University Daily Kansan, October 9; 1981
Great Sports
Page 11
ss, not less." had an es had
Sports museum honors state's greatest athletes
By PAM ALLOWAY Staff Reporter
Now the ball is in land rest among sports
rules of the past in a room that honors Kansas
university.
A worn, deflated football rests in a glass case along with medals and pictures of a man who once carried the ball across the goal line in front of a roaring and vibrant crowd.
THE KANSAA All-Sports Hall of Fame, 1047 Massachusetts St., has a plaque at its entrance that states its purpose: "Honoring those whose lives were lost in the service to themselves and the state of Kansas."
The Hall of Fame is in the lower level of the Elizabeth M. Watkins Community Museum and the John C. Hathaway Center.
Such athletics and coaches as James Naismith, Jim Ryun, Al Oerter and Gale Sayers are some of the 51 members of the Hall of Fame.
Odd Williams, former chairman of the Kansas Athletic Commission, was one of the officials charged.
"It had been in existence for years, but nothing had really been done on it," Williams
Then the Kansas Legislature passed a bill that made the Kansas Athletic Commission into the new Kansas All-Sports Hall of Fame Commission, Williams said.
WILLIAMS SAID his role in organizing the museum was to lobby to get the money to expand. Along with Bob Marcum, current president of the museum, the collection of memorialia, the gathering of
biographical information and the design and use of the cubicles used in the exhibition
The commission this year inducted five new members into the Hall of Fame: Ralph Houk, present manager of the Boston Red Sox, originally from Skull, Kan.; Jim Ryun, the Olympic coach at Ottawa University; Louis "Rabbit" Weller, who played football for Haskell Junior and played football at the Hall of Fame who was not an athlete or coach. Evans was a sports philanthropist who encouraged young people, Williams said.
Taped recordings were made of all the living members of the Hall of Fame by Max Stauclip.
Steve Jensen, director of the Watkins museum, said the biographical material was chosen not to identify the athletes and their families, also to provide interesting facts about them.
One example involves James Naismith, sometimes called the "Father of Basketball." According to the exhibition, in the 1890s Naismith fashioned one of the first football helmets. The helmets were actually rugby balls that had been cut in half and were held on with a chin strap. Ear muffs were used to protect the ears.
The athletes have put up their footballs, baseballs and basketball. The crowds no longer can watch Iva Pembridge Javis, one of the world's greatest women trapshooters, show her markmanship, or admire Cowboy Jess at the oat kit of 60 was the tallest man ever to hold a bowling title, he shares the memories of a past that Kasas can be proud of.
4. deflated leather basketball, part of the James Naismith collection, is on display at the Kansas All-Sports Hall of Fame, 1047 Massachusetts.
OHN EISELE/Kansan Staff
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