SPORTS: Kansas men's and women's basketball teams begin regular season play tonight, Page 9.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.102,NO.69
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1992
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Bowl games mean more than fame and a vacation
Schools profit from bowl bids
By Kristl Fogler
Kansan staff writer
Today, post-season college football bowl games mean more than national exposure and a trip for fans and players to some place like Florida, California or Hawaii. To many teams and conferences, it means big payoffs and more money.
The $750,000 that Kansas will receive for going to the Aloha Bowl may sound big, but it is not when compared to other bowls. The money might pay only for the cost to send the team, coaches, cheerleaders and band members to Honolulu, said John Hadi, assistant athletic director.
Hadl estimated that the departures were
es. The Athletic Department may run into additional costs if the almost 8,000 tickets given to Kansas by the bowl's organizers are not sold. It will cost at least $482,000 to send the Jayhawks to Hawaii.
The department will net at most $288,000 for Kansas' participation, according to Hadl's estimates. In fact, Kansas also will receive money from the Big Eight Conference's participation in the Orange Bowl. Each Big Eight school will get about $350,000 when the conference champion, either Nebraska or Colorado, plays in the Orange Bowl.
There is speculation that Colorado may go to the Fiesta Bowl. If Colorado does, the payoff is $3 million per team. Colorado would deduct team expenses from that amount and turn the rest over to the conference which would divide the remaining money equally among all eight teams, said Carl James, conference commissioner. Kansas would
none of the other Big Eight schools will profit from from one team going to Hawaii because of the lower payoff.
Nebraska spent about $1 million just on travel expenses for the Orange Bowl last year, said Gary Fouraker, assistant athletic director for business affairs at Nebraska.
Fourier said the Orange Bowl was one of the more expensive bowls because of its national prominence. The bigger the bowl, the more university officials and VIPs a team needs to bring. He said. For example, the entire Nebraska football band, which has about 200 members, attended the Orange Bowl, but Kansas is paying only for a smaller pep band of about 30 Marching Jayhawks.
"I're really for the players, coaches and fans," he said. "He's for the people who made this thing happen. Besides it's prestige. It's national television on Christmas Daw and it
The trip to Honolulu is not about money, Hall said.
Walters has fame, NBA aspirations
Senior doesn't let status distract him
By Vicki Bode Special to the Kansan
When Rex Walters was a teenager and his friends made home movies, he was always the one behind the scenes.
"When he and his friends made movies you wouldn't see Rex, but you could always hear him gigging in the background," said Rex's father, Monte Walters.
As a starter for the Kansas men's basketball team, Walters, 22, is now surrounded by cameras. However, the boy that hid behind them is still present.
Since Walters began playing for Kansas, his face has appeared in all the local newspapers. And, on campus, he has become a celebrity among the students.
However, when asked about his new stairman, his head lowers slightly, his cheeks become a shade of pink and he smiles nervously.
"I don't think of myself as a celebrity," Walters said. "I think I'm a pretty low-key person. I hope people don't get the wrong impression of me."
When he is walking on campus he tends to walk with his head down and is just concentrating on school.
"I'm getting better at saying 'hi', so people won't think I'm stuck up." Walters said. "There would be something wrong with me if I said I didn't like the attention I'm getting. But I don't want it to go to my head."
According to Walters' childhood friend Robb Murayama, he has always been somewhat quiet. "He's never been the type that looks looking for stardom."
Walters met Maruyama when he moved to San Jose, Calif., at the age of eight. Both played basketball in a Japanese league.
Walter's mother is Japanese, which qualified him to play in the league.
Rex Walters
"Rex was always the best player," Maruya-
But Waters didn't start planning a career in basketball during grammar school.
best player", Marjiya "maid." said. "I knew he could make it at
"Not until sophomore or junior year in high school did I think maybe I'd go on to play college ball," he said.
Walters played basketball for two years at Northwestern University, which recruited him out of high school. He had hoped to play at Kansas, but he wasn't recruited.
After attending Northwestern he returned to California, where he attended De Anza College for a semester before he was recruited by Kansas and transferred.
Because of Kansas' transfer rules, Walters couldn't play on the team, but he was able to practice with them.
"This year sure was a major change from the previous year," he said.
Walters is especially popular among women on campus. He said some girls had even called and left embarrassing messages on his answering machine.
"I don't want basketball to be the reason people want to be my friend." Walters said. But he feels the advantages of being well-known far outweigh the disadvantages. "It is really easy to meet people," he said.
After games, Walters can be found surrounded by people of all ages hoping to get his autograph. Usually nobody will walk away disappointed. He will always sign something unless he's really in a hurry.
"It would be bad to turn them down," Walters said. "The kids may look up to me, and I might influence them to play basketball."
The only time he doesn't like to talk to people is if they insult the team or Kansas coach Roy Williams, he said.
Walters commended the coaches for keeping everyone on the team in line.
"Roy and I have been talking about me in the NBA. I've got to work on my body," Walters said.
When the NBA is mentioned, Walters lights up but again appears self-conscious. Throwting a plush basketball repeatedly into the air, he laughs a short, nervous laugh.
Monte Walters says he would like to see his son make it to the NBA, but he's mainly concerned with his happiness.
"I think he has worked really hard," he said. "So if he's become a celebrity for his good performance, then he deserves it."
He hasn't seen a change in his son's attitude since he started playing for Kansas.
"He's been a really good son," Monte Walters said. "And he's still the same old son."
Rex Walters doesn't think he's seen any differently by his friends, either.
"They still dog me when I need to be dogged," Walters said. "I think they're really happy that I've made it this far."
Making it to a starting position on a top-ranked team can create a lot of stress, but Walters knows how to handle it.
"I try to keep myself really busy," he said. "School tends to naturally do that. If I'm sitting in my apartment thinking too much about the games, I have to get out. I like to play basketball because it takes my mind off things."
Walters attempts to keep everything in perspective. He is trying not to speculate on the next season or his future in basketball. Eventually, Walters hopes to coach at the high school level. He is majoring in education and plans to graduate in May 1993.
But he still would like to make it to the NBA.
"It would be like a dream come true," Walters said. "But if I don't make it, I won't be devastated. Hurt, but not devastated."
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keeps telling us that the licenseing any day, but it's been over a since the law was passed, and we we it," he said. "Our customers They still have to deal with the hassle, and they want us to get
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