Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Memorial Stadium Drive Book #2 [PAGE 3]

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But how can we express this self of ours—this character which we have inherited from the Illini Indian and from our pioneer forefathers? How can we leave a mark of it which will never be forgotten—a mark with beauty, with distinction, with truth? Beauty is old, and truth is old. Greece knew it, and so did Rome, thousands of years ago. And for great expression of great things the world has always gone back to the spirits which built the Dionysian Temple, the Parthenon, and the Colosseum. And so do we go back into the dim ages that tomorrow a white magnificence—-a Stadium—may tell the world that we of Illinois have fought and died for our country and fought and lived for our fellow men. There will be a court of honor for every hero who died in the war and a great recreation field to bring greater vigor and life to our young men and women. And there will be a vast enclosure where seventy-five thousand may see twenty-two men in the heat of sportsmanlike conflict or, as the May sun sets, many maids in harmonious and rhythmic welcome to the springtime.

MANY MEN LIVED AND LEARNED HERE

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F O R R E S T VAN HOOK. '09 "It is only fair that a University that produces great teams should have a great and beautiful place to accommodate spectators of its athletic contests. The Stadium will supply such a place."

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RALPH FLETCHER, '21 "All live alumni have a just pride about their alma mater. The Stadium will back such a pride more substantially than any other single thing in the history of the University." W . R. (Bill) V O S B U R G H , '13 "The proposed Stadium will be a wonderful addition, and I heartily approve of it. It should be a great help to the everincreasing student body and something for the alumni lobe proud of." P O M E ROY (I'om) SIN NOCK. '09 "It seems to me that every Illini, no matter where he may be, will be entitled to feel prouder of his University and of himself after that Stadium is built. I think it is a great and noble conception."

HILE you are sitting back in your chair, reading these pages, your alma mater will be making the last move to accommodate a registration of 4,000 freshmen. It's a far cry from 4,000 freshmen and 11,000 students to 200 freshmen and some 500 students. It's a far cry from the days when healthy young spirits expressed themselves by wrecking the corridors of Uni Hall, by throwing "eyewater," and by kidnapping, abetted by eggs and chemicals, young swains from the freshman dance downtown—-from those days to these days when every tennis court is alive with flanneled youngsters, when every block of the south campus is the scene of a football or baseball game, when the gymnasium is swarming with vigorous figures, and the swimming tank and the outdoor track are pictures of strenuous, shouting activity. And yet this miracle has occurred in only twenty-five years. To most of you twenty-five years ago is a long time ago, but to some of you it seems only yesterday. Yesterday, when the first class rush broke out spontaneously in old Uni Hall, wrhen clothes were ripped from backs.

E D W A R D F . J. L I N D B E R G , '09 "The Stadium is a wonderful memorial in honor of the great record of Illinois students during the war. I feel that all the varsity athletes of the past and present are interested in the project."

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L E O K L E I N , '18 "The Stadium! What could more fittingly bespeak the spirit and traditions of Illinois since its inception? No grander monument to those who gave their lives in the great conflict could be built."

G E O R G E HALAS, '18 '' / think the Stadium drive is the greatest undertaking in the history of the University and that its success or failure will determine whether Illinois will be greater than ever or will f all back."

D A V I D H. CARNAHAN, '96 "Teaching the classics has brought me closer to a higher view of athletics rather than drawn me away. I believe in the greatness of the idea of the Stadium "

D E W E Y A L B E R T S , '21 "We students feel move keenly than anyone the need for a powerful alumni mordl support, both in our studies and in our activities. The Stadium should consolidate such an alumni support."

F R E D (Louie) L O W F N T I I A L . '01 "What good m e m ber o_< the tribe can see in the Stadium anything but a visible sign of and a sacred shrine to an invisible thing—the spirit of the Illini?"

. . . . "Yesterday, when we had the color rush, as exciting as an Indian fight, and almost as dangerous"