Friday, November 3, 1967
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
11
Press box comes alive after a game
By Monte Mace Kansan Staff Reporter
The KU-Nebraska game had just ended. Players were in the showers and fans were on their way home.
But for 35 professional football fans, the work had just begun.
They were the sportswriters, from local and metropolitan newspapers and wire services, whose jobs were reporting the outcome of the game.
The writers sat before their typewriters and gazed out of the press box onto empty bleachers in Memorial Stadium, thinking of ways to tell the story.
Some chomped cigars, others leaned on their typewriters or toyed with pencils.
Hunt-and-Peck
After several minutes, a few typewriters began clacking. Some men used the hunt-and-peck system.
Bob Hurt, sports editor of the Topeka Capital-Journal, stopped typing and turned to Joe McGuff, sports editor of the Kansas City Star, who had not yet begun typing.
"Joe, it sure makes me feel good to know I've got three more lines typed than you do," Hurt said with a grin.
None of the men would leave until the stories had been written, and sent on the way to their newspapers.
Behind the writers were tele-
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printer operators, waiting to transmit stories by wire to Omaha, Wichita, and other cities in a three-state area. The wire services writers phoned stories to a bureau. Several men drove the copy to their papers.
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The temporary offices of the sportswriters was the press box at the top of the west side of the stadium. It is half the length of the football field and the highest point in the stadium, giving the writers probably the best view of the field.
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On the roof are newspaper cameramen with telephone lenses several feet long. A camera so equipped is valued at more than $1000 and, as one of the men said, "can pick out a man in the crowd and tell you whether he shaved this morning."
During the game, the writers were given duplicated copies of
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More cameramen stand on the sidelines.
game statistics at the end of each quarter. The KU Sports Publicity office makes such information available.
A press box announcer provides a running commentary of the game.
Free coffee, doughnuts, soft drinks and sandwiches are available in the press box. Chairs are cushioned.
The sportswriters seem like any other football fans during the game, cheering when their favorite team makes a long yardage gain or groaning when a pass is interceded.
Including the writers, broadcasters and cameramen the total number of newsmen at games comes to perhaps 100.
But after the game, the cheerleading stops. Fans of both teams will read their stories and the sportswriters try to report the game as it happened.
'Voice'on Top
Above the writers, on the second floor of the press box, are the broadcasting rooms. Gary Bender, the voice of the KU Sports Network, sat in one room Saturday afternoon. With him were five assistants to compile statistics, help identify players, or figure the distance of kicks and passes. Next to the microphone was a mirror that Bender watched to see signals from his engineer behind him.
They enjoy watching the game as much as any football fan. But there's a difference—they're paid fans.