Stored deep in my memory are the slippery, muddy conditions.

Many of the players' numbers became obscure in the quagmire.

Not on the opening kickoff, but as Ohio State and Illinois chewed up the Memorial Stadium grass in late November 1946 -- AstroTurf wasn't installed until 1974 -- the once-swampy land became a mess between the football hash marks.

With the Rose Bowl on the line and both clubs stacked with returnees from World War II, the Buckeyes scored first on fullback Joe Whisler's 17-yard burst, and the Illini managed just five first downs all day. But they forged ahead 9-7 when end Sam Zatkoff blocked a punt out of the end zone, and the great Buddy Young broke loose for 34 yards to set up the go-ahead TD from the 1.

It seemed to be all Buckeyes after halftime, Whisler churning to the 1-yard line where Illinois made the goal-line stand and, minutes later, the Illini grudgingly gave ground to their own 4. A field goal would probably win it, but the frustrated visitors gambled with a flat pass on third down, and Julie Rykovich intercepted, found sound footing near the sideline and raced 98 yards for a 16-7 triumph.

That wasn't my first game, but it was my first great Memorial Stadium experience, coming as a high school sophomore. And for me, there'll never be anything topping the dash by Rykovich, my hero for life. He later became a business acquaintance (mutual funds). A product of Gary (Ind.) Lew Wallace, where longtime Champaign coach Tommy Stewart attended, Rykovich chose Illinois after a wartime start at Notre Dame.

Plenty to look back on fondly

So we all have different remembrances from century-old Memorial Stadium.

It might be the end-zone catch in blinding snow by Rex Smith, my journalism classmate, to edge Michigan 7-0 in 1951 ... and put me on a train to Pasadena, Calif., to see Stan Wallace's interception turn a 7-6 second-half deficit into a 40-7 rout of Stanford.

It might be Abe Woodson's two spectacular breakaways that rocked No. 1 Michigan State, 20-13, in 1956.

And the 1963 season was special. Just one year after Dick Butkus & Co. broke a 15-game losing streak at Purdue, the Illini made a "Run for the Roses" in 1963. They lost one game that championship year, a fumble-scarred 14-8 home game with Michigan, and my postgame recollection was consoling (rather than interviewing) coach Pete Elliott on the field, and reminding that Pasadena was still reachable. It was.

Or it might be a meal with Thomas Rooks some 20-plus years after his TD run to edge Ohio State in 1983, and what inspired him to cut back rather than step out of bounds to set up a tying field goal.

Plenty more than football

You see, my memories and thoughts emanating from Memorial Stadium are different from yours.

Last Saturday's 50-49 overtime defeat of Purdue earned a permanent slot, but most of my noggin space has been taken from decades past. Youthful experiences are lasting, and my connections there as a teenage fan and student weaved into my media coverage ... amounting to nearly 80 of the stadium's 100 years.

And during those decades, we've watched as the stadium has been receptive to everything from Farm Aid (80,000 attended on Sept. 22, 1985) to graduation ceremonies, from NCAA Track and Field championships in 1977 and 1979 to a "bubble" coverage for the Chicago Bears and the Illini in 1985.

The Bears played 10 games there in 2002 while renovations were ongoing at Soldier Field, and the UI's new indoor facility ultimately made the off-season tarp unnecessary in 2000.

Improvements are forever ongoing. Grange Grove supplanted old tennis courts. Statues on both sides are spectacular. We are now accustomed to a massive scoreboard, and witnessed the $121 million "Illinois Renaissance" bringing west-side sky boxes and 5,000 seats on the north end. In just the last three years alone, athletic director Josh Whitman spent $10 million for east-side improvements.

Plenty of memories yet to come

And just think, it all started with Red Grange. No, not on that famous day in 1924 that we're celebrating Saturday. The stadium actually opened a year earlier when he was a sophomore, drawing over 61,000 fans as the Illini sloshed through a rain-splattered field to blank Chicago, 7-0.

Field conditions remained a concern for 50 years. It was always chewed up by November.

No more. No more mowing and annual reseeding. New, porous AstroTurf replaced the 11-year-old version in 1985. Further replacement was required when vandals burned it. Astro-Play was introduced in 2001, and now we have the Field Turf Vertex Prime system.

Along the way, balcony movement frightened fans in the east upper deck and required an $18 million overhaul to stiffen underpinnings in 1992. The small press box, enlarged in the late 1960s, was enhanced a second time in conjunction with the major addition of colonnades and suites finished in 2008 as the "Illinois Renaissance."

The West Great Hall, where we held freshman basketball practices in the 1950s, and where Bill Kroll conducted Illini weight training as late as the mid-'80s, has taken on an entirely new look.

These changes and more. So many memories. And more to come.