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University Daily Kansan, April 22, 1983
Wichita businessman follows track circuit Wandering track reporter is Relays announcer
By BOB LUDER Sports Writer
Finding someone who knows more about both the Kansas Relays and track and field than Bob Timmons, Relays director and KU track coach, is a hard assignment for anyone. But Timmons himself may have found just the person to do a job that requires immense knowledge of the subjects.
When the 1983 Kansas Relays began Wednesday with the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon, Don Steffens, a Wichita real estate executive, began his second year as public address announcer at the four-day track meet.
Steffens also resumed a part-time activity, reporting on sports. In addition to working as announcer for the meet, he helped meet the meet for Track and Field News.
WHEN STEFFENS ISN'T selling or renting property for Property Management, a Wichita business owned by his family, he spends part of his spare money to hire a dedicated Field News, a publication generally regarded as the book of track and field.
Steffens, 7, used to work full time for the publication, which is based in Los
Altos, Calif., but he now reports on meets largely for the fun of it.
"I just love to travel around and watch track meets," he said. "But there wasn't much financial remuneration in working full time for Track and Field News, so now I go to meets mostly as a hobby."
Steffens reported on the Texas Relays two weekends ago, and he said he might cover the Drake Relays later in the spring. He also covered several KU indoor meets during the past season.
ALTHOUGH HIS WORK with Track and Field Newa has spanned about 15 years, it is just a small part of his experience in the sport.
Steffens' love for the sport started when he was a high school student at Wichita East High School. He followed closely the performances of his older classmates and was on the track team at East High, and was impressed by the track coach.
The track coach was Bob Timmons. Steffens said he became 'Timmons' team manager in 1948 when his brother (took over) the job he can an easy way to obtain a varnish letter.
"I INTERVIEWED FOR the job and at first I don't think Timmons was too impressed with me," he said. "But
when he found out I could type 72 words a minute, he decided to give me a try "
In addition to Timmons' guidance, Steffens was also influenced by a young miler at East, Jim Rynn, who was gaining attention in the track world because of his record performances. Ryun's first sub-four-minute mile in high school, cited by track historians as the first such performance ever by a high school athlete, is a race that still sticks in Steffens mind.
"When I think of all of the great performances I've seen over the years, I have to look of Jim Ryun," he said. "Ryun's 3:58 in a high school meet is remarkable in that nobody has even challenged him. Ryan is one of our school athletes in history have broken four minutes, but they haven't come close to Ryun's record."
TIMMONS AND STEFFEENS both left East for KU in 1946, Timmons to become head track coach and Steffens to begin his freshman year in college.
Steffens again served as 'Timmons' manager during his final two years at KU and was sports editor of the Kusanari team in 1987, with a degree in journalism in 1987.
Shortly after his graduation, Steffens learned that Track and Field News had an opening for an assistant editor. That
was the opportunity he had been looking for - a chance to report on track and field. He immediately applied for the position and had a recommendation from Timmons but was not hired.
Undaunted, he applied again to the publication the next year and was accepted.
HIS FIRST MAJOR assignment in his new job was to cover the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. After hitchinghike to Mexico City, he covered many events. However, his memories again turn to Ryum, who was defeated in the 1,500-meter finals by Kipchoge Keino of Kenya.
"The only way anybody could have beaten Rym in that race was to have a teammate take the pace out fast and hit him in oxygen debt," Steffans said.
Kenya's Ben Jipho did just that his teammate, Steffens said.
"The Kenyans had trained at altitude
which got them at a great advantage."
when put them at a greater. The following year, Steffens left Team USA, as he put it, to become a ski burn. But when the spring and summer track season rolled around, he was once again hitchhiking throughout the United States and Europe to watch track meets. He said that one summer he covered 3,000
miles; he started in New York, went up through Canada and finished up on the West Coast.
IN 1972, STEFFENS was returned to the Olympics, which were in Munich, West Germany, as a statistician for the Munich Olympic Organizing Committee. He was the only non-German member of the staff.
The Munich Olympics was one of the most fascinating times of his life, Steffens said. All the teams were prepared for the political village but had no political conflicts.
But the Munich Games were also a sad and horrifying experience for Steffens. He was in the Olympic village when 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and killed by Arab terrorists. Steffens, an interpreter for ABC-TV reporter Peter Jennings during the coverage of the massacre.
IN 1973, WHEN Steffens learned that Track and Field News had personnel problems, he rejoined the staff and stayed on full time until 1974. Then he decided to return to Wichita and join his brother Bill in the family real estate
Steffens said that he was looking forward to announcing this year's Relays but that he had mixed emotions about the visiting team from Russia.
"I'm excited about the quality of the competition that the Russian athletes will provide," he said. "But this is the off-season for European track, so they probably won't be at their top performance level."
"Also, I think it's an ironic situation in that, while all this money is being spent to bring in athletes from another country, none is being spent to bring in top American athletes."
THROUGH 20 YEARS of traveling around the world and watching track and field meets, Steffens has seen many of the top performances in the sport, including what his favorite performance was, he mentions a familiar name.
"I was at Berkeley when Ryan run his world record 3.15.3. That's probably the single greatest performance I've seen," he said. "When Seb Coe and I competed in the heat, we had competition hot on their heels, but Ryn set his records all alone."
"I feel that if Ryun had had the competition that these guys have now, he'd have set put the record down to where it is now."
But that's history, and the 1983 Kansas Relays is now. In either case, when it comes to track and field, Don Steffens knows what he's talking about.
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