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Summer Session Kansan Tuesday, July 18, 1961
By Chuck Morelock
The story on the other side of this page has an obvious conclusion: it takes a heap of loot to get a successful athletic program off the ground.
Check this item for instance. KU will have to shell out $11,000 to fly the Jayhawker football team to California this fall. And unless gridiron fans there turn out en masse, the trip may end up being highly entertaining for the players, but highly unprofitable cash-wise.
Californians know from experience what a long trip combined with a sparse crowd can do to the old pocketbook. In 1954, UCLA came here for a game that drew barely 20,000. I imagine the Bruins were lucky to break even.
MINOR SPORTS ANYWHERE NEVER PAY FOR THEM-selves — that's why football receipts are so important. Obviously, 40,000 fans aren't going to turn out for a golf or tennis match.
Schools such as Ohio State and Michigan of the Big Ten net huge profits year after year for two reasons: both have gigantic football stadiums, and both have tradition behind them.
That's one reason why KU needs to get a few more winning seasons under its belt. Up until last year, local fans were apathetic. But the 1960 season featured two 40,000 plus sellouts, and turnouts of 32,000 for TCU, 34,000 for Colorado, and 28,000 for Nebraska. This brightened the picture considerably.
If ever a man dominated the game not only on the court but off as well, that man was Wilt Chamberlain. Since Wilt's departure, the KU basketball program has floundered badly, financially speaking, even though the Jayhawkers tied for the Big Eight crown in 1960 and finished second in '61.
With the Stilt around, Allen Field House was filled to its 17,000 capacity for every game. Since then, crowds have dipped as low as 5,000. And that ain't good.
KU
SOME WISE OBSERVER IN THE LEGISLATURE commented awhile back that KU and K-State should avoid duplicating services in the athletic world as well as the academic world.
He probably had a point too — It looks as if KU will dominate the state football picture for years to come. But K-State seems to have the horses in basketball. This fact was pointed out last fall when Wildcat officials announced that the number of scholarships awarded to freshman players had been cut drastically. Why? Because the Cats had so many talented red shirts and sophomores.
In other words, K-State felt it had so much depth that it would be better to hang onto the scholarship money and use it for a rainy day.
SPEAKING OF BASKETBALL. I've heard via the grapevine that Wildcat recruiters have told promising Kansas high school players that KU prefers to land eastern talent. The line seems to be this: "Go there (KU) and you'll sit on the bench while some boy from Pennsylvania gets all the headlines."
Wayne Hightower's recent decision to drop out of school may have changed this somewhat. But I can see how the argument could be effective.
KU
Nobody's taking Dan Devine very seriously when he declares that Missouri will end up in the Big Eight's second division this fall. Devine has the personnel for another outstanding club, although I never wish the Tigers good luck in anything. Devine faces a kingsized challenge right off the bat when his club meets last year's national champion, Minnesota. A Mizzou victory would not only boost that club's standing, it would also be a tremendous shot in the arm for the conference as well.
THE OLD EMBARRASSING SAYING that the Big Eight is comprised of Oklahoma and the seven dwarfs went right out the window in 1960 as the league enjoyed its greatest year ever. The Sooners, if you recall, couldn't even finish in the first division losing to Missouri, 41-19; Iowa State, 10-6; Colorado, 7-0, and Nebraska, 17-14, and tieing Kansas 13-13.
I saw Minnesota play Nebraska last fall, but after seeing KU play the same club later, I was convinced the Jayhawkers were better. This sounds like a rash statement, but in my inexpert and arm chair opinion, the fast, quick-hitting Jayhawkers would have run their bigger, but slower colleagues from Minnesota out of the stadium.
If the Tigers can turn the trick a few months from now, everybody in this area will be happy. Even KU fans.
Vandals Hit 6 Cars In Wee Hour Raid
Six cars were damaged by vandals here early Friday morning.
A car owned by Claude Brann, Jr., Salina senior, got the roughest going over. Vandals broke the radio aerial, horn ring, wiper arms, and blades. The car was parked in Zone A.
Smith's Reading Text To Be Published
A college text on "Psychology in Teaching of Reading" by Dr. Henry P. Smith of the School of Education will be published Aug. 18 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Aerials were also broken off cars belonging to KU police Sgt. Charles Hanna and patrolman Orville Robinson. Other aerials were broken off three cars parked on Stratford Road near West Campus Road.
Co-author is Dr. Emerald V. Dechant of Fort Hays State College. The latter studied with Dr. Smith while earning the Ph.D. degree at KU in 1958.
Dr. Smith also is the author of "Psychology in Teaching," one of the two most widely used college texts in that field.
It may come as a surprise to some, but the KU athletic department is not "loaded," financially speaking.
Deficit Seen for KU Athletic Budget
It's true of course, that a college sports program is "big business" in every sense of the word. For example, a crowd of 40,000 may result in a gross take of more than $100,-000 at the box office.
Next year's budget loss is pegged at $7,000, the following year at $110,000. In both cases, the figures are based on net income and expenses for previous years.
KU's fine football team last fall helped the school's Physical Education Corporation to show a profit of about $60,000 for 1960-61, after a deficit of $42,795 had been budgeted. Detailed figures won't be known until an audit, now underway, is finished.
However, the projected KU athletic budget for 1961-62 and 1962-63 forecasts a $117,000 deficit for the two-year period. KU officials hope increased promotional activity can cut the figure somewhat.
An all-time season's home attendance record plus road crowds of 43,000 and 47,000 at Missouri and Iowa helped swell the till considerably.
Football was the only sport that
On the home front, season ticket buying has been on a big upsurge, thanks to a hard-sell promotional campaign. Last year, 11,847 tickets were sold, compared with around 6,000 in the early 1950s.
made money, however. Basketball revenue sagged to minus $4,000, mainly due to poor attendance. During the Wilt Chamberlain era, KU usually showed a profit of around $40,000. Figures for other sports aren't available at the moment, but examples can be taken from the 1959-60 year. Track that year lost $33,811.08, baseball $8,-599.17, tennis $230.18, golf $914.49, and swimming $4,388.99.
Another move which may some-day boost the kitty would be to enlarge Memorial Stadium, which now seats approximately 41,000. However, this will probably not be done for at least three years.
spend $1,600 to send its team to
Nebraska this fall. $4,000 to send it
to Oklahoma, and $11,000 to send it
to California.
The big difference in the deficit predicted for 1961-62 and '62-'63 stems from the fact that the football team, which carries most of the financial load, will probably draw big crowds in its road games with Colorado, Oklahoma, and Nebraska this fall. In 1962, the Jayhawkers meet Boston, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Missouri away. The I-State and K-State stadiums seat only about 20-000 and attendance at Boston probably won't top that by much.
Such items as general inflation, travel, equipment, and higher salaries help to cut into any net profit. For example, KU will have to
He is never less at leisure than when at leisure.—Marcus Tullius Cicero
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