Austin Illini Club

News

The Austin Illini gather to watch Illini football and basketball games at the downtown location of Third Base. Please check our "Football" or "Basketball" pages for more information.

Illinois renovated Memorial Stadium this year, pictured to the right. The renovations included expanding the North endzone section (not pictured), where the student section and band section were moved last year. The renovations also lowered the field last year to improve sight lines. The second stage of the renovations finished this Summer involved adding luxury suites, club-level seats, and improving the press box and amenities on top of the West Balcony. (You can compare the picture to the right to the picture below it. The tiny press box in the bottom photo has been replaced by a giant goal-line to goal-line luxury and press box in the top photo). Doing so eliminated about half of the seats in the West balcony, which to some was not a welcome change, but was considered necessary to improve amenities and revenues at the stadium. Come out and watch the game with us to judge for yourself.

The downtown Third Base location is located at the end of 6th street as 6th street merges with 5th street into Lake Austin Blvd. at MoPac (Loop 1). From MoPac, take the 5th Street exit toward downtown, turn left at the first street, and then left again at 6th Street. From downtown, take 6th street until you almost reach MoPac, just before 6th Street veers left to merge with 5th Street and Lake Austin Blvd. Third base is located on the bottom floor of the last office building on 6th street on the left, at 1717 West 6th Street. Plenty of parking is available in the parking garage above Third Base.

Big Ten Night at the Ballpark 2007

Each year, the Big Ten Council of all Austin-area Big Ten alumni clubs organizes a gathering of all Big Ten clubs at a Round Rock Express game at the Dell Diamond. This year's Big Ten Night at the Ballpark will take place on Saturday, July 21, 2007, at 7:00. Legends will provide us with free food (burgers and hot dogs) and non-alcoholic beverages for a tailgate party before the game on the grassy knoll near the West entrance to the parking lot.

For more details or tickets, please contact Dan Mowery (the Ohio State rep organizing this year's event) at mowreyconsulting@yahoo.com or call him at (512) 281-4601.

Professor Bill Gaines: Deep Throat Uncovered

About once a year, the University of Illinois Alumni Association brings down a Professor to speak with us and keep us in touch with the scholarly side of our alma mater. (After all, we shouldn't spend ALL our time watching television.) On Friday, May 19, 2006, at Mangia Pizza (Mesa location) the Austin Illini hosted a discussion with University of Illinois Professor Bill Gaines, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner during his more than 25 years with the Chicago Tribune. Professor Gaines spoke with us about his nationally-acclaimed investigative journalism course at the University of Illinois where he and his students spent four years investigating who was Deep Throat: the stealth, chain-smoking anonymous source of Bob Woodward who broke open the Watergate scandal that unseated President Nixon and many of his top advisors.

In conjunction with the evening program about Watergate, we also arranged for a special afternoon viewing of Woodward and Bernstein’s personal, handwritten Watergate notes that are archived at the Harry Ransom Center on the University of Texas campus from 3:30-5:00 on May 19. Not many people know that Woodward and Bernstein chose to archive their notes here in Austin at the University of Texas several years ago, and some Austin Illini were actually involved in getting them here. (Professor Gaines was actually one of the first to view the notes when UT received them.) The notes were on public display for a short while, but have since been placed in archive, so this was a rare chance to see them.

Austin Illini Dues & T-Shirts

We finally have our own offical "Austin Illini" t-shirts!!! They are of course orange, and feature the tag-line on the bottom "This is What REAL ORANG E Looks Like!" The final design is below. The shirts were designed here by us and produced by Tee Shurt in Champaign and have been shipped here.

The shirts are free when you pay club dues of $20, which will help fund our scholarship program and other Austin Illini events. ($20 also happens to be the same price as Tee Shurt's "Final Four" T-shirts, but who's counting?) We are making a second printing of the t-shirts in time for Professor Gaines' lecture, so please let Lawrence Page know what size you would like. Sizes small through XXL.

You, of course, may pay your $20 dues (to contribute to our club and such) and opt to not get a t-shirt. Send dues to the following address:

Lawrence Page

Austin Illini

500 East Riverside , # 124

Austin, Texas 78704

Road Trip! Rockets v. Jazz (Luther v. Deron)

On Saturday, February 11, at 7:30 p.m., the Austin Illini went to Houston to watch the Utah Jazz play the Houston Rockets in Utah. For those who paid attention in class, that will be the first professional meeting between Luther Head (Rockets) and Deron Williams (Jazz). Click on the photo for some pictures of the game and our post-game meeting with Luther and Deron in a special Austin Illini media room session at the stadium, including the full-sized version of the picture below.

PAINT THE PUB ORANGE!!

The Austin Illini usually gather at Texadelphia (owned by fellow Austin Illini Mark Turner) to watch all Illini basketball games, with the exception of games broadcasted in High Definition and games not available on Time Warner, in which case we gather at Ringers. Check our Basketball page for more details.

Austin Illini, Texas Barbecue, and Caribbean Music

On Thursday, Dec. 1 at 6:30, the Austin Illini gathered for a night of Steel Band music and barbecue featuring the University of Texas Steel Pan Ensemble. Thanks to George Frock for organizing it and to Carol Belmont for hosting it.

Illini Basketball in Texas!!

Over Thanksgiving weekend in 2005, the Illini played in and won the South Padre Invitational Tournament, and the Austin Illini were there. The weekend was amazing!!! Click on the photo below for pictures.

On Saturday, July 30, 2005, the Austin Area Big Ten Council gathered at the Dell Diamond for a night of tailgating and baseball. The Illini Flag waved prouder than any other. Thanks to Derek Byrne for helping organize the event.

On Monday, March 21, Professor Tom Ulen from the U of I College of Law came to visit us. The dinner and talk was a huge success, with over 40 local alumni attending. Thanks to Tony Tangora of the U of I Alumni Association for helping arrange this visit, to Professor Ulen for a fine talk, and to all who attended and helped make the event a success.

Lawrence Page, President of the Austin Illini Club, drafted periodic summaries of 2004-2005 Illini Basketball team's amazing March to the Arch last season. Please visit the Basketball page for an index.

Free (and Legal) Marching Illini Music Downloads!!

The Marching Illini website has all but their two most recent CDs/albums available as free MP3 downloads. 1994 and 1997 seem to be the best for sound quality, but there are also lots of albums from the 1960s-the 1980s, as well. (The 1964 Oskee-Wow-Wow has a great, traditional, "college football gameday" feel to it.) They also have the earliest known recording of "Oskee-Wow Wow" from the 1920s on the site. http://www.bands.uiuc.edu/MI/media.asp. The drumline also has some amazing recordings available at http://www.bands.uiuc.edu/MI/media.asp Just right-click on the song title, and hit "save target as."

www.Law-Page.com

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