expansions of Michigan Stadium, helping to make it the nation's largest college stadium. The first expansion in 1949 involved the installation of permanent steel stands around the stadium concourse, increasing the seating capacity to 97,239. In 1956, renovations expanded the seating capacity to more than 101,001. The 1956 expansion included 542 seats in a new communications center and 1,247 seats in a new press box. According to a newspaper article quoting an Athletic Department staff member, "Fritz wanted to end up with a figure of 100,001, but he came up with a thousand seats too many. But he still got that 001 at the end." Through subsequent renovations, Michigan has continued the tradition of ending official seating capacity numbers with the digit 1, and the final seat has been said to be reserved in Crisler's honor. Crisler also invested revenues from the school's successful football program to build a $1 million pool for the women's swimming team, a men's varsity competition pool, a modern baseball grandstand and a large press box at Michigan Stadium. With the success of the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball under the leadership of Cazzie Russell, Crisler led the effort to build a new basketball arena in the mid-1960s. The new arena was opened in 1967 at a cost of $7.2 million and with seating for 15,000. The new arena was originally named the University Events Building. In February 1970, the arena was renamed Crisler Arena in honor of Crisler. At the time of Crisler's retirement in 1968, the Associated Press credited him with helping to "lift college football from a 'rah, rah' campus pastime in the 1930s into the modern multimillion dollar enterprise of today." Crisler was succeeded as Michigan's athletic director by Don Canham, whom Crisler had hired as the school's track coach in the late 1940s. At the time of his appointment, Canham noted that replacing Crisler was "a little like stepping up to bat after Babe Ruth." Later years After retiring in 1968, Crisler continued to live in Ann Arbor. When Bo Schembechler took over as Michigan's football coach in 1969, he recalled that he went out of his way to get to know Crisler. Schembechler considered Crisler "a giant" and made time to go over to Crisler's house and sit in his basement, listening to Crisler's theories and stories. In 1978, Crisler and Fielding H. Yost became the first coaches inducted into