The Illinois Fighting Illini played the Penn State Nittany Lions there in 1959.

Cook ultimately played 132 games in four years at the University of Illinois, most of them under coach Bill Self, and led the Illini in rebounding in each season.

Haller was born in Lockport, Illinois and attended the University of Illinois, where he played as a quarterback for the Illinois Fighting Illini football team.

After graduating from Roosevelt Junior High School and then North Shore High School in West Palm Beach, Harper played three seasons for the Fighting Illini and coach Lou Henson having his best season in 1982 – 1983, when he led the Fighting Illini in scoring with 15. 4 points per game.

He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini and had a particularly good sophomore year.

Mauer attended the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois from 1922 to 1926, where he played for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team.

Gill's Illini earned NCAA bids each year he played.

After high school, Williams attended the University of Illinois, and played three seasons for the Fighting Illini under head coach Bill Self, leading the team to a string of NCAA Tournament appearances.

Additionally, the Illini played well against Iowa, Wisconsin, and Penn State ( they lost 63 – 10 the year before ; Penn State led 56 – 3 at halftime ) but ended up losing close games ( they were down 15 – 12 at Penn State until Penn State broke open the close game to make it 26 – 12 ).

Illinois Foundation Seeds Inc. was the first seed company to release a supersweet corn and it was called Illini Xtra Sweet, but widespread use of supersweet hybrids did not occur until the early 1980s.

The name is a reference to one of the clans of the historic Illini confederacy, who were encountered by early French explorers to the region.

In the fall of 1920, now with twenty members, the Lutheran Illini League rented a house, and in early 1921 was reorganized as the Concordia Club.

In 2001, his first season at Illinois, Self coached a squad of mostly Lon Kruger recruits to a 27-8 record ( 13-3 conference record ), a share of the Big Ten title, and a final Associated Press ranking of 4th in the nation, resulting in the Fighting Illini earning a number ' 1 ' seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Bruce Weber replaced Self prior to the 2004 season and coached the 2005 Fighting Illini, almost exclusively Self's recruits, to a NCAA record tying 37 – 2 record after falling to North Carolina in the NCAA championship game.

As a senior in the 2002-03 season, Cook led the Fighting Illini in scoring with 20. 0 points per game, and received the Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball as the Most Valuable Player of the Big Ten Conference.

He was a consensus First-Team All-Big Ten performer after his sophomore season in 2001, helping lead the Fighting Illini to a 10-2 record and a BCS berth in the Sugar Bowl.

In his third and final season at North Carolina, Felton led the Tar Heels along with fellow juniors Rashad McCants and Sean May and freshman Marvin Williams to the 2005 National Championship over the University of Illinois Fighting Illini on April 4, 2005 in St. Louis.

That Fighting Illini team gained the moniker " Flyin ' Illini " by Dick Vitale while announcing a game during the 1988-89 season.

In recent years, however, it has become customary for Illini fans to wear orange at all home games and so the official " PTHO " game was discontinued after the 2007-08 season.

Head started every game of the season, leading the Illini in scoring, averaging 15. 9 points ( 5th in Big Ten ).

In a game against Iowa, Head had a career-high six steals, the most by an Illini player on the season.

The Illini tied an NCAA Division I record by winning 37 games during the season.

The pressure grew for Weber as the victory vaulted the Illini to the top spot in the polls the following week, a spot they would carry for the rest of the season.

Despite losing three starters to the NBA, the Illini finished the 2005 – 06 season with a 26 – 7 record and reached the second round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

The 2007 – 2008 season marked the first time during Weber's tenure that the Illini did not qualify for a postseason tournament, finishing the season with an overall record of 16 – 19, 5 – 13 in the Big Ten Conference.

After a 10-0 start to the 2011-12 season, Weber's Illini went 7-15, finishing the season with a 17-15 record.

The Chicago Bulls acquired him as part of a multi-player trade in the next off-season, where Williams was popular due to his time with the Illini, and expected him to compete with Kirk Hinrich for the starting point guard job, but he showed up to training camp out of shape and spent most of the 2004-05 season on injured reserve.

In the 2005-6 college basketball season, Randle was one of three team captains for the Fighting Illini, along with Dee Brown and James Augustine.

In the 2006-7 college basketball season, Randle once again was looked to as a leader for the Fighting Illini, along with Warren Carter, Jamar Smith, Rich McBride, and Shaun Pruitt.

Despite a very disappointing 2008 season, Zook's 2009 Fighting Illini team received AP Poll votes.

The Marching Illini, the first band to perform a halftime show at an American football game

The first halftime show by a marching band at a football game was done by the University of Illinois Marching Illini also in 1907 at a game against the University of Chicago.

However, in the second half the Illini pulled away from FDU and won the game by 12.

IWU defeated the University of Illinois 16-0 in the Illini ’ s first-ever football game.

Chief Illiniwek's final official appearance was at an Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball game on February 21, 2007.

On November 27, 2009, in a game against the University of Illinois Fighting Illini, the stadium broke the record for largest attendance in stadium history with an attendance of 35, 106.

Cook helped lead the Illini to a number one seed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, and the Illini cruised to the Elite 8, where they were upset in a hard fought and controversial game by Cook's future teammate Luke Walton and the Arizona Wildcats.

On January 17, 2009, MSU retired his number 42 with MSU's other all time greats before their game against the Illinois Fighting Illini.

UNC cruised to the championship game, where McCants helped the Tar Heels defeat the Illinois Fighting Illini 75 – 70.

In post-season play, the Illini finished second, losing to Wisconsin in the championship game.

After leading Illinois to a win over Louisville in the Final Four, Weber could not deliver the Fighting Illini their first national championship, falling 75 – 70 to North Carolina in the national championship game.

On March 9, 2012, one day after the Illini lost its Big Ten Conference Tournament opening-round game to Iowa, Weber was fired.