Section B · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, February 12. 1998
KU coach broke racial barriers
LAWRENCE — In his own way, he was as much a basketball pioneer as James Naismith or Phog Allen, the men who taught him the game.
The Associated Press
Yet no one will find his name among the lettermen listed in the Kansas basketball media guide.
Not that the University does not cherish his alumni status. His 1978 election to the Basketball Hall
McClendon:Known better in North Carolina than Kansas
of Fame in Springfield, Mass., where he was inducted in the same class with Wilt Chamberlain, is noted proudly in KU basketball literature. The welcome he received upon his return to campus Saturday as part of the KU Legends weekend befitted not only his stature as one of the oldest honorees but also one of its most accomplished.
He won 76 percent of his college
games and three straight NAIA championships throughout 25 years. He helped coach the 1964 Olympic team. He briefly coached the Denver Nuggets of the old American Basketball Association.
And yet Larry Brown, one of his most ardent admirers, acknowledges that John McLendon probably is better known in North Carolina — where he coached for 14 years — than he is in his native state.
John McLendon may bear the scars of segregation, but he holds no grudges. Although the racial practices of the time prevented him from playing for the Jayhawks between 1933-36, these could not stop him from learning the game from both Allen and Naismith, the game's inventor who still was teaching at the University during the final years of his life.
"On a national scale, most coaches know of him," Brown said. "But I don't know how many people in Kansas really know what a phenomenal coach and teacher he was."
"I've long since put all that behind me," McLendon said. "It happened, and to tell you the truth, I'm glad I went through it.
"Now, I didn't appreciate the indignities, but on the other hand, I know I'm a stronger person for having gone through it."
The influence McLendon developed during his coaching tenure at North Carolina Central; Hampton Institute; Tennessee A&I, now Tennessee State, where he won three NAIA championships; Kentucky State; Cleveland State; and professionally with Cleveland of the ABL and Denver of the ABA was felt by a generation of coaches who today venerate his memory.
Brown said: "When I first met him on the Olympic team in '64, we toured and played exhibition games in a lot of places. And every time we played at a Black college with a great tradition — an Alcorn State or Southern or Tennessee State — the coach there usually was a protege of John's."
McLendon's life story is one of determination, of refusing to settle for less because of the color of his skin. Born in Hiawatha, the son of sharecroppers, McLendon was directed to the University of Kansas by his father who, although aware of the segregation practices of the time, wanted his son to get the best opportunity available.
"My mother and my father had prepared me for the world and what I should expect," he said. "I learned early that you can solve a lot of problems if you don't get emotional about it.
"You also find out that sometimes you have people on your side that you thought were on the other side."
Case in point: the integration of the Robinson pool.
Brown said: "John told me the story about how after he jumped into the pool, they'd empty it out the next day. It'd take them a couple of days to refill it, and finally, they got tired of emptying it."
But McLendon remembers, too, how a petition carried by KU football player Jack Lovelace gathered 1,000 signatures from students saying they had no objection to swimming with "colored students."
"That helped me ease a lot of bad feelings," he said. "I also was the first Black to be voted to the student council, and I know it took a lot of white votes to do that. That told me they disagreed with the practices, too. The school may have been run by the laws and practices of the times, but they didn't reflect the attitudes of everyone around."
Major league change-ups hit spring training
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — Moises Alou, Kevin Brown and Robb Nen were winning the World Series for the Florida Marlins.
The Milwaukee Brewers were playing in the American League. Pedro Martinez was in Montreal and Kenny Lofton in Atlanta.
Davey Johnson still had a job. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks did not have any players, not really.
Has it really been just 108 days?
When camps open tomorrow, much of baseball's major league will have changed.
When the Marlins, who shed 12 members of their 25-man World Series roster, play the first exhibition game, many of the differences will be apparent.
There will be 30 teams. The expanand move to Maryvale, Ariz. Milwaukee already has shifted from the American to the National League, marking the first team in the majors to change leagues since the 1892 season.
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Arizona signed Andy Benes and Jay Bell and traded for Matt Williams and Devon White. Tampa Bay signed Roberto Hernandez, Wilson Alvarez and Wade Boggs and traded for Fred McGriff.
Several clubs will be in new places this spring. The Chicago White Sox left Sarasota, Fla., and shifted to Tucson, while the Cincinnati Reds left Plant City, Fla., and moved into Sarasota.
The St. Louis Cardinals left St. Petersburg, Fla., and will share a camp in Jupiter, Fla., with the Montreal Expos, who had been in West Palm Beach, Fla. The Atlanta Braves also left West Palm Beach and will move to the Disney Wide World of Sports
The Detroit Tigers also moved, going from the American League East to the American League Central. That let Tampa Bay take its geographically correct spot in the American League East, and Arizona will join the National League West.
sion Diamondbacks and Devil Rays are well-stocked with familiar names, too.
Not all of baseball's top players will be in action right away.
All-Star catcher Todd Huddley may miss the year because of elbow trouble
The Brewers will leave Chandler
and former Cy Young winner John Smoltz is expected to start the season on the disabled list.
National League MVP Larry Walker is having elbow trouble, and pitchers David Cone and Kevin Appier are taking it easy. Florida pitcher Alex Fernandez will be sidelined the whole season after a torn rotator cuff finished him in the National League playoffs.
Many other big-name players have new addresses.
Martinez, the National League Cy Young winner, was traded from Montreal to Boston and signed a record $75 million, six-year contract.
The managers' roster has changed, too
Ray Miller got the job in Baltimore after Davey Johnson left in a feud with Orioles owner Peter Angelos. Marlins coach Jerry Manuel was hired by the White Sox, and Tim Johnson took over in Toronto.
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