The Drake Fieldhouse is an athletic facility of Drake University. It was built in 1926 as a companion to Drake's football stadium.[1] It is the location for the athletic department offices, an indoor track, a tartan court area and equipment and locker rooms. It was formerly the home for the Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team until they moved to Veterans Memorial Auditorium. The first basketball game was played on January 4, 1927, when the Bulldogs lost 27-13 to Phog Allen's Kansas Jayhawks.[2] The last regularly scheduled game was played during the 1961–62 school year. The last men's basketball game to be played there was on February 28, 1987, when Veterans Memorial Auditorium was not available so they had to play Southern Illinois in the conference tournament at the Fieldhouse.
Drake Fieldhouse has hosted many high school events, including the boys state basketball tournament around the time of World War II and the girl's indoor track tournament as recently as the mid 1990s.[1]
References
^ ab"Old Time Photo of the Week: Drake Fieldhouse", The Des Moines Register, July 25, 2014. Accessed February 4, 2024. "Roosevelt's Buford King, right, won the 50-yard hurdle event at the Des Moines high school indoor track meet on a Friday night in March at the Drake Fieldhouse.... The Fieldhouse was built in 1926 and has undergone many revisions over the years. It has hosted a range of high school events, including the boys' state basketball tournament in the 1940s and the girls' indoor track meet during the mid-1990s."
^Brown, Rick. "Drake hits century mark", The Des Moines Register, February 7, 2006. Accessed February 4, 2024. "One of the game's great names, Phog Allen, brought his Kansas team to town to play Drake in the inaugural contest at the fieldhouse Jan. 4, 1927. A sellout crowd of 5,000, including Iowa Gov. John Hammill, watched the Jayhawks prevail 27-13."
