U-M Indoor Track Building closes after 43 seasons

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

 

It was the season opener for the Men's and the #12 ranked Women's Track & Field teams in their indoor seasons.

The Women won the B1G Championship both indoors and outdoor last season, with the Men finishing 4th indoors and runner-up outdoors in at B1Gs.

The bigger story today was the venue it was being held in.

Today was the final meet at the building, capping 43 seasons of Michigan Indoor Track events. The banner was even there for this final meet:

The U-M Indoor Track Building opened in 1974-75 as the U-M Indoor Track & Tennis Building, home to both T&F teams and both Tennis teams. 

It was built on the land that once was the Ferry Field Tennis Courts. 

Tennis moved out in 1997 and headed South to a newly-acquired plot of land which the new Varsity Tennis Center was built upon, allowing Michigan to host all of their tennis matches on University property as opposed to when they used Liberty Sports Complex as their outdoor home for matches.

Michigan's track teams combined for 12 B1G Indoor Championships while at the Indoor Track Building. It hosted the B1G Championships in 1977, 1984, 1994 and 2004 with BOTH the Men and Women capturing the B1G Championship in 1994 in arguably the 'Building's finest hour. 

Michigan will head South next season to said-land into the new Michigan Indoor Track Stadium, which will just be a short walk away from the Varsity Tennis Center.

The new stadium has a capacity of 2,000 and will no doubt host B1G and NCAA Championships. It's basically the same model as Texas A&M's building which is hosting this year's.

The new outdoor track stadium will replace historic Ferry Field.

Ferry Field hasn't hosted a meet in YEARS. Unfortunately one of the first facilities in Michigan Athletics history will be turned into a parking lot. I'll have a goodbye thread on Ferry Field once the demolition starts. It has quite a history.

After demolition this summer, the land the Indoor Track Building sat on will be redeveloped into a site for the new Volleyball/Gymnastics/Wrestling/Cheer/Dance arena that will replace Cliff Keen.

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Blue1972

January 14th, 2017 at 7:04 PM ^

Great article, but you failed to mention that the new owner of the facility will be Drake Johnson as part of a settlement related to the unfortunate forklift accident.

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LSAClassOf2000

January 14th, 2017 at 7:04 PM ^

We own the redundant feed to the building (main feed is from Michigan's own power plant) and we're supposed to be out of there in April, I believe. 

I will have to get down there one more time before then, I think, just to take one more walk around that portion of South Campus. 

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Wolverine Devotee

January 14th, 2017 at 7:19 PM ^

It will be Michigan Track's 4th indoor venue.

The first was Waterman Gymnasium (built in 1893) from 1900-1922. While Track was the original tenant, the gym would be the first home of Men's Basketball, Men's Gymnastics, Wrestling and even baseball practices would take place here. All sports would vacate the building and move into Yost Field House in 1923.

The old gym stood until 1977. It was located on the corner of North U. and East U. and the Dow Chem Lab building currently sits on where it once did.

The track was suspended above the gym floor, which was very popular back then. A lot of old Detroit high schools have them. I did an urban ex once at Finney HS and they still had theirs. 

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Crisler 71

January 14th, 2017 at 10:35 PM ^

The turn were very tight and very banked.  Running in the "outside lane" you were leaning so much that I felt like my head was going to bump the posts that were holding the suspended track up.

Yost was interesting too.  Until 1970 or so it was a dirt floor.  They had a wooden curb set up for meet.  At the south end, where the "garage door" is there was a dip in the track from trucks driving in and out.  Four lane track that was under the suspended seats on each side. 

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Blue Durham

January 15th, 2017 at 9:47 AM ^

Waterman's gym was torn down 2 years before I got on campus and it was a vacant lot for a decade before funds were finally secured for the new chemistry building. From the pictures I've seen it always looked like a unique, real neat building from the outside (as can be seen from the picture above). But apparently the inside had some functionality problems.

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Crisler 71

January 15th, 2017 at 10:53 AM ^

The track was closed off in 71 or 72 because it was unsafe. Your foot was liabie to crash through.  The interior, other than the gym, was a rabbit warren of dark halls and rooms. Before computer regisrtration students would register for classes in the gym.  Each department had tables in the gym.  Behind the tables was a board with the classes.  As a class filled up it was taken off the board. 

The line to get into Waternman stretched west all the way to, and then down, Srate Street.  If you were at the back it seemed thar you never moved because people ahead of you would allow friends into the line.

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Don

January 15th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^

I was a freshman in '71/72 and I'm pretty sure I ran on the Waterman track into my soph year in '72-73. I don't recall any soft spots in the track boards, but it was certainly springy as hell. The banking on the curves was really steep but that made taking the turns interesting.

The lines going into and out of Waterman during registration were nuts. It really put a premium on getting there early.

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WhoopinStick

January 14th, 2017 at 7:15 PM ^

I remember when they used to hold the NCAA indoor championships at Cobo Hall. Really enjoyed going to those meets. If UM could host the NCAA championships in their new building I would definitely attend (If I could get a seat, sounds like a small venue for a championship meet.)



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ChiefLB

January 14th, 2017 at 7:49 PM ^

Destroying Ferry Field is sacrilegious.  And I am reading correctly that it will be forever lost in order to build a parking lot?  It is shit like this that destroys real value in a community.

I hope pressure is exerted to change this plan before any demo work begins this summer.

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MGoBourbon

January 14th, 2017 at 10:03 PM ^

I am a Letterwinner in T&F, so this is of particular interest to me. I've been out of MI since graduation and have not stayed close to the program, so your post came as a bit of a surprise with plenty of nostalgia. 

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Honk if Ufer M…

January 14th, 2017 at 8:51 PM ^

Dave Winfield hit a home run onto the roof of Track and Tennis! At the time and for a long time he was the only one, I don't know if it has happened since. He was also drafted by 4 pro teams in 3 sports!!!

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Umichtarck

January 15th, 2017 at 1:26 AM ^

I guess no better time then this for my first post. Thanks WD for making this thread The building will be missed greatly. I ran for Michigan from 98 to 03 and have great memories of both practices and invitationals (indoor and outdoor). A lot of greats have set foot on these two tracks including countless Olympians. Also I can say is GO bLUE!!!

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matthew810

January 15th, 2017 at 8:30 AM ^

That was a good read. Love seeing the old pics and reading history of old buildings. The new indoor track building will be amazing and a great upgrade. I was lucky enough to run in meets at the current building as well as Ferry Field when I ran for Macomb Community College. Was walking out of bathroom at one indoor meet when the 60 was going on. Was asked to hold blocks for one of the runners. The runner was Ty Wheatley. He was a large man compared to the other sprinters. That was a pretty cool experience. Hopefully Ferry Field can be saved. Too much history there to be ignored. Although that was the last college meet at the indoor building there are still a few hs indoor meets bring held there. One today at 3 30 actually.

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scanner blue

January 15th, 2017 at 9:14 AM ^

Stick with this shit WD ,you make a great Mgohistorian. Try a little less ranting on replacing coaches for our non revenue sports (I'm looking at you JP and Shaka). Also less weather reporting from watching Lacrosse on your laptop in your bedroom.

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Don

January 15th, 2017 at 11:21 AM ^

The subject came up very briefly on WTKA last week, and from what I inferred the outcry over the original plans to pave it over was sufficient to result in a change of plans for that piece of land.

What the new plans are was not mentioned, though. I'd like to see the all-weather track remain—it's a great place to run and very conveniently located for those who live in town.

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Dylan

January 15th, 2017 at 2:32 PM ^

Speaking of Ferry Field as it stand now, is the public allowed to run on it still when it's not being used by anyone? I haven't really checked it out in a few years, so I didn't know the status.



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