So Glad We Got Ours!

WSU season tickets gone
Sales reflect growing basketball excitement
BY PAUL SUELLENTROP
The Wichita Eagle

Two of the best seats in Koch Arena lasted until the very end. Wichitan Larry Kloefkorn bought the last two season tickets available this season for Wichita State basketball Monday morning. He spent more than he planned, and he and his wife, Mary, will sit nine rows apart in Section 106. But he did it, providing another example of the over-the-top excitement for the Shockers.

WSU season tickets are sold out -- more than two months before the first game -- likely for the first time since the era of Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston in the early 1980s. Koch Arena is the place to be once again in Wichita, and fans will gladly sit in the last row with an unobstructed view to be part of the yellow-and-black craziness.

Kloefkorn, 44, won't have to sit in the last row. His seats are close to the action, maybe too close for his taste. He is a big college basketball fan who watched the Shockers on TV last season. He put his name on the waiting list in March.

When WSU coach Mark Turgeon signed a 10-year extension on his contract in April -- after the Shockers' run to the NCAA Sweet 16 -- Kloefkorn decided the program's future would be worth the investment. He has lived in Wichita since 1988 and attended games on occasion. This is his first run as a season-ticket holder.

"The difference is Mark Turgeon," Kloefkorn said. "He signed an extension -- and I know those don't mean a whole lot -- but I hope it means a little something."

WSU had 40 tickets remaining Thursday, and sold 38 of those by closing time Friday. Two people on the waiting list called Monday morning and weren't interested. A third visited Koch Arena and declined.

That gave Kloefkorn his shot at two seats near center court. The seats -- Row 2, Seat 5 and Row 11, Seat 7 -- lasted until the end in large part because they require a $2,000 donation to the Shocker Athletic Scholarship Association.

The donation -- plus $439 for the two tickets -- caused Kloefkorn to reconsider, but he decided it was worth it to get in the building. He wants to be able to move his seats in future seasons.
Monday, he considered himself fortunate to be in the right spot on a waiting list that still numbers around 250.

In the WSU ticket office, assistant athletic director Megan McKenna planned to reward her staff with an ice cream party Monday afternoon. WSU officials can't be sure when or if the arena was previously sold out. The 1981-82 season -- when the Shockers averaged 10,631 fans at Levitt Arena -- is regarded as a sold-out season, but it's not known whether all season tickets were sold in advance.

This season, WSU has sold around 8,900 season tickets -- the number isn't specific because complimentary and staff tickets are still in limbo -- which leaves 1,000 for students and around 100 for athletic department use. Koch Arena's capacity is listed at 10,478, and WSU sold out 14 of its 16 home games last season.

WSU athletic director Jim Schaus and Turgeon have often talked about selling out Koch Arena. Monday, after six seasons of progress under Turgeon, Kloefkorn made it happen.
"It seems like we dreamed of this day," Schaus said. "It's another way of substantiating that our program has moved to another level. We've created an atmosphere at Koch Arena that's renowned."

McKenna said fans were happy to buy less-than-perfect seats Thursday as the available seats dwindled.

"The people who came to the arena were excited to have those seats," she said. "Even behind a pole, you can see most of the game."