Signature remains on court

July 16, 2008 10:37 am

— Eddie Sutton’s signature will remain on the court at Oklahoma State, although the handwriting will be a little smaller.
Athletic director Mike Holder announced the winning design for the court at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Tuesday following a monthlong online poll.
The court will feature the words Gallagher-Iba Arena in capital letters spanning the midcourt line above a simple OSU logo.
A black outline of the Pistol Pete mascot will be below the logo on one side of the midcourt line, while Sutton’s signature will be on the other side.
The former coach’s signature used to be much larger and span the midcourt stripe above a large orange O logo with the words Oklahoma State University in the middle.
The lanes will no longer be painted orange and black. They will instead be the natural wood color and have the Big 12 Conference logo in place of an OSU logo.
“The new design is much simpler and allows the floor to take center stage,” Holder said. “Honoring and accentuating the history of the floor, which includes two national championships, was the primary goal of the redesign.”
The university says the design was supported by about 6,500 of the more than 14,000 responses to the poll, or about 46 percent. Fans had eight different designs to choose from, but only three retained Sutton’s signature.
His son, Sean Sutton, resigned under pressure as the Cowboys’ coach after last season.
“This arena has a national reputation as one of the toughest places to play for an opposing team. Some of the greatest games ever played have taken place on this white maple floor,” Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. “The new design honors the floor’s great history, which includes the names of two of the finest coaches to ever coach the game of basketball — Henry Iba and Eddie Sutton.”