Stories from the Phog: Forty Years of Kansas Basketball

It can be hard to describe the pull of Kansas basketball to those not in the know. Basketball is an important part of the equation, but it’s more than just the game. It’s about family and friendships, traditions and superstitions. It’s about wearing your lucky sweatshirt and watching a game over the holidays with your aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. It’s about making the pilgrimage to Allen Fieldhouse in the bitter cold and gathering at the Wheel or Johnny’s after the game. It’s about rejoicing in the team’s victories and mourning their losses. All of these components coalesce to form what is known as Jayhawk Nation.

In Stories from the Phog, lifelong KU hoops fan and Lawrence native Chelan David invites readers on a journey through forty years of Kansas basketball. It begins with a trip to an arcade with David Magley, Indiana’s Mr. Basketball in 1978, includes the 2022 National Championship game, and culminates with the changing landscape of college basketball that we are witness to today. In between are encounters with Larry Brown, Danny Manning, Roy Williams, Bill Self, Gradey Dick, and other legends of the Kansas program, and memories from KU fans. Also included are anecdotes from descendants of James Naismith and Phog Allen.

A must-read for any KU basketball fan, Stories from the Phog puts readers in the seats at Allen Fieldhouse as the Beware of the Phog banner is unfurled for the very first time, the Jayhawks score 150 points against Kentucky, freshman Jacque Vaughn hits a game winning three-pointer against Indiana, and Nick Collison receives a standing ovation from Dick Vitale. Relive the exhilarating come-from-behind victories against Missouri in 2012 and against West Virginia in 2017, a game that set the record for the loudest crowd roar at an indoor sports event.