If it happened to Mary VanDeVelde at Illinois, odds are, it happened at the multi-purpose Armory.
“I loved the energy and all the hustle and bustle in that building,” says the 1983 broadcast journalism grad, who now reports on traffic and news at Chicago’s WGN Radio.
“Back then, anyone could walk through the Armory on their way to classes as a shortcut to campus and a way to get away from nasty weather. It was always open.
“I was a jogger/runner back then, which was not very popular at the time, so I used to jog around the track, while dodging walkers and the ROTC. During my junior and senior years, I was also an Illinette and we would practice in the Armory.
"The acoustics were pretty bad when trying to listen to music, but I will always remember the comfort and bounce of that rubbery floor.”
