Page 2 University Daily Kansan Monday, Nov. 23, 1957
Smile, KU Vultures Your Job's Well Done
You've heard reports for several weeks that Sikes would resign as football chief after the Missouri game and he did. There really wasn't much else for him to do after the way some KU alumni, students, and "friends" came out with such a vote of lack of confidence. Even the vote of confidence he received Saturday could not make a dent in the feelings he had.
Well, the vultures can smile now. The Kansas birds of prey have their victim in the person of J. V. Sikes.
And now that it's over, we'd like to come out with three pertinent items of the case that nauseates us to the core. We're not going to defend or condemn the past staff. That's been done in plenty of places and times before. But we do mean to condemn three groups of people who have had their say in the proceedings.
The first group we'd like to hit are those everpresent fair weather "Friends." Jules Sikes was just as good a coach in 1951 when his Jayhawkers rolled up a 8-2 mark as he was this year when that record was just reversed. He didn't suddenly drop off in efficiency in the latter part of last season and all this year after continuing the period of Kansas' greatest successes.
And to you who cheered on the Jayhawkers in 1950, 51, and 52 and yet turned right around this season and jumped on the bandwagon to get Mr. Sikes out we give our greatest contempt. Mere words aren't enough to express our feeling toward you.
There are some who have believed all along that Sikes has not been the right man for the
Kansas grid picture and have some pretty good ideas of their own to back up their beliefs. They never wished a poor showing on the Kansans and they never let the team down even when they believed the team was under the wrong man. They at least were trying to think things out, win or lose.
A win or a loss is immaterial. It should be what is happening to the boys, to the fans, and yes, even to the coach while the team is winning or losing. A winning team would be the easiest thing in the world to get if anyone wanted it badly enough. But we'd like to think there still exists an area of moral integrity.
It is sheer folly for anyone to believe that Kansas can get a top-name coach, a young coach, or any good coach for what the University is willing to pay.
Next we abbor the method in which Sikes was literally booted out of his job. It seems to us only common courtesy on the part of one human being to another that the one under fire would be allowed to finish out his term in comparable calm.
It's a sad commentary on the whole situation when the fever that was sweeping the area would increase with each subsequent loss by the football team. Heaven help us when the whole of mankind puts such a value on a simple result of 60 minutes kicking and passing a little ball down a field.
Knowing the viciousness of the local supporters. a coach will think twice before he gives up any job he now has to come to Kansas for what he will get. It just isn't worth it.
Well, relax, vultures. Your job is done.
-Clarke Keys
It takes four years to receive a degree. And it takes a split second to snuff out a life. Poor weather and a zeal to hurry home can easily make a Thanksgiving vacation a period of tragedy for KU parents.
It Only Takes a Minute To Snuff Out a Life
Everybody's eager to lay off the books temporarily and devote his time to turkey-eating. But too often this prospect results in speedometer jumps, reckless driving on the curves, or failure to take heed of stop signs.
And this in turn leads to highway disaster. A car will go a long way even with the brakes applied if its moving at 80 mph. Quick reactions won't always save the day. The highway department's accident roster contains too many reports of student collisions and smash-ups suffered in holiday disasters.
It takes a lot of work and cash to benefit from university training. Don't let months or years of study go down the drain on the highway.
Its been uttered many times, but still is the best slogan around.
Congratulations on the Homecoming issue of the Kansan. It was one of the smartest issues I have ever seen—and I've seen most of them—even including the special Homecoming one I "quarterbacked" in 1921. For an old timer to break down and admit being surpassed is something terrific.
"Return a student, not a statistic."
To the Editor:
A publication like this adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of the whole Homecoming celebration. Please extend our thanks and congratulations to everybody who helped.
—Chuck Morelock
UDK Takes Pat on Back
Fred Ellsworth,
Secretary,
Alumni Association
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
by Dick Bibler
Purely accidental, of course, was the postponing of the Big Three conference in Bermuda until the beginning of winter.
A Kansan reporter, after rushing around to five different administrative offices before finding the needed information for a story, has come to the conclusion a "Little Hoover" commission is needed here.
The flu shots are not to have any ill effects on the patient, but the first victim of the season passed out.
Students living in private homes found it very convenient to be gone Tuesday night when Campus Chest solicitors called.
Member of the Kansas Press Assn. National Editorial Assn. Inland Daily Press Representation by the National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City. Mail Subscription rates: $3 a semester or $18 a year (except for Lawrence). Published in Lawrence, Kan. every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. Contact Information Periods Entered second class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan. Post Office
at Lawrence, Rah., Poseo o under act of March 3. 1879.
Flashbacks in History From the Daily Kansan
Preparations for Thanksgiving vacation and the after-effects of Homecoming were topics of interest around the University in 1923 and 1943, too. Here's what happened in those years, as reported in old editions of the Kansas:
10 YEARS AGO
Heloise Hillbrand was crowned queen of the 1943 Homecoming, and the Jayhawkers upset the University of Missouri 7-6 in the big game. The largest crowd of the season in the Big Six, 8,000 fans, "jammed" the stands to see Bill Chestnut's point after touchdown give KU its first victory over Missouri in ten years.
In Europe Gen, Dwight D. Eisenhower told war correspondents that Gen. George Patton did slap an American soldier who Gen. Patton thought was faking combat fatigue. Gen. Eisenhower told reporters that Gen. Patton had apologized to the soldier and all others concerned.
In her column called "Rock Chalk Talk," Mary Morrill wrote that a new women's organization, the Battalion of Armed Girls, has been formed at KU with headquarters in Miller hall. Divisions of the group were Shoe bags—infantry; Little Black bags-medical corps; Grab bags—recruiting, and most important, Overnight bags morale.
By traditional methods, including the usual beatings and the cooperation of sororities in throwing water on the pledges, 39 men were initiated into the KuKu's. Only the swim in Potter lake was eliminated from the ceremony.
An investigation of University musical organizations, prompted by the All Student Council, revealed that Negro students were not barred from the band, orchestra, or glee clubs. One of the best violinists in the orchestra was a Negro, the investigators disclosed.
Showing the implications of the man shortage during the war, a Vice Versa dance sponsored by the Jay James charged women 50c admission, but admitted men free. A pep king was named at the dance, held after the KU-Ft. Leavenworth basketball game.
25 YEARS AGO
President-elect Herbert Hoover began a tour of key Latin American countries in November, 1928. President Hoover, traveling aboard the USS Maryland with an escort of six destroyers, was to stop first at Nicaragua.
At a Lawrence theatre, Milton Sills was starring in "The Crash." It was advertised as having "mile-a-minute romance" adding that this was "the kind of role you've always wanted Sills to portray."
KU's yearbook, the Jayhawker, was ranked second among U.S. college annuals. All American schools with an enrollment of more than 2.000 were entered, and the number one rating went to the Naval Academy.
Candidates for the freshman election were announced by the Black Mask political party. Junior Coen, candidate for president, was advertised as a member of high school honor societies and the Davis Cup team, but Pachacamac swept the election, winning all four offices.
The Kansan reported no action was to be taken against a Lawrence cafe, after a sheriff's raid had found two pints of what was alleged to be intoxicating liquor in the basement of the cafe. In further enforcement of the "bone dry laws," three others were arrested on charges of drunkenness and possession of intoxicating liquor.
KU, paced by Bernard Frazier's winning performance, won the Big Six cross country meet. Frazier toured the $5^{1 / 4}$-mile course in 25:44.3 minutes, a new course record. In football the University of Missouri overpowered the Jayhawkers 25-6.