(10-15-2014 11:20 PM)ilovegymnast Wrote:  I grew up in Kent surrounded by college kids. My first crush was on a whole apartment of coeds and that swayed me towards Kent. What really pushed me over the edge was during the summer of 2001. There is a basketball court right outside the dorms by the ice arena where we would go to play pick up games. During that summer a few of the basketball players came out and played with us. It was the most fun I have ever had losing. Those games really drew me into the basketball team and solidified my choice of schools.

I was looking for a University that suited my needs as I was soon going to graduate from a high school in upsate NY. NY has many fine schools but there is a catch with them as the vast majority are in the large cities or in the middle of nowhere (SUNY Geneseo at the time was excited because they had a Subway and soon a Walmart in town woo). There was one major exception in SUNY Binghamton but unfortunately for me while it was perfect in most every way it was far too close to home only being 20 minutes from my house and my parents and I thought I needed to get away from home to learn to live on my own (turned out to be a good thing anyway no marching band at SUNY Binghamton).

I think I know the court you are talking about. I think they are outside twin (Beall and McDowell Halls).

My Uncle just moved to Kent for a job at a United Methodist Church in the area and invited me to see the campus. I did not know much about the school at the time but I went anyway. When I got on campus I fell in love with it as it was the sort of campus I was looking for. Larger school, live on campus, decent number of activities, marching band+music programs, not in an urban area, it was a fair sized sub urban sort of area, good to excellent academic programs where I needed them, and friendly people.

So I went and never looked back. KSU is about the only I follow in college sports now and my parents are fans now too (though they are still Florida fans and Alumni but I don't blame them for that heck I cheer for them too when they don't play Kent...or a MAC school we need the love). I also enjoy following the rest of the MAC (well maybe with one key exception) so that has been a big change from before.

Heck today I would be even more excited to be at Kent the new buildings, renovations, and especially the new downtown is amazing. Seriously if you have not been in Kent since a few years ago go back and check out downtown Kent and you will not be disappointed. It is so different that I could not recognize a lot of the place. I am so jealous of the current students and it is not funny.

I became a Bronco the first time coach Larry Edlund came to my high school to recruit me. I had an awful high school coach that didn't help me at all. All I ever wanted to do was play division I college football. I was actually very close to the Chimps staff from jr high until my junior year when they didn't offer me a scholy at the end of my junior year. I was pissed because they had basically told me for years they would offer. I never answered their calls again, they probably would have offered. So when coach edlund came, I took a trip to WMU to check out the campus and loved it, took an unofficial visit and the next time he came back I said I wanted to be a bronco. I didn't know anything about the recruiting process back in 1990 and with no help from my coach. He asked me if I wanted to take an official visit, I said no I already went and loved it. I told him my parents had money and could pay. So I walked on and earned a scholy a year after stepping foot on campus. Can't imagine how my life would have turned out if the chimps had offered early... Thank God it worked out.

(10-16-2014 06:48 PM)Kimbosucks Wrote:  I became a Bronco the first time coach Larry Edlund came to my high school to recruit me. I had an awful high school coach that didn't help me at all. All I ever wanted to do was play division I college football. I was actually very close to the Chimps staff from jr high until my junior year when they didn't offer me a scholy at the end of my junior year. I was pissed because they had basically told me for years they would offer. I never answered their calls again, they probably would have offered. So when coach edlund came, I took a trip to WMU to check out the campus and loved it, took an unofficial visit and the next time he came back I said I wanted to be a bronco. I didn't know anything about the recruiting process back in 1990 and with no help from my coach. He asked me if I wanted to take an official visit, I said no I already went and loved it. I told him my parents had money and could pay. So I walked on and earned a scholy a year after stepping foot on campus. Can't imagine how my life would have turned out if the chimps had offered early... Thank God it worked out.

Great story

I didn't really care for sports except for basketball growing up. Growing up in Chicago as a kid during the 90s everyone wanted to be like MJ and everyone went nuts for Chicago Bulls basketball.

I had a full academic scholarship for any state school but i knew i didn't want to go to EIU, WIU, SIU, or ISU. I considered U of I but the area where the school is located reminded me too much of the little town i graduated high school from. I knew i wanted to go to a bigger university with lots of students that was far enough from home and the people i graduated high school with. Most of my graduating class went to EIU.

My freshman year at NIU was 2003. Our entire dorm floor would go to NIU Football games together and i remember having such a blast. The tailgating, the atmosphere at the games, the excitement among all the students, etc. Every Sunday morning we would all wait with anticipation to see our ranking in the latest top 25 polls. I was hooked after that and have been ever since. I still buy two season tickets every year to support the program even though i am constantly being deployed and live nowhere close to Illinois any longer. I was able to see us play in San Diego for the Poinsettia Bowl this past bowl season but i haven't made it to a home game in DeKalb since 2012.