Sports
Daily Hansan
61st Year, No. 1
Sports
LAWRENCE. KANSAS
Thursday, Sept. 12, 1963
Kansan Photo by Doug Keller
GALE SAYERS . . . "I just carry the ball"
Gale Sayers Wants Victories, Not Yards
An end sweep . . . a dive over tackle . . . a running pass play . . .
whatever, one of the Sayers brothers is on his way to a touch-down.
Roger Sayers, an eight grader,
is playing left halfback. Gale Sayers,
a seventh grader, is right halfback.
They're playing on a championship midget football team team sponsored by an Omaha, Neb.,
By Roy Miller
THIS EVENING... By Roy Miller
quarry. In time, Roger will become a standout football player and spinner for the University of Omaha. Gale will become a bonafide all-America candidate at the University of Kansas.
As an eighth grader that year, the eldest Sayers accounted for 25 touchdowns. His brother scored 15.
The next year, playing on the dairy team without the accompaniment of his brother, Gale scored 21 touchdowns and the team won another championship.
By that time, Gale Sayers was convinced he liked playing football. A lot of other people were convinced Gale would become a great player.
A freshman at Omaha Central High School, Gale scored only four touchdowns and the Eagles won the Inter-City Freshman League championship.
He moved up into the ranks of the varsity team at Central. Twice, his team won the Nebraska State Class AAA title.
As a senior, Gale scored 25 touchdowns and was named to all-state, all-Midwest and all-America prep teams. He was a hurdler for the state championship track team, ran the 100-vard dash in 9.7 seconds and his $24-10_{1/2}$ effort in the broad jump placed him atop the nation's high school broad jumpers that year.
College scouts started knocking on the Sayers' door in Omaha. Gale received bids from every Big Eight and Big Ten school, from Notre Dame, UCLA and Syracuse.
The speedy Omaha halfback was given so many pitches, today he says it was so confusing he hardly remembers how many schools contacted him. And, it wasn't easy deciding which offer to accept.
Tom Triplett, former freshman football coach, represented KU. He had been sent to Omaha after Ron Marsh, now a KU football guard and swimming diver, and then an athlete at Omaha Tech High, alerted KU about Sayers once when he was talking to Jay Markley, former swim coach.
Gale entered the Nebraska allstar game in the middle of August before his freshman year in college still undecided which school to attend.
But Gale didn't let indecision bother his performance in the all-star game. Plaving for the South, he scored four TDs in a 32-0 victory. He calls that the best game of his high school career.
Shortly afterward, he chose KU. As a freshman, he scored all the team's touchdowns. Last year, he led KU and the conference in rushing and ranked third in the nation with 1.125 yards.
A member of at least one preseason all-America first team, Sayers need to gain only 875 yards to become the first player in conference history to rush 2,000 yards in two consecutive seasons.
"When I'm playing, I don't worry about yardage." Sayers said the other day. "I just carry the ball when it's my turn."
Such heroes as gaining 283 yards in 22 carries against Oklahoma State earned him a spot on the Associated Press' all-Big Eight team. But, again, Gale couldn't care less. He's more interested in the team's success.
But the junior from Nebraska couldn't care less.
"If we get by Syracuse, I think we'll be on our way," Sayers said. "There's no team in the league that has a better running or passing attack."
As a matter of fact, with two fullbacks who have never lost a yard in their collegiate careers, a hard-hitting halfback, an inexperienced but promising quarterback and Sayers, KU might have the best backfield in the nation.
After pro ball. Gale says his wife's plans call for the development of a chain of apartment houses.
"Steve Renko can really throw that ball." Gale said of the rookie quarterback. "He's a natural athlete. He knows how to direct a team."
Get that. At home, Mrs. Savers is the boss. On the field, Mr. "S" is in control—much to the dismay of the other teams in the Big Eight Conference.
KU Football Success Depends on Compromise
A serious injury to Gale Sayers or to Ken Coleman or to Armand Baughman or to Steve Renko . . . the sudden development of another Jay Roberts or another Pete Quatrochi or another Brian Schweda or another Mike Shinn.
Yes, those are fantasies. One, the former, could knock the University of Kansas football team out of the first division in the Big Eight Conference. The latter, possibly even a greater fantasy, could boost KU to first place in the league in 1963.
Just as the fantasies are extremes, so are the realities, perhaps. People are saying KU will have one of the best backfields and one of the poorest lines in collegiate football this season.
WILL TIME PRODUCE a compromise? This is the question KU players, coaches, fans and the just plain curious are asking while awaiting the Jayhawkers' season opening game against Texas Christian University.
For those too impatient to wait until the evening of Sept. 21 when KU plays TCU at Fort Worth, a full dress rehearsal is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Memorial Stadium. The intra-squad scrimmage will mark the last time fans will be able to see KU players in game uniforms or to inspect the newly remodeled stadium until Syracuse visits here on Sept. 28.
Jack Mitchell, who will be starting his sixth year as KU head coach, made this comment for the benefit of the pre-season football magazines and brochures:
"Our team looks as though it will be a year away from a really good football team. I feel we'll need to improve 25 per cent to equal last year's record because of an accelerated schedule that includes Syracuse and Wyoming, replacing Boston University and California."
THAT WAS MITCHELL'S comment last spring. Asked yesterday if this thinking still is true. Mitchell said:
"I think the situation remains the same. I think we'll be a better team this year, but some of our opponents may possess greater improvement."
Mention of such veterans as Gale Sayers, Ken Coleman, Armand Baughman, Tony Leiber, Ron
Oelschlager and Dave Crandall, or such newcomers as Steve Renko, Mike Johnson and Sims Stokes, provides the basis for the claim the backfield will be one of the best in the nation.
At the same time, the lack of personnel necessary for a strong line bears out the fear the KU line will be weak in 1963. The only returning line regulars are center Pete Quatrochi, end Jay Roberts, end Mike Shinn and tackle Brian Schweda.
The Jayhawks, who finished fourth last year are given a chance to finish second this year in the Big Eight. Oklahoma appears to be the unanimous choice for the championship. Other teams recognized as legitimate threats are Nebraska and Missouri, both of which finished ahead of KU last season.
EVEN THOUGH the Jayhawks may learn "it's what's up front that counts," if the backfield is as spectacular as it promises to be, and the line could show a few surprises, KU could worry the Sooners from Norman, Okla.
So plentiful is KU backfield talent that fullback Baughman and slot-back Tony Leiker were used on the line several days in spring practice. Leiker still may play on the forward wall as an end.
In halfback Gale Sayers, KU has its first bona fide all-America candidate since the days of John Hadl. As a rookie last season, Sayers, an all-Big Eight choice, finished third among the nations' rushers with 1,125 yards.
The fullback position is so strong Baughman and Coleman keep up a rivalry for the honor of being a starter. Both have yet to lose a yard as a Jayhawk ball carrier.
THE WEAKEST SPOT in the backfield will probably be quarterback, and that may be only a comparative sort of weakness. Renko, who could become the greatest all-round athlete in KU's history, appears to be the starter, even though he's never played in a collegiate game in his life.
What's more, he only played quarterback in one freshman game last year and worked at the position during the spring workouts. In high school, and in the early part of his freshman season, he was a fullback.
More Seats, New Press Facility Follow Stadium's Growth Pattern
KU's Memorial Stadium, enlarged by 6.500 seats for the 1963 football season, has grown under the add-a-section plan.
The latest expansion of the stadium, the first in 36 years, was begun last January. It actually is the fourth enlargement of the original concrete arena which dates to 1921.
Before the stadium grows into a bowl, and some KU officials forsee such a situation, enlargement of the stadium will continue to be in sections.
BUILT AT A cost of more than $600,000, the latest addition includes 27 rows of seats atop the west section of the stadium. Also included in the program is a new three-level press box, an elevator to the press box and various improvements of the structure.
The first two sections of the present stadium were erected in 1921. The first game on the stadium field was played Oct. 29 of that year when KU beat Kansas State, 21-7, before 5.160 fans.
With four more sections completed by Nov. 24 of the same year, a crowd of 15,480 watched the Jayhawkers defeat Missouri. 15-9.
In 1925, the southernmost sections on both sides were added. They housed the visiting and home dressing rooms. KU beat Oklahoma State (then A & M), 31-3, on Oct 3 of that year as 20,640 persons looked on.
THE NORTH CURVE was completed two years later, bringing the stadium's capacity to 35,000. The Jayhawkers played their first game in the finished stadium Oct. 8, 1927, losing 26-6, to Wisconsin.
The Javahawks will initiate Memorial Stadium action this season Sept. 28 against Syracuse University. Capacity of the stadium for that game—and a big crowd is expected, will be 44,900, including the bleachers behind the south end zone.
When the particulars of the lates expansion were announced last September, there was talk that the next step would be an identical 6,500-seat area on top of the existing seats on the east side. After that, it was indicated the stadium would eventually become a bowl with other sections to be added as the need arises.
ONE OF THE strongest opponents of the proposal that would have eliminated the track was Dr. Forrest C. (Phog) Allen, now a Lawrence osteopath, who is given a large amount of credit for building Memorial Stadium in the first place.
When mention of expanding Memorial Stadium was made two springs ago, the first plan called for the elimination of the track and the addition of seats downward. This proposal was met by strong protest and was abolished.
As a matter of fact, it was also Dr. Allen who is largely responsible for the KU Relays, the event that might
have been destroyed if the downward expansion had been allowed.
KU's first two football seasons were played in old Central Park on Massachusetts Street before the University's first field was built. It was called McCook Field, named for Col. John McCook, who contributed an initial $2,500 to a building drive.
McCook, stretching from east to west on a site adjacent to the present stadium, was nothing more than most stadia of football's early days—a set of wooden stands bordering each side of the field. The north horseshoe of Memorial Stadium covers much of old McCook Field.
Memorial Stadium was born out of enthusiasm as much as anything else.
PLAYING AGAINST Nebraska late in the 1920 season, KU fell behind 20-0 at the half. In one of the school's most famous comebacks, Coach "Phog" Allen's team gained a 20-20 tie.
The Monday following the game,
students and faculty, celebrating the
comeback in a mass meeting, pledged
$200,000 toward a million-dollar
drive for a modern concrete stadium.
Allen, who was athletic director as well as football coach then, envisioned a horseshoe structure, one much like the one at Princeton University then—and that's what KU got.
At the time, most folks said Allen (Continued on page 2)