110 YEARS OF KANSAS BASKETBALL
making him the most senior Jayhawk honored on senior night. In his 60 years as a Jayhawk radio announcer, Max has traveled from sunny Hawaii to frantic New York City's Madison Square Garden to blistering Anchorage, Alaska. He announced Jayhawk basketball national championships in Seattle in 1952 and in Kansas City, Mo., in 1988.
He has played golf with Dean Smith, landed Roy Williams in trouble at a Florida Sea World, fallen in love with a baby gorilla named Max and made thousands of fans through his distinct baritone voice on the radio.
How did all this happen?
"Oh, that's a long story," he said — 60 years long.
GOING LIVE
WREN radio when he was asked to broadcast that playoff game between the Aggies and the Jayhawks. With no prior experience and no one teaching him how, he took the job.
"I never thought of Max as a member of the media. I thought of him as a friend."
It started in high school when Max went on a field trip to the University of Kansas. It was a journalism excursion to learn and practice radio broadcasting. A teacher told Max he had an amazing voice, and she recommended he try his hand at broadcasting. He heeded that advice.
Max was broadcasting news for
Little did he realize that he would continue calling games for KU into the next century, from the "Big Dipper," Wilt Chamberlain, to the "Kansas
ROY WILLIAMS Former Kansas coach
Comet," Gale Sayers, to Danny Manning and the 1988 championship basketball team to Nick Reid and the Forth Worth Bowl champions.
OLD FRIENDS
The voice of the Jayhawks said his favorite moment as a broadcaster was the 1952 basketball
national championship game. The Phog Allen-coached team sported Player of the Year Clyde Lovelette, who led Kansas to an 80-63 shellacking of St. John's in the game.
One member of that team was Dean Smith, now the winningest coach in men's basketball history. The two first met when Max broadcast a high school basketball playoff game in March 1949 between Smith's Topeka High School and Lawrence High School.
Smith remembers that game because Max "made me sound good," he said.
The two remain close friends, playing golf together whenever Smith is in town.
"He's a good putter, but he needs to work on his iron play," Smith said.
Max admitted, "I can't put the ball on the green from a hundred yards."
Regardless of missed greens and miles of separation, Smith said, "I always look forward to seeing him."
POPCORN AND DOLPHINS
Roy Williams, who left his job as an assistant to Smith at North Carolina to coach the Jayhawks,
said he had "a million Max stories" from his 15 years at Kansas.
"We were with the team in Gainesville, and we decided to go Sea World," he said.
LEW PERKINS Kansas Athletics Director
Williams said he and Max were standing next to a dolphin pool, and Williams was eating from a bag of popcorn.
into the tank.
Williams did exactly that, and he will never forget what ensued.
"He is one of the most beloved people in Kansas history."
"Do dolphins like popcorn?" Williams asked Max.
"I think they would, coach," Max said, egging Williams on to throw a handful
As the kernels hit the water, a worker across the pool yelled angrily at Williams.
"Hey! Are you trying to kill our dolphins?" Williams said, impersonating the park employee.
Shocked, Williams turned to Max for support. To his surprise, Max was gone, leaving Williams to take the scolding.
"I turned around and he was 50 feet away," Williams laughed. "It was his idea, and I was the one getting yelled at."
Max got away, safe from park security.
"When he threw it I was at the dolphin tank. When he turned around I was at the whale tank," Max said.
Now coaching at North Carolina, Williams stays close with Max.
"I never looked at Max as a member of the media. I looked at him as a friend," Williams said.
THE ROAD HOME
STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 62
Max Falkenstien broadcasts a game early in his career for WREN radio. Falkenstien called Jayhawk games from 1946 to 2006, a period that included the careers of six of the eight coaches in Kansas basketball history.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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