Jim Dickey missed three Missouri State men's basketball games in 1971 after his father died.

Those were the first and last games Dickey has missed in his 56 seasons as a Bears season-ticket holder.

"When they moved into (Hammons Student Center), I changed my seats," Dickey said. "I was right down on the front row, and when those 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-9 guys got out in front of you, you couldn't see, so I changed my seats to the last row of the lower bowl. And I've had my seats there ever since."

The 81-year-old retired engineer starts his 57th season as a season-ticket holder Saturday as the Bears take on Arkansas at 7:15 p.m. in the first game at the new JQH Arena.

Dickey is one of a few dozen Bears fans who have had season tickets since the team played in McDonald Arena.

The MSU athletic department provided a list of 13 individuals and families who have had season tickets since the team's last season at McDonald, but many longtime season-ticket holders were not included on that list.

One of those was retired MSU business statistics professor Ivan Calton, who joked that he is "about the oldest person around." Calton attended Missouri State in the early 1940s before joining the military during World War II.

He said he bought his first season tickets in 1946, 62 years ago, and started attending Lady Bears games in the 1990s with his wife, Georgia.

"I remember we sat at the center of the north side of that building," Calton said. "At the beginning, the students were pretty good. And I kept score. In 1947, I remember there was a machine that didn't push very easily. It was hard to keep score in those days."

Calton said he remembered the building of McDonald Arena, which opened in 1940. The Bears moved across campus to HSC in 1976.

All of the longtime season-ticket holders had fond memories of McDonald Arena, especially Jim McNabb, who has had Bears season tickets since 1968.

"It was the best place in the world to watch a basketball game," McNabb said.

McNabb and his family started attending Lady Bears games, as well, in the early 1990s, when Melody Howard began her stellar four-year career.

It's harder to track Lady Bears fans through the decades because the program did not start selling season tickets until the early 1990s, even though the team played its inaugural games at McDonald Arena.

Two of the Lady Bears' early season-ticket purchasers were Wilbur Bridges and his wife Linda, who said the couple started attending Bears games in 1992.

"I saw that they were selling Lady Bears tickets, and I said, 'Wilbur, let's buy some,' " Linda Bridges said. "He went along with me, but it was fun ... I've enjoyed all the Lady Bears. I guess I just felt like we were more well-rounded."

Wilbur Bridges, 75, first bought Bears season tickets in 1959 after attending games as a student reporter in 1956-58. He was sports editor of The Standard and he covered the Bears basketball team.

He said he was disappointed in the seat selection process that left him up in the northeast corner of the lower bowl at JQH Arena, and he always has missed the intimate atmosphere of the Bears' first home court.

"(HSC) never did feel quite as homey there as it did at McDonald," Bridges said, "but it was good to have the big crowds."

Although he was upset about his own seats at JQH, Bridges said he was pleased with the design of the court at the new arena.

Other longtime season-ticket holders, like Keith Abercrombie, said the basketball-only nature of JQH is their favorite part of the new arena.

"I think there was a little bit of a feeling of home in McDonald Arena and not as much in Hammons," Abercrombie said. "I think there will be a lot more of that at JQH. I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot of the same feeling, just loud and rambunctious and exciting,"

Abercrombie, a 57-year-old sales manager who has had season tickets since 1974, has four season tickets for himself, his wife, their daughter and their daughter's boyfriend.

Dickey used to attend games with his wife, Gladys, then his children Michael and Patricia. He has even taken his two grandsons and five great-grandchildren to games.

Now he mostly goes by himself, sitting with a group of friends and acquaintances he has gained through his half-century of attending Bears games.

Calton, too, has developed a network of friends around his seats at HSC, and he said he's nervous about how those friendships will translate to JQH.

"It's hard to say goodbye to Hammons," McNabb said. "But it was hard to say goodbye to McDonald, too."