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Tuesday, January 11, 1994
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Former players are recognized during halftime reunion
'Hawks pay tribute to basketball history
By Gerry Fey
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
The portraits of former Kansas basketball players and coaches hang on the wall outside the Allen Field House court as reminders of an age gone but not forgotten.
Today's fans remember Kansas basketball history, and Saturday night a capacity crowd of 15,800 packed the field house for the Jayhawks' 91-59 victory against Southern Methodist and a lettermen's reunion.
More than 120 former basketball players and coaches returned for the weekend's festivities, which included a banquet Friday night.
Former players Paul Endacott and Clyde Lovellette and former coach Ted Owens received the biggest crowd reaction when they were introduced at halftime.
Lovellette said he was pleasantly surprised with the crowd response. Seeing players from different decades was fun, he said.
"You see a lot of ball players who have pictures on the wall," Lovellette said. "You see the older players, and you see newer players that played after you. It's a camaraderie with all the KU ball players whether you're in the '20s or in the '90s."
Lovellette was a Jayhawk from 1950 to 1952. He led his team to an 80-63 victory against St. John's to win the 1952 NCAA national championship and is the second all-time leading scorer in Kansas history with 1,888 points and a 24.5 points a game average.
Lovellette never played in the field house during his career—the Jayhawks used to play home games in Hoch Auditorium—but he said the fans were no different than the fans of yesterday. He said the game had changed, but the players had not.
"When we played in front of 3,000 people it was just as rabid as if you had 16,000 here," he said. "They just
make a little bit more noise now.
"It's getting faster. There's more fast breaking rather than setting up. But I think we could adapt to the game today. Of course, if we were playing today in this era of basketball we'd be equipped."
Endacott and his teammate Tusen Ackerman represented the 1920s. Endacott played at Kansas from 1921 to 1923. His senior season, the Jayhawks won a Missouri Valley Conference title, finished with a 17-1 record, and were recognized by the Helms Foundation as national champions.
F. C. "Phog" Allen, then the Kansas coach, called Endacott the greatest player he had ever coached.
Endacott said he wasn't able to attend as many games as he would have liked to.
"It was impressive, sentimental you might say," Endacott said. "I left in 1923. That was 70 years ago. I get back for reunions and things like that."
Kansas coach Roy Williams said the reunion showed the tradition behind Kansas basketball. The weekend's events and the reunion were Williams' idea. He said he wanted his current players to know about the history behind the Jayhawks.
"Kids nowadays, when you say tradition, they don't know what that is," Williams said. "They think Julius Erving invented the game. I told everybody in the locker room, you should be proud to wear that 'K' on your shirts."
Center Scott Pollard said he was starting to understand Kansas tradition.
"We had a banquet last night, and that was a big deal," Pollard said. "As a freshman, I have a hard time realizing the tradition, but I kind of stepped into it. All these guys that played years and years ago come back and still care about us. It was amazing to see."
Owens, who coached Kansas from 1964 to 1983, said Kansas basketball history was unmatched anywhere.
"I know there are some terrific basketball schools, but it is a special, special place," he said. "It was terrific. Just being around so many people that have been such a part of Kansas basketball."
1923 player of the year attends reunion
Douz Hesse / KANSAN
'Phog' Allen called Endacott the best
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
Endacott, 91, returned Friday to Lawrence for a lettermen's reunion as one of only two players from the 1920s era. The other was his teammate, 92-year-old Tusten Ackerman.
Paul Endacott, Kansas basketball player from 1921 to 1923, was one of many former Kansas lettermen honored at the men's basketball game Saturday.
It was 70 years ago when Paul Endacott ended his college basketball career at Kansas. At that point, then coach F.C. "Phog" Allen called him the best player he had ever coached.
More than 120 former letter winners were honored Saturday during halftime of the Kansas-Southern Methodist game.
Endacott is from Bartlesville, Okla., which makes it hard for him to attend Kansas basketball games. He said he gets back to Lawrence for reunions and special occasions.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said he was happy to see Endacott and Ackerman at the game.
"You look down there and see those players from 70 years ago," Williams said, "and they're still watching games. That's what sets this place apart."
Endacott lettered in basketball from 1921 to 1923. He captured the 1923 team and led Kansas to a 17-1 overall record and 16-0 Missouri Valley Conference record.
In a time before the NCAA existed, the 1922 and 1923 teams were recognized by the Helms Foundation as national champions. The foundation also named Endacott the National Player of the Year in 1923.
Those teams were coached by Allen, who is known as "the father of
basketball coaching." Allen coached Kansas from 1907 to 1909 and from 1919 to 1956 and compiled a 590-219 record. Endacott said Allen was the backbone of that success. Now, the banner spread across Allen Field House that says, "Pay heed all who enter, Beware of the Phog," pays tribute to him.
"Of course he was a terrific guy," Endacott said. "He would play upon your emotions and get you worked up. You'd think the world was in your hands. He was a magician at keeping people in shape. He would
get you up to play when it was almost impossible."
In Endacott's era, players shot a leather ball into a peach basket. He said the team never thought about what the future of basketball would be like.
"We never dreamed about the future much," he said. "We had so much on our hands at the time, we just didn't think about it."
change in basketball.
"They were commenting on how the only similarities between the game was a ball and there were five guys on the court," Pollard said. "They had ladders and peach baskets. They cut a hole in the bottom of it. About the only similarity was that the peach basket was 10 feet high."
Endacott said there have been many changes and many improvements in the game.
"It's speeded up," he said. "Lots of rules changes. Things have been done to interest the spectators."