Players are confident as Rodgers leads team into K-State rivalry
By MARY ARNOLD
Kansan Sports Writer
Another battle in the age-old "civil war" between KU and Kansas State will be fought Saturday on the KU gridiron.
This contest will mark the 67th time the two teams have met for a football game. The first clash was October 4, 1902, and the Jayhawks shut out the Wildcats 16-0.
Kansas leads 45-17-4 in the series. Hopefully, after Saturday, another victory will be chalked up for Kansas.
The last time K-State won was in 1955, when they slaughtered KU 46-0. Since then its been all Kansas with a string of 12 victories—married only by a tie in 1966.
Ben Oilson, assistant coach and former KU football and track star, said, "We don't want to end a string of KU victories like we ended a string of defeats for New Mexico last Saturday."
Olison added that he thought K-State would be a tougher rival this year than last because for the first time in a number of years the Wildcats are favored over KU.
He added that he thought KU's loss last Saturday to New Mexico will make the Hawks a better team because "the players realize now that the other team isn't going to lay down and let us run over them."
Tight end John Mosier, Wichita senior, said, "When you play your rival state school it means
more. And this year we are a prime target for them because we're the underdog."
"But we're going to be up for it. It should be a good game," Mosier added.
K-State fans are saying this is the "year of the Cat" and that they have finally got a team that can compete.
"They say they're coming up, but this is misleading because the scores the past three years have been 3-3, 17-16 and 38-29. They've won two of the last three freshman games with us, so they should be winning but they haven't been," said Pepper Rodgers, head football coach.
The recruiting rivalry between KU and K-State has been—and probably always will be—intense.
"What hurt our team as much as anything," Rodgers said, "was the recruiting blow we suffered two years ago when we could only sign 35 players, whereas K-State could sign 50. This was the result of being penalized because an unidentified source signed a player early."
Rodgers said that this caused lack of depth for KU this year, but should be advantageous to K-State.
Metro takes Royal charge
KANSAS CITY (UPI) — Joe Gordon stepped down Wednesday as manager of the expansion Kansas City Royals and, in a baseball rarity, had the privilege of naming his own successor.
Charlie Metro, a coach with the Royals during the latter stages of the 1969 season, will replace Gordon, who moves up to a front office capacity as special assignment scout.
Gordon said he felt the Royals needed a "more aggressive manager and that's why Charlie Metro was my No. 1 recommendation."
Metro, a highly successful minor league manager who won seven championships in 15 seasons, described himself as a "no-nonsense type" who demands a lot of his players.
The Royals, tabbed by many as the worst of the four expansion teams before the 1969 season, finished a surprising fourth in the American League's Western
Division under Gordon's leadership.
The Royals played .500 ball 45-45 against Western Division teams, ending their season with a four-game winning streak, and their 69-93 record was by far the best of any of the expansion franchises.
"I got awfully tired at the end of the season," said the 54-year-old Gordon, whose last managerial experience was in 1961 for the old Kansas City Athletics. "Managing a baseball team is a 100 per cent effort 12 months a year and I had to ask myself if I could continue to give that kind of effort."
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Oct. 9
1969
"I just wasn't sure I could give that kind of job and that's why I will not return as field manager of the Royals next season."
But he noted, "They haven't beaten us the past two years."
Sandy Buda, assistant coach and former Jayhawk football player, said that K-State would definitely be better this year than they have been in the past.
Gordon, a one-time star infielder with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians and winner of the American League's Most Valuable Player award in 1942, will also act as liaison man between the Royals and their farm system in his new position.
"For the past 14 years KU has been on top, but now we're the underdog and K-State has the idea they can beat us," Buda added.
Center Dale Evans, Russen senior, said he was looking forward to playing and beating K-State, because there are lots of K-State fans from his hometown.
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Mike Reeves, senior tailback from Concordia, said that the score is still 0-0 and will be until the game is played and over.
"Only then," he said, "will it be decided who won and lost. And if everything goes well, we'll win."
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Craig Martindale, junior end from Bartlesville, Okla., said he thought the K-State game was the biggest game to date and may be the biggest the rest of the year.
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"They're a good tough team, but we're ready to give 100 per cent because we want to beat them," Martindale added.
And so, armed with an optimistic outlook, the Jayhawk players wait for the day of the game that will decide the Sunflower football king. This year's
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game promises to be the best in a number of years.
After last weeks loss to New Mexico, the KU team needs a victory, as Ben Olison summed it up:
"A lot of KU fans have lost confidence in us. To regain this confidence, we will beat K-State Saturday. A victory will also help our football team gain confidence in themselves."
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