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LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Construction of a center to house the original rules for basketball on the University of Kansas campus will be delayed because bids for the project came in higher than expected.
The building will hold a two-page document containing the 13 "Rules of Basket Ball" written by James Naismith in 1891. The document was purchased by Kansas graduate David Booth and his wife, Suzanne, for $4.3 million in 2010, with the intention of donating them to the university.
Bids for the $18 million DeBruce Center all came in high but none were more than 10 percent higher than the contract, The Lawrence Journal-World reported (http://bit.ly/1iBcRFw ).
The project architect will examine the proposal for possible savings and then the five bidders will be asked to submit an updated bid, Dale Seuferling, president of the Kansas University Endowment Association, said Thursday.
Seuferling said he expected the final bid to be awarded next month and construction to start in August.
The 32,000-square-foot DeBruce Center will also include a new training table for basketball players, an activity center and meeting space. It will be connected by a concourse to Allen Fieldhouse and the Booth Family Hall of Athletics.
It is named for Paul and Katherine DeBruce, who donated most of the private funding.
Naismith invented the game in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891, but moved to Kansas in 1898 to teach physical education. He was the school's first basketball coach and coached for nine years.
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Information from: Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com
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