It's a safe bet that the MSU basketball teams of the 1980s never could have imagined the floor they were playing on would someday be in an MSU fan's bathroom.
But that's exactly what has happened.
The hardwood floor that is believed to have played home to MSU basketball teams anytime from 1982 to 1989 at Jenison Field House - the home of Spartans hoops before Breslin Center opened - is now on sale to the public at the MSU Surplus Store.
The 4-by-8 pieces of hardwood floor are on sale during the store's regular public sale hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Friday. Pieces are priced $100-$200, according to how much green or white paint is on them.
Kris Jolley, marketing and sales coordinator for the MSU Surplus Store, said the floor came to him just like any other university-owned property that has fallen out of favor and taken to collecting dust in storage.
"The Physical Plant called and said they were bringing over the basketball court," Jolley said. "They said they didn't want it anymore."
The pieces, which still interlock with one another, are not the entire floor. Unlike the 2000 National Championship floor - which Jolley said was sold to a Traverse City basketball camp - the Jenison floor remains incomplete.
From being used for dance floors in recreation rooms to a recreated Spartan mini-court, buyers are using the Jenison floor in a variety of fashions.
"The funniest is the one guy who bought the piece with the free throw line on it to put in the bathroom," Jolley said. "I'll let you make your own joke there."
Revenue generated by the sale will go back to the athletics department. Seven interlocking pieces that form center court are being auctioned off, the minimum bid for each piece standing at $5,000.
Former women's head basketball coach Karen Langeland said the court and building Jenison provided had its share of "magic."
"With our games, (the most memorable moment) was probably a 47-45 victory over Michigan in January of 1989," Langeland said. "Mostly because it's Michigan.
"The years when (Earvin) 'Magic' (Johnson) played there, it was electrifying. The noise, the energy - you felt like the roof was going to come off."
For now, though, the pieces rest in stacks between old mattresses and dust-covered desks. Almost all of the $100 pieces have been sold, and supplies of pieces with green-and-white lettering are nearly gone as well, Jolley said.
"It's hard to put a value on collecting," he said. "But we'll keep selling them on Tuesdays and Fridays until they're gone."
