Why does Allen Fieldhouse say "Beware of The Phog"?
"Beware of The Phog" is a play on the name of coach Forrest "Phog" Allen, who led University of Kansas basketball for nearly four decades. The banner reading "Pay Heed, All Who Enter: Beware of The Phog" hangs in Allen Fieldhouse and warns visiting teams that they are entering hostile territory.
Where did the phrase come from?
The wording blends two ideas: the foggy, intimidating atmosphere of a packed arena and the nickname of the coach the building honors. Allen earned the nickname "Phog" for the foghorn-like voice he used while umpiring baseball games early in his career.
Over time the slogan grew into shorthand for the entire home-court mystique at Kansas. It now appears on a large banner inside the fieldhouse and across fan merchandise.
Who created the original banner?
As recounted by the 1988 student creator, Todd Gilmore
I was sitting in my Professional Practice class one day in 1988 when I sketched out an idea that I had been thinking about for a couple days. At the bottom of my page of notes I wrote “Pay heed all who enter: Beware of The Phog!” I showed it to a friend, Mike Gentemann, who was sitting next to me and I told him I thought we should make it into a banner. He really liked the idea and after class we talked about how to do it.
We decided that it should be REALLY big, but that required some creative engineering. Somebody, I don’t remember who, thought up the idea of using shower curtains. So we got 10 shower curtains and pinned them together. By using shower curtains, we ended up with a banner roughly 35′ long and 6′ tall.
Mike Gentemann created the lettering for the banner in his own distinctive style. He really captured the feel and style I had envisioned. Without his creative input I think the Banner would have turned out very ordinary instead of being the enduring presence at the end of the field house that it has become. Mike deserves a great deal of credit.
We planned on unveiling the Banner at the KU-Duke game. A couple of days before the game we got a group together and got to work. Mike sketched out the lettering while we pinned everything together. When we finished pinning, we all grabbed a brush and started painting. We finished it in one evening, but, as memory serves, it was pretty late by the time we were done.
We put it in our design studio for the night to dry and we went home. It took a LONG time for the paint to dry, so there was no time to have it sewn together before the game. We were kind of worried how it would hold up, but luckily it didn’t come apart. That would have been a disaster.
The day before the game we started to camp out in front of the field house so we could get our usual seats for the game. We brought the banner with us and showed it to Assistant A.D., Floyd Temple, and he gave us permission to hang it up.
While we were making the banner we had strung a 100 ft. rope through the top of the shower curtains. We knew the only way we could hang it would be to tie it in between the catwalks at the top of the field house. That ended up being difficult. For obvious reasons they wouldn’t let us climb up on the catwalks.
We got around this problem by tying a shoe to the end of the rope and throwing it over the catwalk and then tying it down by the last row of seats. On the second toss the shoe came loose and landed right on top of the catwalk. So Ferd had to go through the game without one shoe. (One of the maintenance guys retrieved it for him after the game.) After we had it tied down, we realized that the middle was too heavy and sagged so badly you couldn’t read it. We were at a loss what to do when Floyd pointed out a rope hanging down in just the right place, which even had a clip on the end of it. It held the middle up perfectly. It was at exactly that point that we knew we had something special.
Who helped create “The Phog” banner?
In Todd Gilmore’s words: “I understand that a few people have come forward claiming to have either worked on or come up with the idea, so I want to give proper credit and thank the real people that helped in the creation of ‘The Phog’ banner.”
- Concept: Todd Gilmore
- Lettering: Michael Gentemann
- Painting: Todd, Mike, Brad Oliver, Larry Valenza, Scott Harrison, Neal Angrisano, Tom Kippenberger, Kevin Dervin, Michael Dervin, Hank Dickenson, Eric Miller, John Robinson, Mark Herschman, Todd Schnatzmeyer, and Mike Neighbors
- Pizza: Eric Miller and Pizza Shoppe
- Shower Curtains: Tom Kippenberger, Rob Evicker and his friend who I don’t remember
- Sewing: Donna Griffin
Why has the banner become a tradition?
Allen Fieldhouse is regularly ranked among the toughest places to play in college basketball, and the banner captures that reputation in a single line. Fans, players, and visiting teams all recognize it as part of the game-day experience.
That is why the replica banner has become a keepsake for Jayhawk supporters who want a piece of the tradition at home. It is the same design fans see hanging in the rafters.
What does the replica banner include?
Our licensed replica recreates the in-arena banner on thick vinyl with metal grommets for easy hanging. It comes in a small size for personal spaces and a large size matching the version seen in bars and businesses.
Last updated June 2026.