In 1932, as New York City was being built into a metropolis, a photographer snapped the image known as “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper.” The shot captures eleven ironworkers spending their lunch break on a steel beam suspended over 800 feet from the ground.

From high-rise towers to surface level buildings, not all lunch breaks are the same. Some are on the clock. Others are off. Many are taken in a breakroom, and some are a getaway from the office.

At Marquette University, one lunch break habit is nearly as timeless as a 94-year-old photograph. Every Monday and Thursday at lunchtime, a group of professors, lawyers, alumni and students gather at the Straz Rec Plex for “Noon Hoops,” a midday basketball tradition that has lasted for nearly 40 years.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing with them,” Tom Lonzo, Arts & Sciences ’84, said. “Although people have come and gone, it’s been a good group of guys. We’ve all gotten along together.”

Unlike some college-based activities that evolve over time and face student turnover every four years, the Noon Hoops team has a longstanding roster. Take Lonzo, for example, who has been playing pickup basketball since his undergraduate days at Marquette.

And Cy Cullen, who at 67 years old still sprints up and down the court to hit game-winning shots.

Or even 66-year-old Jeff Jensen, who was at Noon Hoops when Marquette men’s basketball players used to stop by and compete in the 1980s.

“I was in a noon ball game with Doc Rivers one time,” he said.

Noon Hoops is exactly what its name implies. When the minute and hour hands both face up, the basketball starts. It’s not an organized league with a winner and a trophy. It’s just hoops — what the self-proclaimed “old-timers” consider to be basketball in its purest form.

“We’d like to say that we’re more traditional,” Lonzo said. “We set picks and we get rebounds and are not real flashy with driving to the basket.”

They don’t bring the latest and greatest equipment. They don’t keep track of statistics. They didn’t even have their own jerseys until November 2025 — it was only after 40-plus years that campus recreation put a stop to their “shirts vs. skins” tradition.

The apparel adjustment is just one of several changes that the Noon Hoops group has faced over the years. They used to play every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They played at Helfaer Recreation before tightened guest policies made it more difficult for everyone to attend — most players are no longer directly affiliated with the university.

Participants themselves have changed over time. Though the core group has remained, some have moved away. Others have graduated. That’s why younger Noon Hoops players have joined the fold; to fill in what was once a roster of about 30 players and provide extra competition.

“Three years ago or so, there was a group of people playing and they needed one more,” Mehrzad Moin, a graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences, said. “One of them came over and invited me, and then I found out it’s a recurring group.”

He’s been playing with the group nearly every week since then. 

At each meetup, Jerry Grzeca, a 1988 graduate of the Marquette Law School, crafts teams with an expert hand. As the unofficial legislator, he divvies up the old guard with the younger players that have quicker movement. To Grzeca, it’s important to make sure the teams aren’t just fair, but are fun for everyone each time.

“The old guys are limited in their capabilities, and it’s okay to understand that,” he said. “It‘s no fun, frankly, for a bunch of old guys to play against each other. We need the young guys.”

But in a group that’s as time-tested and familiar with one another as Noon Hoops, nothing — even team selection — comes without controversy.

“Cy keeps thinking I’m cheating,” Grzeca said.

After all, because Noon Hoops keeps score, roster selection is vital. Teams play to 15 points before Grzeca mixes them into new groupings for the next game and the cycle repeats once more. Cullen said the group can usually get three or four games in during the lunch break.

Each age group has its own role. The younger teammates will battle on fast breaks and dive into padding for balls. The elder statesmen will defend, pass and shoot from the perimeter. With 40 years of synergy under their belts, some consider their camaraderie the most important asset on the court.

No errant passes. No miscommunications. Just machines in fluid motion, repeating the same motions as they have for decades. 

“Years ago, there’d be students that showed up and wanted to play the regulars,” Joe Schimmels, a professor in the College of Engineering, said. “They were significantly more athletic than we were, but we still beat them because I think we play better team basketball. It’s not an individual game. It’s a team game.”

One of the group’s original players, Mike Hawthorne, passed away two months ago after a battle with cancer. Affectionately known as “Iron Mike,” Lonzo said he was “built like a fireplug.”

For the Noon Hoops crew, Hawthorne wasn’t just another face on the team. He was part of a circle of friends that spent their lunch breaks together twice a week. And as the friends he spent every Monday and Thursday with, his Noon Hoops teammates attended his funeral on March 5.

Though the group has returned to playing, Hawthorne’s absence still looms in the gym. Games remain five-on-five with their share of fill-ins, but there’s a void in the room. With camaraderie defining Noon Hoops, the death of a team legend changed the game forever.

“We had this set play where I would take the ball out, he would set a pick, he would throw it to me behind the three-point line and I take the shot,” Lonzo said. “We had an unspoken nod and we knew that was the play. I miss him.”

For those that still fill the Rec Plex twice a week, there are a few different motivations for playing basketball. First, it’s a midday getaway from jobs that can be demanding.

“The way I look at it is, it’s either take the time to go to Noon Ball or have a heart attack from the stress and anxiety of practicing law,” Jensen said. 

For others, it’s a way of staying in shape and getting exercise. That’s why some have started playing pickleball as an add-on to basketball.

And for someone like Cullen, who grew up on 14th and Capitol Drive and graduated from Marquette in the 1980s, it’s a way to stay connected to his university.

But for all of the Noon Hoops players, playing midday basketball twice a week isn’t about wins, rosters or stats — though there are several players that claim to be the group’s all-time scoring leader. Noon Hoops is built on tradition. Like New York City ironworkers sitting on a beam, it’s a timeless story of an afternoon spent with teammates.

“If you can find something like this in your life and sustain it, it’s a gift,” Grzeca said.

This story was written by Lance Schulteis. He can be reached at [email protected].