A Blog by FOX 4’s Al Wallace:
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Whether you’re a K-State Wildcat fan or a Kansas Jayhawk fan, you can’t argue with the numbers.
The University of Kansas basketball team has a 23-2 record in games played at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan. One Kansas coach (Roy Williams) took 15 teams there, and never lost. Current Kansas Coach Bill Self has taken 10 teams there, and has an 8-2 record at Bramlage. Lon Kruger, Dana Altman, Tom Asbury, Jim Wooldrige, and Bob Huggins: none of them ever coached a K-State basketball win over KU inside Bramlage. Only Frank Martin (now coaching at South Carolina) over the 25 year history of the arena did it, and he did it twice. Why has KU had so much dominance over K-State at Bramlage Coliseum? Well, maybe, JUST MAYBE, the reason is the ‘Rock Chalk Chant’ Jinx. The following is a true story….
I have this friend, let’s call him Bob (honestly, that’s not his real name). Bob is a KU grad from the late 70s, and has an older brother who’s also a KU grad. Bob was on business one mid-summer day in 1988 in Manhattan, and so was his older brother, who was involved in a different line of work. The older brother had something to do with the construction of Bramlage Coliseum, and wanted to show the younger brother, Bob, the progress being made before the arena was presented for its grand opening in a few months.
So the two brothers found themselves all alone in a soon-to-be completed Bramlage Coliseum, with the older brother conducting a bit of a tour. Somehow, the idea came up of doing the ‘Rock Chalk Chant’ in the middle of the incomplete court to perhaps put a ‘Jayhawk Jinx’ on the arena.
So they did it — all alone on the floor of Bramlage Coliseum, in the midst of construction work and dust, with not a fan or a basketball goal in sight.
The first ever Rock Chalk Chant inside Bramlage Coliseum — loud, clear and complete.
KU has also taken some pretty good teams into Bramlage Coliseum since the summer of 1988, and they’ve won 23 out of 25 times. Perhaps the jinx has worked, perhaps it hasn’t. One thing is for sure: If you’re a K-State fan, you might have to wonder. If you’re a Kansas fan, you might have to think it sure hasn’t hurt.
