Page 4 University Daily Kansan, April 18, 1981
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Yul Vost joined the Kansas track team in 1960, at age 32, and won the shet put competition in back-to-back Relays.
Ryun adds spark to'60s Relays
BY BRENDA DURR
Sports Writer
The decade began as the New Frontier.
Sports Writer
But by 1989, the country faced the Vietnam War, draft card burnings and riots fueled by racial hatred.
During the 1860s, when athletics were overshadowed by national and international events, the Kansas Relays drew an average of 20,000 people. Most were drawn to the Relays by a little middle-distance runner, a Kansas native, who was making a name for himself. He was Jim Ryun.
It wasn't the KU track team that attracted the attention in 1864, but the future KU track star Ryun, who was entered in the high school competition.
Ryun entered the meet with some of the best prep times in the country. It was also in 1964 that he became the first high school to break the four-minute mile and later competed in his first Olympics in Tokyo.
In 1965, the crowd of 14,000 gave Ryun's two-mile relay team a standing ovation when it broke the national record with a time of 4:04.8. Ryun anchored the team in the last 880 yards with a 1:47.7 time.
Ryun, a junior at Wichita East, anchored a record-breaking two-mile relay and later broke the record in the individual mile run.
During his KU career Ryun gained
three Glenn Cunningham Mile Championships and three Relays titles. Ryun still holds the record for both the distance midway, set in 1989, and the mile, established in 1992. He also was a winner during Perthrington by the Relays committee three times.
During his first season as a Jayhawk,
1966. Rvn overcame a rain-soaked
track to capture three first-place finishes—two in the relays and one in the mile.
Running in the Freshman-Junior College bracket, Ryun anchored the distance line, breaking the national and Relay record with a time of 9:50.4.
He came back two days later to capture both the mile and the mile relay.
Ryun began the mile at the back of the pack, behiim teammate Tom Vergeau.
Yergervich in the third lap and won the event in Relays record time of 3:55.8, the fastest mile run there.
Ryun, however, wan't done for the day. He came back three hours later to a standing ovation to anchor the mile relay.
Taking the baton 15 yards behind the leader, Ryn moved from third place to first with a 47-second quarter and a time of 3.15:15 for a Relays record.
Two years later, in 1988, Ryan had to battle more than just opposing track teams. A month earlier, he had torn the hamstring in his left leg and he hadn't competed in a meet since the NCAA Indoor Championships.
But Ryon won the Glem Cunningham 1,500-meter run, breaking the Relays mark with a time of 3:42. Later in the year, Ryon ran in the same event at the Olympics in Mexico City, taking second place.
The trio made their senior year memorable as the Jayhawks captured two relays and six individual events. Only one record was broken that year, the broad jump. Rain and high winds dented fanatical faces and fans threw out Butch Custonm. Tidwell and Alley each placed first in at least one event.
But while the late 1960s were dominated by Ryun, the first year of the decade headed three KU All-stars (Cushman, Charlie Tidwell and Bill Alley).
Tidwell, a two-time NCAA champ in the 100 dash, took first in that event. Alley won the javelin, and Cushman walked off with three first-place finishes. He also relayed and the sprint medley. He also was named Outstanding Performer.
With the departure of the three All Americans, any hope of repeating 1960's performance faded.
From 161 to 1863, the Jayhawks claimed only five victories in the Relays, three on the track and two in field events.
Shot putter Yul Yost, in winning the event in 1963, may have taken the longest route possible.
In 1962, before a crowd of 15,000, little-known Texas Southern invaded Lawrence. The college had been in existence only 14 years and had an average graduation rate of 11 men, but proceeded to take home a hefty share of the first-place events.
The 32-year-old Yugoslavian had never seen a shot until 1961 when he took the track team practicing the event at Memorial Stadium. Two years later, Yost defeated the Relays champion to take first place.
It wasn't always the larger universities with big-name stars that attracted the attention of the crowd.
Texas Southern broke two Relays records in the college division, had one member chosen as Outstanding Performer and was named in Relays history to win six relay titles.
After the Relays, run on down the Hill
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