A pitch from Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self helped convince David Booth and his family to pledge $4 million for an addition to Allen Fieldhouse.

A more modern look for the nearly 50-year-old fieldhouse, Booth said, could help recruiting.

“In particular, it was Bill Self saying these young men these days are very visual,” said Booth, who lives in Los Angeles. “The fieldhouse, although all of us old-timers love it dearly, doesn’t have the same visual effect of these fancy new stadiums. We needed something to upgrade the look of it.”

So Booth, along with his brother, Mark, who lives in London; his sister, Jane Booth Berkley, who lives in Tescott; and their spouses and children; pledged the money to the Hall of Athletics, an addition to be constructed at the east entrance to the fieldhouse.

The gift is intended to honor the Booths’ parents, Betty and Gilbert Booth. Gilbert Booth died in 1985, and Betty Booth died in 1995. David Booth said his parents were “huge fans” of the Jayhawks.

The gift initially was announced in February as an anonymous donation. David Booth said the family eventually decided to go public.

“Ultimately it’s about doing something for our parents,” he said. “If you don’t tell people you did it, nobody knows you’re honoring them.”

The Hall of Athletics is expected to cost about $6 million, said Warren Corman, university architect. It is part of a $12 million remodeling and rehabilitation project at Allen Fieldhouse.

Corman said additional fund raising would be done before groundbreaking, which still could be as long as two years away, he said.

6News video: Former Lawrence family pledges $4 million to KU (09-16-04)

Final schematic plans, which were designed by HOK Architects in Kansas City, Mo., were approved by a KU committee Thursday, Corman said. The addition will be two stories and include:

• Cases of trophies and other KU memorabilia.
• A new Naismith Room for entertaining donors. The old room is being used for women’s basketball offices.
• A Jayhawk Den for entertaining recruits.
• A new ticket office.
• A hall of fame area to represent former Jayhawks in all sports.

“It’s going to be really something nice,” Corman said. “It’s going to be pretty impressive.”

The Phog Allen statue, which sits where the addition will be, will be relocated to the center of a circular plaza that will be outside the new addition.

The Booth family moved to Lawrence in 1959 and lived at 1931 Naismith Drive, just south of the fieldhouse.

“When I get to see games at Allen Fieldhouse, I get flashbacks to my years at KU and the times I went to basketball games with my parents,” said David Booth, CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors Inc. “KU athletics were more than just sporting events to us; they were a way of life.”