 1915 and rebuilt in 1924 after a fire - was the only arena in town.
In the 1930s, it hosted dance marathons. In the 1940s, the big bands played there. During World War II, young men took their draft physicals there. After the war, it hosted a wide variety of events, including music concerts, professional wrestling matches and skating nights.
Until Veterans Memorial Field House opened in 1950, it was home court for Marshall College basketball. In the 1950s, it was the first studio for Channel 13 television. Today, the old building in the 600 block of 4th Avenue houses 53 efficiency apartments for low-income residents.
In December of 1940, radio station WCMI moved into historic Vanity Fair and gave it a new name - Radio Center. The station erected a 40-foot marquee across the front of the building and topped it with a huge neon sign displaying the WCMI call letters.
In 1955, WHTN-TV, Channel 13, went on the air, with its studio located in Radio Center. The station, which later changed its call letters to WOWK, remained there until 1984, when it moved to a new building at 555 5th Ave. (In 2012, WOWK closed its Huntington studio, consolidating it with its Charleston facility.) Sharing space in the old building with the TV station was a popular eatery, Martin's Restaurant, operated by Johnny Martin.
When WOWK moved out, the building sat vacant for years before the Cabell-Huntington Coalition for the Homeless bought it and converted it into low-income apartments. Coalition Founder Betty Barrett has said she feels certain that if the old building hadn't been turned into low-income housing it would have been demolished and the site made into a parking lot.
In the 1930s, it hosted dance marathons. In the 1940s, the big bands played there. During World War II, young men took their draft physicals there. After the war, it hosted a wide variety of events, including music concerts, professional wrestling matches and skating nights.
Until Veterans Memorial Field House opened in 1950, it was home court for Marshall College basketball. In the 1950s, it was the first studio for Channel 13 television. Today, the old building in the 600 block of 4th Avenue houses 53 efficiency apartments for low-income residents.
In December of 1940, radio station WCMI moved into historic Vanity Fair and gave it a new name - Radio Center. The station erected a 40-foot marquee across the front of the building and topped it with a huge neon sign displaying the WCMI call letters.
In 1955, WHTN-TV, Channel 13, went on the air, with its studio located in Radio Center. The station, which later changed its call letters to WOWK, remained there until 1984, when it moved to a new building at 555 5th Ave. (In 2012, WOWK closed its Huntington studio, consolidating it with its Charleston facility.) Sharing space in the old building with the TV station was a popular eatery, Martin's Restaurant, operated by Johnny Martin.
When WOWK moved out, the building sat vacant for years before the Cabell-Huntington Coalition for the Homeless bought it and converted it into low-income apartments. Coalition Founder Betty Barrett has said she feels certain that if the old building hadn't been turned into low-income housing it would have been demolished and the site made into a parking lot.
