KU Switches to Mod Sod
... Tartan Turf replaces buffalo grass
Turf Brightens Football Scene
By DON BAKER Assistant Kansan Sports Editor
Pepper Rodgers has strongly indicated that the KU football picture looks much brighter now than it did at the end of last year's disastrous 1-9 season. However, whether the Jayhawks will make it all the way back as the popular bumper stickers say is a matter of question.
But regardless of how the team itself looks, one thing is certain—the scene in Memorial Stadium will definitely be brighter than it ever has before. The reason is simple. KU has now joined the ever-increasing ranks of colleges using artificial turf.
Three months of work on the stadium's new Tartan Turf is scheduled to culminate Sept. 4, just eight days prior to the Jayhawks Sept. 12 opener against Washington State. Being installed at a cost of $240,000 by the 3M Company, the synthetic surface will join last year's newly installed Tartan track and a fresh coat of paint to give Memorial Stadium its brightest and most modern appearance in its history.
THREE OTHER BIG EIGHT schools also initiate synthetic fields this year. Oklahoma concurred with KU and will open their home schedule on a Tartan field while Kansas State and Nebraska both decided to use Astro-
Turf. All four carpet jobs will cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars apiece.
KU first announced its intentions of installing an artificial field last January but the method of financing was not disclosed until late in May. KU Athletic Director Wade Stinson explained then that Kansas would be able to finance the project because of an excess of revenue over expenditures in the football ledger.
Stinson said in an interview last week that the project would be paid for over a five year period with the money coming primarily from gate receipts. Approximately $25,000 will come from alumni donations.
Stinson said that 20 per cent of the total cost ($48,000) will be paid in the first year along with the cost of the base preparation for the field which will amount to about $30,000.
TO THE UNKNOWING FAN, the base preparation for the carpet is not anything one would want to play football on. In explaining the construction of the field, Stinson said the field is first leveled in preparation for the base.
The base itself consists of 6-7 inches of crushed rock and clay pressed together and layed on the field in such a manner as to leave an 18 inch crown down the middle. The composition closely resembles a concrete base, Stinson said.
Following this two layers of asphalt, one an inch and a half thick and the last one an inch thick, are applied to the rock and clay composition in preparation for the Tartan.
The Tartan is a cold mix, Stinson said, that is poured onto the field. It is hard at first but is rolled for three or four days which makes it soft and spongy. Stinson compared this to the Tartan track by saying that the track consists of different elements that make it a harder surface.
AFTER LETTING THE Tartan set for an indefinite period (it set for three weeks in Memorial Stadium) the actual carpet is layed. A chemical paste is used to bind the carpet to the Tartan which is layed out in a series of rolls approximately four feet in width. The actual laying of the carpet only began last Monday in Memorial Stadium.
Upon completing the laying of the carpet, the 3M Company will paint the yard-markings on the field. Stinson said at this time there are no plans for any endzone markings. He added though that a Jayhawk may be put in the center at a later date.
Jayhawk Sports
By Joe H. Bullard Kansan Sports Editor
KU football fans got their first look at the Tartan Turf in Memorial Stadium last Saturday when the Jayhawks held a full scrimmage on the new artificial field.
Workmen have been busy all summer working to finish the field in time for the Sept. 12 opener with Washington State. By Saturday only about half of the field was covered with the carpet-like substance which composes the playing surface. Workmen were expected to have the field completely finished in time for another scrimmage on Saturday, this time with yard markings and goal posts.
KU is one of four Big Eight schools to dedicate artificial turfs this year. The new turf provides many benefits for the game, such as low cost maintenance and constant field conditions under any type of weather, and is much faster than conventional natural field coverings.
There are however, some drawbacks to the new surface. The most noticeable flaw is the heat. Pepper shouldn't have tny trouble with the Jay-hawks not hustling—the turf will take care of that. The fact is, the turf gets so hot that the soles of the feet start to burn if you stand in one place for too long. No one has checked the temperature of the field, but I am reminded of the report of 120 degree plus temperatures recorded this summer on the artificial turf in Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
The turf also causes burns much the same type produced by sliding on a carpet or wood floor. Last Saturday, the players wore arm protectors that extended from just above the wrist to the upper arm, and socks that covered the entire leg. After the scrimmage, however, many players showed the effects of the turf, mostly on the hands and elbows
At first glance, the turf doesn't appear to be too durable. It would seem that a well placed cleat in a seam might tear out a large portion of the turf. Not so, says 3M company, the manufacturers of the turf. 3M, however does not guarantee the surface. The new turf has only been around for about three years, and 3M can't obtain any estimate of the life expectancy of the carpet.
No guarantee could be a real headache—at the price of $240,000, KU couldn't afford to replace the turf too often. Time will be the true test for artificial turf.
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Pepper Rodgers commenting on KU's triple option. "It should be called the quadruplet option. The quarterback can hand-off, pitch out, pass or fumble."
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Big plays may be the deciding factor for KU football this year. To anyone watching Saturday's scrimmage, it should be obvious that this year's team is capable of explosive offensive play. Dan Heck's three touchdown passes of 60, 60 and 30 yards speak for themselves.
Summer Kept Thinclads Active
While most students not enrolled in summer school headed for home or other parts of the country upon completion of the spring semester last May, members of the KU track team remained on the hill in preparation for two important summer meets and many individual track excursions that lasted throughout the entire summer.
Coach Bob Timmons related last week that it was a busy but beneficial summer that saw the Jayhawks place high in two team meets and also saw various team members scattered throughout the world for clinics, demonstrations, training camps and further meets.
The highlight of the summer activities came at the NCAA finals held June 18-20 at Des Moines where for the second consecutive year KU finished in the runnerup spot. California won the championship with 40 points while the Jayhawks, Oregon and Brigham Young all followed with 35 points. The lone individual winners for KU were Karl Salb in the shot put and Jan Johnson in the pole vault.
TWO WEEKS PRIOR to the NCAA meet the club traveled to Wichita for the United States Track and Field Federation (USTFF) meet where it easily captured the first place prize. The victory, however, meant more than just adding additional hardware to the already crowded track office in Allen Field House as a choice of either a South American or Caribbean tour was also awarded.
The latter was chosen and included stops in Haiti, Martinique, Trinidad, Tabago and Venezuela. Paid for by the USTFF and co-sponsored by the State Department, the trip was not all sightseeing as the primary purpose was to give track clinics and demonstrations and in general just to encourage track participation and development in that area.
Making the trip which lasted from July 15 to August 5 in addition to Timmons were hammerthrower Bill Penny, pole vaulter Johnson, and sprint and distance runners Mickey Mathews, Mike Solomon and Jim Neihouse.
Individual excursions were also
a part of the KU summer track agenda. Bill Hatcher spent a large portion of the vacation months at Duke University while attending a training camp sponsored by the U.S. Olympic committee and Steve Wilhelm traveled across the sea to France, Germany and Russia on an AAU sponsored trip.
Heck Passes Blue Team to Victory
The first-team dominated Blue squad ripped the second-string White team 27-0 Saturday afternoon in a controlled scrimmage on Memorial Stadium's partly completed Tartan Turf.
The scrimmage was part of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce sponsored football scrimmage and dinner, an annual affair that gives the public a chance to meet the players and coaches personally, and to inspect the KU dressing room and press box facilities. This year the crowd of about 400 was also able to inspect and watch the laying of the new synthetic turf.
The scrimmage, which was not played under game-like conditions, saw the two squads operate on the northern half of the field, the only part where the carpet has been laid.
The difference in the game was spelled in the passing arm of the
Blue's Dan Heck. The juco transfer from Hawthorne, Calif., who is now established as the Jayhawks' number one quarterback, completed 14 of 22 passes for 277 yards including two 60-yard scoring bombs.
Leading receivers for the Blues were flanker Ron Jessie who was on the receiving end of four passes for 109 yards and tight end Larry Brown who gathered in three Heck aerials for 85 yards.
Neither team was capable of engineering a substantial ground game. Leading rushers for the Blues were Steve Conley and John Riggins. Both picked up 31 yards for the day's work, Conley on five carries and Riggins on nine carries.
Leading the White rushers was Donnie Joe Morris, a transfer from Independence Junior College, who collected 49 yards on 15 carries.
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