Page 10 University Daily Kansan Friday, Nov. 18, 1955
TEETH AND FOOTBALL—Dr. A. R. Kennedy, Lawrence dentist who coached successful football teams at the University, reminisces in his office about his career, with a patient, Dennis Henderson, Salina senior.
Dentist Coached Undefeated Team
The list of fabulous characters in KU football history is long, and among this group stands out the name of A. R. Kennedy, who turned out extremely successful Jayhawk-elevens in the early years of the century.
Kennedy's tenure, from 1904 through 1910, was the brightest in the school's history. He forged a 53-9-4 record at Mt. Oread, winning the Missouri Valley championship in 1908 with an undefeated team. Four of his other six teams were beaten out once.
Beats Notice Damé
His first team whipped Notre Dame 24-5 on old McCook Field in Lawrence. He beat Nebraska three out of four after enjoying a 2-1 edge over the powerful Cornhuskers during his playing days.
The 79-year-old native of Lawrence coached football at two other Kansas schools, Haskell and Washburn.
His 1987, 1988 and 1990 teams put together the longest victory streak in KU history, 18, before MU snapped it with a 12-6 win in the '09 finale. And Kennedy was matching wits with such greats as E. C. Quigley, at first Mary's College, and later KU Athletic Director; Eddie Cochems at St. Louis; King Cole at Nebraska; Bill Roper at Missouri; and Bennie Owen at Oklahoma.
In 1904, his team lost only to Haskell, and his 1905 team to Colorado. The 1906 eleven notched the first victory over Nebraska in this century, 8-6, when "Boc" Wallace kicked two field goals, which in those days counted four points.
Then Sam Forter beat Missouri 4-0 at St. Joseph in 1907 when he kicked a 52-yard field goal.
Allows 20 Games
The undefeated .08 team scored an outstanding achievement by whipping Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri within a 12-day period. This team allowed its foes only 20 points during the entire season.
While at Kansas, his teams whipped Oklahoma seven times and allowed them only eight points during this series. And Missouri could score only 21 points as Kennedy fashioned a 5-1-1 mark against the Tigers. Kansas State College won only one of six contests during his reign.
Kennedy's undeated, entailed '08 squad was Kansas' second and last such outfit. KU's first unbeaten, untied team was in 1939 when Fielding H. Yost's team won ten games. The 1908 team won nine contests.
Played Pro Ball
In 1900, he became assistant coach at Penn and played professional
football on Saturday afternoons in Pittsburgh, Pa. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1903 and returned to Lawrence where he took up dentistry. Even when he coached, he continued to practice. Today he is in his 52nd active year of practice in Lawrence
After the 1910 season at KU, Kennedy decided to retire from full-time coaching. The once awesome Haskell Indians of Lawrence were having trouble getting started in the fall of 1911 and asked Dr Kennedy to assist them for a couple of weeks. The dentist got interested in the work and stayed at Haskell for five years.
Good Haskell Record
During the 1911-1916 period, his team compiled a glistening 32-22-3 record. The mark was outstanding because it was fashioned against possibly the stiffest schedules Haskell ever played. Notre Dame was on the schedule three times as was Texas A & M. His team played the University of Texas twice. In the 5-year period he went below the 500 mark only once.
Dr. Kennedy likes to compare today's football with the game as it was in his day. "The game is still football," he said, "but it is very different even though the number of men on the team is the same. The flying wedge was used in these first years.
His best Indian team was the 1913 eleven. It lost only to Nebraska in ten games while scoring 419 points to 31 for the opponents. This was nearly the same Haskell team that Nebraska had wrecked 119-0 in 1913.
The Osage Indian tom-tom, trophy for the winner of the KU-MU football game, may spend its fourth straight year in a case in Brewer Field House if pre-game predictions come true. The last time KU had the trophy was in 1951 when it defeated the Missouri team 41 to 28.
"I feel as though the two platoon system ruined the old system of football," he continued. "It was extremely hard to get the men out of a game," he said, "they just wouldn't come out."
"Men don't learn to play together now as well as they did in those days of the ironman, Dr. Kennedy said. He recalled that in the 1925 game between Missouri, which before the game was undefeated, and Kansas, who had won only one game, the Jayhawkers used only two replacements in gaining a 10-7 victory. He assisted Head Coach George "Potsy" Clark for three weeks during that season.
Before 1937, when the tom-tom was introduced, the trophy was a gold painted football. The football with its splashes of crimson and blue was an object of rivalry between the two schools for 26 years.
Don't Play Together
Game Victor Gets Tom-Tom
In discussing football as a whole, Dr. Kennedy likes to quote William H. Piatt, retired Kansas City, Mo., lawyer, who was captain of the Kansas eleven in 1895 when he was on the freshman team. "As long as men like to measure strength with each other," Piatt said, "football will be played."
George Bowles and Lyle Kendig, members of the Kansas City alumni association headed a committee which purchased the new trophy. They bought the drum in a small pawn shop on Main Street. It was then autographed by both KU and MU alumni.
Fans of both schools were not anxious to give up the gold-painted football and its 26 years of active history. The football was used in the 1911 game played at Columbia, the first time the two schools had met on a home campus. Prior to that time the games were played in Kansas City.
Chester L. Brewer, MU coach at that time, donated the football to
be used as a trophy. The Mystical Seven, MU's men's honor society, and Sachem, KU senior men's honor society, were called upon to guard the new trophy. These same organizations still have charge of the ball today on the respective campuses.
To settle the argument, both trophies were offered to the victor of the 1937 game, which was to be played in Lawrence. The following year KU and MU tied and the drum was moved to neutral ground in Kansas City.
The drum rivalry was renewed in 1947 when Kansas beat Missouri 20 to 14. The following year MU won and they had possession of the tom-tom until the 1951 game. Since 1951, KU fans have had only a brief glimpse of the coveted tom-tom.
More Attendance Or Else
SHREVEPORT, La. — (U.P.)— Shreveport plans to quite the Texas League after the 1956 baseball season unless there is a 50 per cent increase in attendance, club officials announced.
Missouri finished in a tie for third place in the Big Seven last year with a 3-2-1 record. For all games, the Tigers stood at 4-5-1.
Transfers Boost
'56 Grid Outlook
Kansas' football hopes for the 1956 season will depend a lot on the performance of the 25 transplayers who worked out with this year's varsity squad. These players have shown up well in practice and have provided the varsity with stiff competition in scrimmage.
The transfers weren't eligible for competition in the Big Seven conference this year because of the one year residence rule of the conference.
Coach Chuck Mather regards these players highly and believes that there are several outstanding men among them. Along with this year's freshman team, they could provide the coaches with the additional varsity personnel to bring the Jayhawkers out of the woods of the Big Seven and again bring football glory to Kansas.