Section Two
Friday, April 20, 1973
Kansas Staff Photo by PRIS BRANDSTED
Porter Prepares for Relay Circuit . . . Is one of nation's hottest collegiate pole vaulters . . .
Porter's Positive Style Produces Classy Wins
By GERALD EWING Kansan Sports Writer
Porter is accustomed to 'winning and holding records. In fact, he has been winning records since attending Azk High School in Azle, Tex, he won the Texas state vaulting championship his junior and senior year. His best vault in the state was 419. The best records for a high school athlete.
After high school, he attended Ranger Junior College in Ranger, Tex., where he attended junior college vaulter to clear 17 feet. He was selected by the Junior College All-America team his freshman and sophomore team. He won the national Junior College title his sophomore year.
See PORTER Page 10
PORTER SAID he transferred to KU because it was one of the best schools in the country, both athletically and scholarly.
able to go 18 feet eventually. I just have to get it tilted at the top of my jump."
"I DON'T like to make predictions because they don't always come true," he said. "但 I honestly will be able to go 17-6 at the Kansas Reliefs. I also will think it."
"I came here because KU has over the years had the best track teams in the
Terry Porter is a smooth-talking, boisterous Southerner who has a very positive attitude about his future as a member of the University of Kansas track team. He is also a Fort Worth, Tex., junior, one of the hotest college pole vaulters in the country.
At four indoor meet in which he competed this year, he won first place and the Big Eagle and NCAA vaulting titles. In the Big Eagle meet, March 2 and 3 in Kansas City, Missouri, he competed the meet's outstanding performer. At NCAA meet, March 9 and 10 in Detroit, he vaulted a personal best of '17-04'" and defeated Olympian Jan Johnson of the United States, Roberts of Rice University, last year's Katherine Alaysa university division vaulting champion
Relays Weekend Recalls Sports Triumphs at KU
By KEVIN SHAFER
Kansan Staff Writer
For many spectators at the Kansas Relays, Memorial Stadium is a place of memories—Glen Cunningham in the early mid-1950s in the mid-50s and Jim Rourn last year.
Many of these same spectators may have been classmates of such sports greats as Bobby Douglass, Bud Stallworth or even AJ Oerter. For those spectators, recalling the days when the National Football League was Kansas during the days of national recognition are not easily forgotten.
Memories exist in many forms. One can see from the drawing of the University of Kansas above that progress can alter the chameleon color of memory lane.
Although home may never be the same to the returning journeyman, progress cannot be measured by how far you have gone.
Sports serve as medians to amplify the success of an individual. Winning in any form, on any level, especially after successful training, accents the taste of success.
Great athletes from all over the United States will be participating this weekend in one of the greatest sports spectacles at KU, the Kansas Relays. The tinge of anticipation, the butterflies of uncertainty will be a major athlete in his quest to be No. 1 in his field.
But the wary spectator won't forget the history, the memories of past spectacles in the city.
Remember the excitement of being able to watch Olympic gold medal winners exhibit their pride in the success of long and successful teams, that accompany their every performance?
Remember too the anxiety of watching an
athlete warming up before his event, knowing all along that his next performance could possibly make history by breaking a record. You can ensure the entire show from start to finish?
But success does not necessarily end at the college or university level for many athletes and their coaches. Instead, their days as an undergraduate may serve as starting blocks for very famous futures as famous athletes.
Many of the stars at KU have proven themselves individually despite the records of the teams of which they were members. Through outstanding individual effort, these athletes were still able to exhibit their outstanding athletic ability.
Sometimes the stars of the pros are taken for granted. If the star has experienced success at this level of competition, the team is then more likely to merely phenomenal and does not really stop
Wottle Sparks KU Relays
Olympic champion Dave Wottle will bring a new, white golf cap and one of the country's hottest four-mile relay teams to the Kansas Relays today and Saturday.
By EMERSON LYNN Kansan Staff Writer
Wottle will anchor Bowling Green's four-mile relay team at 1:55 today and will be entered later in the sprint medley at 2:40. There is the distance medley at 2 p.m. Saturday.
But Bowling Green's celebrated four-mile relay team isn't all Wottle. The trio that runs before Wottle is a class group and a blistering pace is expected. Running the first tap will be Steve Danforth who has a 50-foot jump over Kyle Schrutter, whose best time is 40-8.
Dedicated sports buffs realize that men like John Hadl, Wilt Chamberla and Glenn Cunningham have established themselves of history as outstanding in their fields.
But how many sports fans really pick up the facts thrown out by cut Curtly and Keith Jackson that John Riggins is a third-down hitter, a fourth-down White is from the University of Kansas?
Before Wottle makes his run, All-American Craig Macdonald will be running and the team will be on the pace.
two-mile. But this season, Wottle plans to run in some of the country's stronger relays for the first four weeks before he goes into dual connection.
"Things don't quite have the same sparkle," Wottle said. "I have trouble getting properly psyched for the smaller meets. But that doesn't hold for the relay circuit. The relays are a team effort and I'll do the best I can."
to give the st credit for his journey on the road to success.
KU has been a home for many out-standing athletes who have gone professional and who have reached the top in their sports.
Since the Olympics, Wottle said that he had had trouble getting mentally prepared before the Olympics.
But Wottle, a six-time NCAA champion,
will be the one to draw Kansas to their feet.
This will be the second time the four have
run together and they will be taking a crack
from a mile relay record that has stood
for 11 years. The record is 16 and was set by Oregon.
Wottle's name doesn't pop to the minds of many who watched the Olympics, but the pictures of the slightly-built runner wearing a golf cap do. His image is somewhat different this season, his shirt is bead new. His suit seems to be headed for bronzed immortality.
"IT'S BASICALLY the same hat but it was given to me by a teammate, Rick Schuttnick. Watt said, "it's not broken in my face." We wear it, no one knew if我 didn't.
Being part of a relay hasn't been the usual form for Wotle. He is known best for open spaces.
"The other hat? Well, I think it will become a more permanent fixture."
"The relay circuit will help my performances later on in the season. It's just fun." Wotle said, "The relay's, Wotle said, "There is nothing I enjoy more than getting the baton late and having a good distance between me and the person leading. I love that last winning moment."
ALTHOUGH THE outdoor season is just beginning for most teams, the Bowling Alley remains a popular destination.
entire season. They don't have an indoor
track and the weather, as in Kansas, hasn't
changed much.
Despite the weather, Wottle has still managed a 1:49 half mile and a 4:06.4 medley relay mile in the Kentucky Relays. These are his best times so far this season.
Winning doesn't seem to be as much of a problem to Wotton as just staying healthy.
He missed the entire season in 1971 because of bursitis of the right knee and a fractured left leg.
To those who were classmates of these
men and women, the feeling of pride may be
closer than to those of us who are able to
recognize only what the statistics tell us.
Naturally, KU has changed since these athletes walked the trails of the growing campus. But the memories of the days when they were still on their pride to their campus will never change.
See WOTTLE Page 6
The campus may not be the same. All of the faces may have changed. But one thing that will remain forever will be the common people to reach the plainest of success.
This section of the 1973 special edition of the University Daily Kansan is dedicated to those men who have excelled in their work both behind the scenes and in the eyes of the students. They may have been forged or not duly rewarded for the pride they have instilled in KU.
The athletics themselves have reached the top and have enjoyed some recognition for their achievement. But the men behind the scenes such as the coaches and even the inventors of the game often have been overlooked.
KU Track Star Still MIA
By ANN McFERREN Kansan Staff Writer
Air Force Mj. Clifford Cushman, former University of Kansas and Olympic track star, made his last visit to KU in 1966 when he was honored at the Kansas Rifles. Five months later, Cushman's jet fighter plane landed at Kansas City, and he is still listed as missing in action.
Custman's name was not on Hanoi's lists of missing in action Americans who have been accounted for. He has been missing since Sept 25, 1966, according to his wife, Carolyn, who lives in Ormaha. Mrs. Custman, Carolyn Throop, also was a KU graduate.
"Cliff always wanted to be a pilot," Mrs. Cushman said. "He belonged to Air Force ROTC at KU and received his flight training there."
At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome,
Custain placed second in the 400-meter
race.
"He wanted that gold medal, though," Mrs. Cushman said. "He was excused from his normal flight duty in 1964 to return to KU to train for the Olympic games that year." However, Cushman tripped on a hurdle in the try-outs in Los Angeles and failed to complete the race.
On the flight back from Los Angeles that night, Cushman wrote a letter to all the
young athletes in his hometown of Grand Forks, N. D.
"Cliff thought there must be some good to come of his unfortunate experience that day, so he addressed the youth of Grand Forks in a letter." Mrs. Cushman said.
In his letter, Cushman said he would rather "fail knowing I had put forth an effort to win," as he did.
"Don't feel sorry for me. I feel sorry for some of you. . . How about you? Would a little extra effort on your part bring up your grade average? Would you have a better chance to make the football team if you staved an extra 15 minutes after practice?"
... Who knows? You may be surprised at what you can achieve with sincere effort. So get up, pick up the cinders out of your bin and take one more step. I dare you."
Cushman dared the youth of Grand Forks and the entire nation to strive always for excellence and never to settle for mediocrity.
After his failure to qualify for the 1964 Olympics, Cushman decided to keep working out to stay in shape for the 1968 Olympic Games. He would have been 30 years older than the Olympic games and would have ended his Olympic career in that year, Mrs. Cushman said.
Cushman had always managed to work a running program into his schedule to keep in shape for the next Olympics, she said. He kept a regular work-out schedule even while he was serving his normal pilot duties, according to Mrs. Cushman.
See CUSHMAN Page 7
Cliff Cushman