This is to clarify a comment that Assembly Hall was based on Memorial Stadium's design. In fact, it was the other way around.
IU officials came up with the design for a new basketball arena in the early 1950s, but didn't have the money to build it. In the late 1950s they realized they needed a new football stadium. Rather than spend money to design a football stadium, they figured, "Hey, we've got this design already paid for, and it would work for football, too, because most of the seats would go between the two end zones, so let's use this." So they did.
The football stadium was built first because a 52,000-seat football facility would generate more money than a 17,000-seat basketball arena. So up went Memorial Stadium (it was done by 1960) and by the end of the 1960s they were ready to start building Assembly Hall.
Love it or hate it, it remains one of the most recognized college facilities in the nation, if not the world.
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