PAGE 8B
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2012
FINAL BORDER SHOWDOWN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Jayhawks have the last laugh with the fans
J
Jayhawk fans hold up many diff tip off.
Dressed as Civil War figure Jo Tigers fan passes by during S
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
WORDS BY IAN CUMMINGS
S sometimes, a name is just a name — even when the name in question seems completely uncommon and unique.
Just ask Jay Dulac, of Jayhawk HVAC in Santa Rosa, Calif. Or Carl Grady, of Jayhawk Detective Agency in Atlantic City, N.J.
They aren't University alumni, but they had their reasons for incorporating the mythical bird in the name of their businesses, including their own names and versions of historical events.
"It had nothing to do with Dorothy or Wizard of Oz or any of those people," Dulac says.
There are dozens of businesses and locales around the country that use Jav-
hawk in the name, and often they have nothing to do with the University of Kansas.
On the other hand, a traveler en route to Chicago or San Diego can always find a sports bar broadcasting a Kansas basketball game.
But it won't be called "Jayhawk's."
exclusively for Kansans - it also promotes Chicago Blackhawks hockey and Wisconsin basketball - but it does advertise all televised Kansas games.
Kansas fans in San Diego should be looking for The Boardwalk Mission Beach, 3704 Mission Blvd. The restaurant is available to Kansas fans for every game. Thanks to the owner, University alumnus Patrick Walsh, visitors can pick up a "Rock Chalk Boardwalk" t-shirt, too.
Dulac, the California HVAC man, says he has become a Kansas basketball fan from 21 years of cutting out newspaper clippings about their victories. But he originally named his business after himself - Jay - and a former business partner named Hawkyyard. His partner is no longer with him, Dulac says, but it would cost too much money and cause too much trouble to change the sign on the building.
In Chicago, Jayhawks can check out KU Trivia Night at Lottie's Pub & Grill. 1925 W. Cortland. The bar is not
Grady, the Atlantic City private detective, says he took the Jayhawk name for his business 25 years ago, after searching history for notable crime fighters.
VIKAAS SHANKER/KANSAN
KU fans cheer on the Jayhawks while enjoying a drink at Lottie's Pub & Grill in Chicago.
He went back in time, beyond the days of Bleeding Kansas, to the 1849 California Gold Rush.
"Back in the day, they were a group of people, like a posse, that would help people who were tormented," Grady says. "They were a good group of people, who helped people. Balanced the system."
The Jayhawk name seems to be more common in the western part of the country. In Colorado alone, one can find Jayhawk Trailers in Commerce City, Jayhawk Exteriors, Inc., in Bryers, and Jayhawk Woodcarving in Evergreen.
Grady says he considers himself a crime fighter in that same tradition, as he investigates misdeeds and missing persons all over the world.
Further west, in El Dorado County, Calif., county officials had to check with a local historian to determine if there is such as place as Jayhawk.
One possibility, he says, is that settlers brought the name with them in the Gold Rush. Another is that thieves and killers brought it west following the disorder of the Civil War.
County Supervisor Francis Carpenter confirms that Jayhawk is a nearby ghost town that has not been inhabited since the Civil War era. But Jayhawk Cemetery is still there.
As to where the name comes from, Carpenter can only guess.
There is some support for Grady's version of events - it seems likely that the term "Jayhawk" first appeared in 1849, long before Kansas became a state - but accounts differ greatly.
Back at the county office, Deputy Clerk Marcie MacFarland says it is the first she's ever heard of such a place as Jayhawk. For MacFarland, who moved to California from the northwest corner of Kansas at age 12, "Jayhawk" remains what it was for her when she drew pictures of it as a schoolgirl.
"They were, I guess, some pretty nasty people," Carpenter says.
"It means that big, funny-looking bird," she says.
6. TANNING BED
5. RESORT STYLE SALT WATER POOL
7. 24 HOUR GAME ROOM
8. FREE PARKING
9. PETS ACCEPTED
10. ON-SITE LAUNDRY
Ask about our Look and Lease Special!
Hawks Pointe
1421 W 7th Street, Lawrence, KS 66049
P 785,841,5255 | www.hawkspointeapts.co
.