Crisler Arena

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Fritz Crisler Arena
"The House that Cazzie Built"
Location	Stadium Blvd Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Broke ground	1965
Opened	December 6, 1967
Owner	University of Michigan
Operator	University of Michigan
Construction cost	$7.2 million
Architect	Dan Dworsky, '50
Tenants
Michigan Wolverines (Basketball & Women's Gymnastics)
Capacity
13,571

Crisler Arena, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is the home arena for the University of Michigan men's and women's basketball teams. Constructed in 1967, the arena seats 13,751 spectators. It is named for Herbert O. "Fritz" Crisler, head football coach at Michigan from 1938 to 1947 and athletic director thereafter until his retirement in 1968.

The arena is often called "The House that Cazzie Built," a reference to legendary player Cazzie Russell who starred on Michigan teams that won three consecutive Big Ten Conference titles from 1964 to 1966. Russell's popularity caused the team's fanbase to outgrow Yost Fieldhouse (now Yost Ice Arena) and prompted the construction of the current facility.

At Michigan men's basketball games, the recently-added bleacher seats behind the benches are home to the Maize Rage student section.

Despite being on a Big Ten Conference campus, the facility hosted the 1980-1982 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament. It has also hosted Big Ten and NCAA gymnastics championships, the 1999 Big Ten wrestling championship, and other events. Previously, the arena was the full-time home to the men's and women's gymnastics teams and the wrestling team, before the opening of Cliff Keen Arena. (Women's gymnastics, however, continue to hold big meets in the arena.)

The arena has also hosted concerts, perhaps most famously the opening show of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 1980 Tour in which Springsteen began the show by completely forgetting the words to "Born to Run" but was rescued by the Michigan audience.

Crisler Arena was designed by Dan Dworsky (B'Arch. 1950), a member of the 1948 Rose Bowl team. Among other structures that he has designed is the Federal Reserve Bank of Los Angeles.

[edit] External links

• Official University of Michigan Athletics website

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

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Current Basketball Arenas in the Big Ten
Assembly Hall (Illinois) • Assembly Hall (Indiana) • Breslin Student Events Center (Michigan State) • Bryce Jordan Center (Penn State) • Carver-Hawkeye Arena (Iowa) • Crisler Arena (Michigan) • Kohl Center (Wisconsin) • Mackey Arena (Purdue) • Value City Arena (Ohio State) • Welsh-Ryan Arena (Northwestern) • Williams Arena (Minnesota)

Basketball Student Sections of the Big Ten
Barnyard, The (Minnesota) • Buckeye NutHouse (Ohio State) • Crimson Crew (Indiana) • Grateful Red (Wisconsin) • Hawk's Nest (Iowa) • Izzone (Michigan State) • Maize Rage (Michigan) • Nittwits (Penn State) • Orange Krush (Illinois) • Paint Crew (Purdue) • Wildside (Northwestern)