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Wednesday, August 21, 1974
Timmons Helps Organize Renowned Kansas Relays
Kansan Sports Reporter
Timmons Has Winning KU Record
The University of Kansas track team has won three NCAA Indoor Championships and one NCAA Outdoor Championship since Bob Timmons became head track coach in 1965.
By CLARK CASE
KU lost the outdoor championship the first year after Timmons came, but it has won every outdoor conference championship since.
Since Timmons took the job, KU has won six conference indoor championships in a row, although the track team has lost the latest three.
Timmons, who had been a high school
basketball player of a new challenge
brought him to KU.
"The NCAA Indoor Championship is not as competitive as the outdoor because it has not had some of the west coast schools competing in it," Timmons said. "For example, UCLA does not compete in the indoor season."
"I wanted a chance to work with a different kind of athlete," he said.
One of the high points in his career, Timmons was, is coaching Jeff Farrell at Wichita East High School. Farrell won two gold medals at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.
"Working with Jim Jinryu, who holds the world record for the mile run, would have to be able to do both."
Timmons coached Ryun during Ryun's first three years at Wichita East high school, and then again when Ryun came to KU.
Timmons said he had never been an outstanding athlete.
Allen Cornerstone of KU Tradition
"I weighed about 97 pounds and was about 4 feet 11 when I entered high school."
Allen was a coach for the University from 1909 to 1913. He accepted a position at Warrensburg, MoA as head coach in 1913. During this time, Allen guided the school to the Missouri Valley championship. This was when KU belonged to that conference.
Allen began his career playing for the University of Kansas from 1906 to 1909. He played right guard and was elected captain of the team in 1907.
Coach Allen Was Outspoken on Controversial Issues
A major cornerstone of this tradition is Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, who was KU basketball coach for 39 years and led his teams to a 619-219 record, surpassed only by Adolph Rupp, a former coach at Kentucky who once played under Alen.
The University of Kansas has long had a proud tradition in basketball ever since James Naismith, its creator, was the first KU coach.
After a successful career at Warrensburg and when he chose athletics director after resignation of W. O. Hamilton. He became head coach for the season before being knighted to KU third place first year.
Beginning with the 1922 season, Allen directed his team to four straight championship titles. During this remarkable period, no more than two defeats were suffered each season. He also established a number of consecutive victories during this time.
Allen was outspoken on controversial issues concerning college athletics. When the state legislature proposed a bill to allow all schools in Florida to state campuses in 1923, Allen argued:
"Intercollegiate athletics are the natural and inevitable outgrowth of man's desire to play. It serves as mental recreation under self-leadership."
In 1922, Allen warned against the danger of professionalism in organizing college tec-
In 1927, Allen solicited funds for the construction of Memorial Stadium, the present site for KU football games. He helped raise $1 million from men and women from the state of Kansas in the first year.
Allen was elected president of the American Relay Association in 1922 and chairman of the press committee for the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 1934.
It was during this time Allen became well known as the "fog horn" or merely "Phog." Allen received this nickname from his mother, whom is known for his exceptionally loud voice.
"One of the commonest dangers to college athletics is the athlete who, under the guise of amateurism, wants to get paid for his athletic services," Allen said. "It is this kind of behavior that can professionalize football and, if successful, ruin the greatest of athletic games."
The same year he led the basketball team to its second straight championship.
"After coaching all these years and reflecting in retirement," Allen said in 1958, "I'll have to say the 1923 team is the greatest team I have coached."
Among the books Allen has written were "How to Play Basketball," "Better Incorporating Technique, Tactics and Nailer" and "Coach Fog Allen's Story Stories."
In 1949, Allen was named to the Helms Foundation College Basketball Hall of Fame. He coached the West All-Star team in 1951 and the Olympic team in 1952. He retired as coach in 1957 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on July 25.
Allen Field House was dedicated to Allen in 1955.
He was instrumental in founding the NCAA tournament, the first of which was held in 1938. He retired as athletic director in 1937 after 18 years at the helm.
American Athletic Union for seizing control of Olympic Affairs.
Allen, 88, resides at 831 Vermont St. He has been in poor health in recent years.
In 1935, Allen was named director of the American Olympic Basketball team, but the team was eventually taken over.
In 1923, Allen founded the Kansas Relays.
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Timmons has had broad coaching experience. He has coached football, basketball, tennis, cross-country, track and swimming in high schools.
Timmons said. "I was just hoping that someday I might get a letter. You can imagine how vicious I was as a 114-foot varsity fullback for my high school team."
Timmons also participated in track in the school, running the hurdles and some relay.
Timmons was graduated from KU and earned his master's degree from KU in 1950. He spent the next 14 years coaching various teams, including the Wichita East and Wichita West high schools.
"I did a lot of events, but was not very outstanding as a track man." he said.
Tirmons said that it helped if a coach had been an outstanding player, although it was probably not necessary. He said a coach who had been an outstanding athlete could show his players, as well as tell his players, how to do something.
"The time will come though, when he won't be able to demonstrate things," Thornton said.
When he started coaching football at Caldwell High School, his teams were some of the worst in the school's history, he said. His first football team lost its 11 games. The teams gradually improved, and he moved on to other high schools, where he limited his coaching to swimming, cross-country and track.
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