I had a front-row seat for the construction of the Carl and Mary Ice Family Basketball Center, living in Jardine Apartments since 2009. My back door was three steps away from the construction fence. Now I'm a half-minute walk from the front doors. I wondered how much noise there would be. Construction work wasn't very loud. The OSHA-required equipment back-up beeps were the worst! They were my alarm clock every day at first light, for 1½ years!

Progress was slow. Work started in February 2011, I believe, and continued for the next 20 months, until the dedication on October 5, 2012. As you can see in the first row of pictures, early on the agenda was creating an underground concrete wall to stabilize the Coliseum wall, as it sets high, relative to the BTF.

Often in the winter, it seemed as if only a half dozen workers were on the site, but the pace was really stepped up as the dedication deadline approached! Regardless, I think the outcome is awesome, and I believe the quality of construction is very high.

I always know if the men's team players are shooting around. I live beside their end of the building. (The men's and women's courts set end-to-end.) Players can connect their phones or iPods to the court PA system. I can never tell what song they're listening to, but the bass booms let me know they're in there practicing!

I took many of the construction pictures by holding my camera above the fence. My indoor photos are in a separate gallery. Click just below to see the 75 photos I took of almost everything inside this first-class facility. I took the majority of the pictures of the finished facility on Friday, October 9, 2012... three days before the two basketball programs moved in. There are more pictures of the Men's BB end of the building, simply because a worker held the door to their wing open for me, and the Women's BB entrance happened to be locked that day. The two wings are almost identical.

Sept. 2017: I'm sorry that a number of my links to K-State Athletics tours, etc. were lost when the new Athletics web site opened around the start of this month. I'm working to relocate as many of them as I can.

What John Currie accomplished as our director of athletics is incredibly impressive! It ended up being almost $200 million worth of new construction!

Basketball Training Facility Interior Tour


6/28/09 - long, long ago

6/24/11 - lots of layers on this area

6/26/11 - sprayed-on concrete

7/07/11 - drilling for pilings

7/27/11 - pouring the elevator shaft

9/01/11 - woke me up at 5 a.m.

9/07/11 - south wall's done

10/19/11 - metal work underway

12/24/11 - Bruce's new office

1/17/12 - insulation work beginning

3/04/12 - Men's Basketball (south) end

3/04/12 - rock veneer - east wall

3/04/12 - from the east side

3/09/12 - What's the paint for?

3/17/12 - first anniversary of construction

3/17/12 - another look on first anniversary

3/17/12 - new entrance to the Coliseum

3/17/12 - new street by SE corner

3/22/12 - 1.7" of rain - not much happenin'

4/01/12 - new street (Kerr Drive) by SE corner

4/01/12 - from the east side

4/01/12 - entrance close-up

4/01/12 - south side - coming along

4/16/12 - lots of limestone last week

4/16/12 - a long way from finished!

4/16/12 - the stairway to lots of victories

4/21/12 - lots of new windows!

4/21/12 - progress on the women's end

4/21/12 - brand new stairs

4/21/12 - another vantage point

4/28/12 - sheet rock in Bruce's office

4/28/12 - exterior is getting closer

4/29/12 - the main entrance

4/29/12 - can't spell commitment

5/19/12 - new limestone wall

6/12/12 - glass installation

6/12/12 - mysterious gap by south end

6/12/12 - new street's coming along

6/12/12 - Coach's office ceiling

6/12/12 - not done yet!

7/02/12 - mysterious gap is filled!

7/02/12 - glass work's going slowly

7/02/12 - a closer look at the glass

7/17/12 - work on the main entrance

7/17/12 - Kerr Drive's almost done

7/17/12 - a wider view from the southeast

7/17/12 - Coach's office by the light pole

7/17/12 - 43 heated steps to the Coliseum

7/17/12 - the new street as it turns south

7/27/12 - gray steel siding

7/27/12 - finally... more glass in place

7/27/12 - I like the rectangular steel siding.

7/27/12 - Kerr Drive as it turns south

7/31/12 - night view: Men's BB (south) end

8/14/12 - the front entrance at night

8/18/12 - roof's being finished

8/18/12 - the back entrance

8/18/12 - beween the Coliseum and BTF

8/18/12 - construction area's shrinking daily

8/18/12 - not quite there yet!

8/18/12 - insulation added under the metal

8/21/12 - heated entrance

8/21/12 - close-up of hot water tubes

9/18/12 - east side of the elevator shaft

9/27/12 - west side "patio" construction

9/27/12 - I wondered what this would be!

9/27/12 - slabs are 23.5" x 23.5" x 2"

9/27/12 - posts set on 2"-thick insulation

9/28/12 - the main entrance

9/28/12 - wood siding on the elevator shaft

9/28/12 - main entrance doorway

10/01/12 - These can adjust about 4".

10/01/12 - genuine plastic - about 7" high

10/01/12 - back entrance and stairways

10/01/12 - completed whatever-you-call-it

10/03/12 - south side of back entrance

10/03/12 - back entrance Powercat

10/03/12 - main entrance, as of today

10/03/12 - night view from southeast

10/03/12 - WBB heroes you'll recognize

10/03/12 - MBB heroes you'll recognize

10/03/12 - backlit Powercat to guide the way

10/03/12 - photos etched on glass panes

10/04/12 - It's bath time!

10/04/12 - handrails being installed today

10/04/12 - each custom-built for its angle

10/04/12 - installation of these wasn't easy

10/04/12 - steps were resurfaced somehow

10/04/12 - beautiful new limestone wall

10/04/12 - southwest corner of the building

10/04/12 - space between BTF and Coliseum

10/04/12 - SE entrance to the Coliseum

10/05/12 - Willie, at the dedication
It's amazing to see how much was done on this building in the final two weeks before its dedication.



Click the link above for 75 pictures of the completed facility, taken three days before the teams moved in.




Architects' Rendering




Athletics Photo



I'm sorry, but when K-State Athletics rebuilt their web site in fall 2017, many of the links below were broken.



Video Tour by John Currie, 2/24/12
YouTube    Download


Sports Extra: Basketball Training Facility Renamed to Honor Ice Family, 10/19/15


video: Basketball Training Facility Renamed to Honor Ice Family, 10/19/15


K-State Honors Ice Family with Naming of BTF, 9/18/15


Video Tour by Kelly Thomson, 11/13/13 (YouTube)


Video Tour by Shalee Lehning, 9/12/13 (YouTube)


Video Tour, 8/20/12


Dedication Announcement, 10/02/12


"First Look" video, 10/05/12


K-State Sports' Basketball Training Facility Gallery


K-State Sports' Basketball Training Facility Site


Part 2 of My Gallery - Inside Photos


David's K-State Sports Pages


© David Yoder