Page 2 University Daily Kansan, April 16, 1982
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Kansas Relays Edition Staff
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Kansas Relays tradition accepts change
1977 Kansas Relays
Photos courtesy of participating schools. Photo of Mike Egan courtesy of the Wichita Eagle-Beacon.
By DAVE Mc QUEEN
Tradition.
No better word summarizes what the Kansas Relays are all about. On a campus filled with traditions, nothing, save the Rock Chalk Chant or the waving of the wheat at a football game, is as tradition-rich as the playing field of the best track and field talent in the stadium each April at Memorial Stadium.
For the most part, the traditions connected with the Relays are good. Besides the color and pageantry of the opening ceremonies and all the excitement associated with a first-class meet, the importance of the world-famous collection of some of the world's greatest track and field talent in the past half-century.
UNFORTUNATELY, some of the recent traditions surrounding the Relays have not been as positive, namely:
multiway.
• Declining attendance and disinterested fans.
- A continuing problem with prestigious world class athletes who demand a king's ransom to show up, but never do.
- Adwindling budget,
- While there's nothing they can do about the weather, the organizers of the 57th annual Kansas Relays, running today and tomorrow at Memorial Stadium, are trying to deal with the other problems. While this year's version of the spring relay speed and top grip, is still being billed as a "track carnival," it's a carnival with a different look. The midway is still full of exciting rides, but many of the sideshows have been eliminated.
- And rain. Lots of rain
GONE FROM this year's meet are NAIA, junior college and NCAA division II schools. Also uninvited this year are all the unattached athletes and the track clubs. And all of the open events but two have been eliminated—the Glenm Cunningham Invitational mile and the open 10,000 meter run.
In its place is a streamlined NCAA Division I meet, featuring some of the top teams in college football.
Besides being a method to make the meet more streamlined and appealing,
IT'S A RADICAL change from tradition, for sure. But for Bob Timmons, KU Relays director and head coach of the Hawks, it's an experiment worth taking.
"If it doesn't work, we may go back to the other system." Timmons said. "We just want to try an ans see how the athletes and fans react to it."
Bob Timmons
'If it doesn't work, we may go back to the other system. We just want to try it and see how the athletes and fans react to it.'
for the first time in Relays history, team scores will be kept in both the men's and women's divisions, and a Relays team champion will be named
Besides some top-notch college competition, the meet will also feature some of the best high school athletes in the Midwest. Team scores won't be kept in the high school division, however.
or those not familiar with the NCAA system of scoring a track meet, it works like this: for a meet with seven or more teams like the Relays, the first six finishers in an event score points on the team score places first in an event, he scores ten points for his team; second place scores six, and so on.
the new format also came about because of some hard economic realities in the track and field world today. With a dwindling budget, KU has a hard time wooing the world class athletes, some of whom demand as much as $5,000 just to make an appearance. Last year, the Relays were budgeted for $28,000. This year, that figure is down to $25,000.
But the Relays meet is a little different from the run-of-the-mill collegiate meet. Along with the larger number of relay races there are a plethora of other events, such as the hammer throw, the decathlon and the pentathlon. At the KU Relays, these events will be scored too.
And besides being expensive, these athletes have a nasty reputation for not showing up at meets. In 1980, for example, Houston McCartan, one of the fastest sprinter's, told to show up after much advanced billing by the Relays.
"We could use up our budget on four or five people who are asking for the big money."
"They're going to do great damage to their sport," Timmons said. "It's not just the money, it's their attitudes."
The Drake Relays, by comparison,
are bankrolled for $170,000 this year.
THIS YEAR, Timmons didn't want to deal with those headaches.
It's not the money that bothers Timmons. In fact he'd like to see professional track attempted again. But if the professionals want to move money in the sport, they should stay out of their meet and needs set up their own division.
"If they want to make the big money, fine," Tirmons said. "But track and field is supposed to be amateur. Until that is changed, we have to stick by the rules."
If this year's Relays break even or make a profit, it will be the first time in five years the meet hasn't run in the红. Ever since the Relays turned a $10,000 profit in 1977, the meet has been running deficits. Last year's rain-soaked meet was particularly bad. In 1981, the Relays lost $12,000.
"We budget the Relays as a break-even operation," said Susan Wachter, KU athletic business manager.
"WE DON'T LIKE to have those losses, but a small loss isn't that bad."
But economic factors weren't the only reasons that facilitated the format change. Timmons said the new format would also make the meet more appealing to the team-oriented fan. In a separate lecture on his own philosophies about track and field.
"In a regular relays meet, you don't get any notoriety unless you win your event," he said. But now second place is worth eight points.
"Now you're contributing to a team effort. We like to think of KU as a team-minded track and field program. We're well aware that it's still an individual sport, but the collective achievements make up the team."
Even if the new look isn't appreciated by the fans, most of the coaches coming to the meet seem to like it.
See TRADITION page 3
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