June 01, 2020

When the Chicago Bulls played at Beloit

The Last Dance, the popular TV mini-series about the 1990s-era Chicago Bulls, is bringing back all sorts of memories of the team’s NBA dynasty featuring Michael Jordan.

But only a few years earlier, the Bulls team, which included an incredibly promising rookie in Jordan, held their preseason training in the Beloit College Fieldhouse.

We share two stories about this unlikely convergence between the NBA and our small college. Veteran Bulls beat reporter K.C. Johnson’89 was a self-described scrawny teenager back then with a ringside seat. He recently wrote about this little known chapter in Beloit’s history for NBC Sports Chicago, where he covers the Bulls.

And in 2013, College Archivist Fred Burwell’86 covered Beloit’s brush with sports stardom in a Fridays with Fred column, a popular series he initially wrote for a weekly college newsletter.


Also In This Issue

  • Through formal and informal channels, Beloit alumni volunteer to mentor students and assist them in starting their careers. Beloiters Helping Beloiters formed quickly as class of 2020 graduates faced a tough job market.

    Beloiters Helping Beloiters is ‘Matchmaking at its Finest’

    more
  • Debra Majeed

    Professors Majeed and Ortel retire from full-time teaching

    more
  • Round Table staffers on front porch of the Pumpkin House in 1973.

    Campus memories: the Elmos and the Pumpkin House

    more

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