Tesember 12, 1940

Dear Mr. Johnson:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your favor of the 10th instant and 1
em glad to hear from youe You are mistaken if you are of the opinion that I
attack football beeause I do note :

' ‘Twas asked down by the High-Twelve Club of the Masonic Order in
Kansas City, Kansas. They hadas their guests 16 of the allestar high school

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remarks to these boys such as this; You have won splendid honers on the foote
ball field and I congratulate you for the successes You played these games for
the sheer fun of playings Now I would not want you to take the thing that you
for sheer fun and endeavor to make it a marketable commodityo

- I stated further to the boys that they should pick out their own
versity with an idea toward getting an education and use the sport not as a

Uni
business but as a recreative : I said that somebody had done something
to footballs they had not it and nurtured it beeause teams like

& business instead of & sport. I voiced a fear that if certain individua

succeeded in their endeavor to big-time basketball they would kill baskethall —
the same as they are killing football. Sy gee | | .

a BP go ptrssciparay parle ac tyen Pg igh caaanllvanryge ng
Jayhawkers in 1920 when we tied Nebrasim 20 to 20. We were outweighed exotly
27 pounds to the man, and Nebraska had rm over us 20 to Oe This little band
of Kansans came back and tied the score 20 to 20 and missed their kick for an
extra points The following Monday morning, here in the University Gymmasiu,

dents of the University met and pledged $160,000 as their part toward
this beautiful stadiua that we haves I promoted the building of the.
stadiun and the completion thereof. I founded the Kansas Relays here in 1923.
had

3 I am not mentioning these things to you to boast, but to show you that |
hoped that we would earn enough money from football that we could have play
facilities or students for the entire University from these earningse

As head of the Department of Physical Education here at the University,
I have been in & position to see a great many things that affect.the young life
of students, and I want to assure you that a man who comes to college to get an
education is benefit by playing football, but a bey who comes to college to play
football is certainly not benefited thereby. This boy is putting the emphasis
on the wrong activity. : PP

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