A workman swept the edges of the Allen Fieldhouse floor after the court was sanded to bare wood in preparation for a completely new surface painting. The last complete court refurbishing was in 1998. Stencils outlining the new Kansas Jayhawk at center court and other court graphics lay in place as workers painted the edges of the James Naismith Court. Another view of the giant stencils in place on the court.

Physical plant supervisor Ron Penry and grapic designer D.W. Acker remove tape covering the beak of the large Jayhawk. Once new tape has been laid, the beak will be painted yellow to create a four-color Jayhawk on the new Allen Fieldhouse floor. Acker and Penry remove tape that demarcates the Jayhawks' boots. The entire process of creating the large Jayhawk will take approximately a week. An overhead shot of Acker and Penry removing tape gives a sense of scale.

D.W. Acker balanced carefully between the roman numerals of the Big 12 Conference logo as he painted one of the two logos. With the tarp pulled back, the new Jayhawk was ready to be unveiled Friday afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse. The many layers of masks were carefully removed

Layer by layer the new Jayhawk began to be revealed. Graphic designer D.W. Acker was in the eye of the new bird as he discussed with Paul Christensen and Ron Penry the next steps in the process. The final strip of mask was pulled back to reveal the KU on the new 31 x 28 foot Jayhawk at center court in Allen Fieldhouse Friday afternoon.

A group of interested KU employees, fans and media were on hand Friday. With most of the tarp pulled back, the full impact of the new KU basketball court was revealed Friday afternoon in Allen Fieldlhouse.

Jeff Jacobsen/KUAC Copyright 2003