The bench celebrates late in the Jayhawks' semifinal victory over Duke.

The Jayhawks arrive for a celebration in Memorial Stadium the day after winning the national title

The 1987-1988 team photo

With the 20th anniversary of KU’s title run in the 1987-88 season upon us, KUSports.com and the Lawrence Journal-World are digging up our coverage from the year of Danny and the Miracles for a one-stop source for what happened on any given day in the world of KU basketball 20 years ago.

Go to KUSports.com for stories, columns and photos from the Journal-World, podcasts with Chuck Woodling, Gary Bedore and Mark Fagan, who were there every step of the way in ’87-’88, and visit with members of the team as they celebrate the anniversary of a season which created lifelong memories for thousands.

Below are a few of the fan memories contributed to KUSports.com:

¢ “My name is Steve Gantz and I now live in Baton Rouge. Thanks for the ’88 flashbacks. I was a senior that year, making every game. What a great memory that created.

Of course, the mood on campus during the season was not of any sort of expectation. By the end of the regular season we were just hoping to make the NCAA’s.

I remember going each game thinking “we can win this one” as some upsets had eliminated the higher seeds above us.

Then to avenge our 3 home losses that year against K-State, Duke, and OU made the run all the more exciting.

We watched the game in my apartment and ran outside after the game to go up to the campus. If you had no idea what was happening you would have thought that there was a riot going on campus. There was just a roar in the air, horns, firecrackers, people yelling, etc.

And then on campus it was just wild. People were climbing statues, trees, throwing things, acting just crazy.

About 2 a.m. we walked across the emptying campus and it was just a mess, like a tornado. Broken bottles, cups, papers, stuff strewn all over.

The thing I remember was it was all just fun. No one was destroying anything, everyone just having a good time.

Part of the satisfaction of winning was beating Billy Tubbs. I’ve always seen KU as classy and OU was just the opposite. After the game I heard Tubbs say that his team was better (Actually it was!), a classless man stooping even lower. He actually got way outcoached by Brown, Tubbs didn’t sub the entire game except once or twice.”

– Steven Gantz, class of ’88

¢ “I was a senior at KU when Danny and the Miracles won the national title. I watched the championship game in the basement bar at the Eldridge Hotel. After we won the game everyone ran out onto Mass. Street to celebrate. We then headed up to campus, stopping at Patterson’s Liquor on 9th Street to pick up some champagne on the way. When I got to Patterson’s, I walked in, grabbed two bottles of champagne and went to the register to pay. As I was paying at least 5 people ran into the liquor store, grabbed booze and ran out without paying. The poor kid behind the counter didn’t know what to do. Who knows how much booze was stolen that night? We then headed up to campus where thousand of kids had gathered. It was insane! I remember that the street in front of Wescoe was covered in glass. Total pandemonium!”

– Rich Poindexter, class of ’88

¢ “Thanks for soliciting comments about the ’87-88 school year. I wanted to send something your way from the student perspective. You may already know that the Beware the Phog banner was originally hung during the 87-88 season. That has certainly been the most lasting student-fan contribution from the championship year. But you may not know that the same season – in fact, the same game – gave birth to Captain Jayhawk and the Superfans. I was a freshman the year Duke came to town and beat us. Before that game, the Phog banner was hung and a basketball was sacrificed to create a helmet, along with a Jayhawk flag for a cape. Cpt. Jayhawk was born that day, and flew in the Fieldhouse for the next five years.”

– Curtis Marsh, class of ’93