CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, February 22, 1994
3
Student leaves behind friends, memories
By Susan White Kansan staff writer
Anthony Thomas may have only been at the University of Kansas for two semesters — but in that short time he made some close friends who will remember him.
Thomas died Friday from meningitis.
Dave Moradazadeh, Skokie, ill., freshman, said he met Thomas, who was a Kansas City, Kan., junior, through Thomas' roommate and had a meteorology class with him.
"We played Joe Montana Football a lot on his Sega, and we joked around a lot together," he said. "He was a real funny guy. I remember sitting in class or working on labs together and joking around with him."
Charles Wedge, Hays freshman, said he met Thomas a few days after classes started, and they always go along.
"He was liked by most people who knew
Anthony Thomas
him," he said. "One time we were joking around, and he told me if I threw another piece of paper at him, he would throw me in the trash can. I threw the paper and ended up in the trash can. He always joined with me after that about stuffing me in the trash can."
Thomas' sense of humor won him a second place award on Nov. 5 in the Omega Psi Phi Talent Exposé. He performed a comedy routine in the contest between University of Kansas and Lawrence High School students, said Brian Jones, Kansas City, Mo., sophomore and president of the fraternity.
"I interviewed him for the contest, and he was always telling jokes," he said. "He was pretty funny."
Moradzadeh said that Thomas had hoped to play for the KU football team in the fall.
"Ihe really loved to play football," he said.
"His dream was to play Big Eight football and eventually to play pro-football for the Chiefs. It's ironic that the stress from his true love may have led to his death."
Wedge said that besides playing football, Thomas spent a lot of his time watching the sport on television.
Moradzadeh said that Thomas also devoted a large portion of his time to his studies.
"He loved to watch football in the lobby," he said. "He had a specific seat he always sat in. Everybody knew which seat was his, and he was always there. He also would hook his Sega up to the big TV in the lobby and played his football game. He had a television in his room, but he liked to play it on the big screen."
Wedge said he would miss Thomas a lot.
"When we first heard about his death, everybody worried about getting sick," he said. "I was just in shock because I had lost a friend."
"He studied a lot," he said. "He really wanted to make something of himself. He always got things done and rarely put things off."
A fund has been set up to help Thomas' family pay for hospital and funeral expenses. Donations may be sent to the Brotherhood Bank and Trust, 756 Minnesota, Kansas City, Kan.
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. on Friday at the Pleasant Green Baptist Church, 3340 Oakland, Kansas City, Kan. There will be a wake before the funeral.
FACES
Student's alter ego pumps crowds
'Seinfeld' character popular with KU fans
By Cheryl Cadue
Kansan staff writer
Jeremy Boldra, Hayfield, sophomore, dresses up as 'Kramer,' the character from the television show "Seinfalls," at men's basketball games. Boldra said that one of his Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity brothers suggested the Kramer look one night when his hair was messed up.
For Jeremy Boldra, Hays sophomore, portraying a sitcom character during men's home basketball games requires more than crazy hair and crazy clothes.
"I'm more or less a shy person. I've tried to overcome that," Boldra said. "It's strange when I'm in costume and I'm walking around games and people who I don't know come up and say 'Hi.'"
Boldra, who portrays Kramer, a character on the popular television sitcom "Seinfeld," said he dressed up as Kramer for the contest of the best impersonation of a television character at Late Night with Roy Williams last fall, which he won. KU cheerleaders told him he should dress up as Kramer for home basketball games.
"I have never gotten this crazy," Boldra said. "I'll probably do this through the rest of the season, and I might do it next year. It's been fun. It's really neat when people recognize you on campus when I'm not dressed up."
Boldra said he did not mind the publicity his Kramer impressionation had brought, but he did notlike watching himself on television.
Boldra said that even though he had enjoyed playing Kramer, he thought he could quit portraying the character because the KU basketball crowd had lost some of its enthusiasm for him.
"I thought I looked like a goofball or an idiot," Boldra said. "My friends have been real supportive. They've gone to games with me and cheered me on so I don't feel as weird or strange."
"The crowd really isn't into it that much," Boldra said. "I'd say that it's partly my fault."
"I'm not totally acting it out like I should. After seeing myself on TV, I became a little scared and a little embarrassed."
Boldra said his own enthusiasm for the Kramer portrayal had waned because KU had lost several home games.
"Until the K-State game, we had only lost to Temple and it was the only game that I hadn't dressed up for," he said. "There's no longer any superstitious factor for me."
Boldra said he still had not gotten use to the popularity his Kramer portrayal had gained.
"I wasn't that 'popular' in high school." Boldra said. "I was shy. I wasn't a big parter or crazy so it's weird when I'm up on campus and people who don't know even know me say 'lay, what's up. I feel somewhat popular, and I don't know how to respond. It's definitely not gone to my head."
Boldra said that portraying Kramer required more time than he had originally expected.
"I wanted to get involved in Rock Chalk this year, but I didn't have time for it because I've been going to games and stuff," Boldra, an education major, said. "This Kramer thing has kind of taken up this year."
John Blair, Albuquerque, N.M., sophomore, said Boldra added a new spin to basketball games.
"I think we need someone adding morale other than the yell leaders and cheerleaders at the games," he said. "Kraner is humorous and a little bumbling. He's a good character to get people pumped up at the games and to root on our Jayhawks."
Blair said Boldra should continue his Kramer portrayal during next year's basketball season
"Jeremy likes to do it, and he's good at it," he said. "He reminds me of Captain Jayhawk. Jeremy would be like a campus icon."
For Boldra, meeting a lot of friendly
people has been the best aspect of portraying Kramer.
"I really appreciate all the campus support and everyone for this because it's been nice," he said. "I've met a lot of friendly people. I couldn't have done this if they had not been friendly and supportive."
KU readies for NCAA self-study
Review of athletic program to determine accreditation
By Stephen Martino Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas athletic department will be undergoing a new accreditation policy that, many said, will increase understanding about how intercollegiate athletics work.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association now requires all Division I schools to conduct an internal self-study that will be verified by an outside review team. Previous to the new policy, schools had conducted self studies, but there had been no outside review or verification, and the NCAA was simply notified that the school had conducted its examination.
The change in policy was a recommendation from the presidents' council to the NCAA, said John Leavens, assistant executive director for the NCAA. The presidents' council comprises all the Division I school presidents.
"This will be a peer-review process," Leavens said. "It is intended to swing the doors of intercollegiate athletics open to communities and universities."
Leavens said that the new review process would focus on four areas within a university; academic integrity, fiscal integrity, governance and commitment to rules compliance and commitment to equity. Commitment to equity will include gender and ethnic concerns and student-athlete welfare.
Richard Konzem, assistant athletics director, said that the University athletic department welcomed the accreditation process. He said that the process would expose the role of the athletic department and eliminate misinformation about it.
"This expands quite a bit from the institutional self-study," he said.
Leavens said that the University was in the first group of Division I schools to go through the new accreditation policy. He said that accreditation would occur every five years and that all Division I schools were separated into groups of about 60. There are 301 Division I schools, and Oklahoma State University is the only other Big Eight school in Kansas' accreditation group.
Universities have one year to complete the self-study aspect of the accreditation process. Kansas started in the fall of 1993, and it has until the fall of 1994 to complete the self-study.
Once a university has completed its self-study, Leavens said, a three- to five-person peer-review team would visit the school from two to four days and analyze the information the internal self-study group accumulated. He said that the peer-review group would probably contain a college president, a faculty representative and an athletics administrator.
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs and head of the University's self-study committee, said the committee hoped that the report would be ready by August to present to Chancellor Gene Budig. Ambler said that he expected the outside peer-review group to come to the University by November.
Leavens said that after the complete review process, universities could receive one of three notifications from the NCAA: certified with no conditions, certified with conditions and not certified.
"I have complete confidence that we will receive full certification," said Del Shankel, professor of microbiology and the University's liaison to both the Big Eight and the NCAA. "However, I'm sure we will discover some areas where we can make some improvement."
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