After Kansas alum David Booth purchased James Naismith’s original rules of basketball for a total of $4.3 million in 2010, the DeBruce Center was built adjacent to Allen Fieldhouse to house the historic two-page document.
Completed in 2016, the 32,000-square-foot building serves a dual purpose, functioning as a basketball museum and also a meeting place for KU students on the south side of the university’s campus.
The rules, which are housed in a second-story walkway that connects the DeBruce Center to an Allen Fieldhouse entrance, are protected by electrochromic glass. When a button is pressed on the side of the rules, electricity is sent through the glass to make it transparent so the rules can be seen.