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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday October 15, 1987 Vol. 98, No. 39
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
(USPS 650-640)
5 residence halls lacking required smoke detectors
Dean Murray, associate director of maintenance for the office of student housing, said Lewis, Templin, Hashinger, Ellsworth and McCollum halls did not have smoke detectors, but the housing office did plan to install them in those halls.
Six years after state fire codes were changed to require university residence halls to have smoke detectors in halls or rooms, five KU halls still do not have them.
Paul Markley, chief of the fire prevention division for the state Fire Marshal Department in Topeka, said that since 1811, state fire codes have required residence halls to either have a smoke detector in each room or 30 feet apart in each corridor.
By BEN JOHNSTON Staff writer
"I am rather surprised KU still has five dormitories that do not have fire detectors, because fire detectors are our top priority in fire safety," Markley said yesterday.
Staff writer
Markley said the fire office inspected the residence hall. ob
Bob Timmons
It's the end of an era for the KU track coach
Story by MIKE CONSIDINE Illustration by Tom Pajkos
retirement won't come easily or without regrets to Bob Timmons, but he will end 23
years as men's track and men's cross-country coach at the University of Kansas this spring.
Timmons reached the decision after his wife, Pat, had surgery and treatment for cancer last year. He made the announcement to his team in August.
"My decision was that I would retire in order that we could do some traveling and I wouldn't be tied down to a permanent job," Timmons said.
He said he might accept a high-school coaching job in the future if he could work only in the fall and spring.
Timmons, 63, said he wanted to have more time to spend with his family. The couple went on a two-week Mediterranean cruise before this year's Jayhawk Invitational.
"At the same time, I have a lot of reservations about it, because I've enjoyed (coaching)," Timmons said.
"I can't just leave this job and go to something fun," he said. "I've got to contribute in some way."
The veteran coach doesn't relish the prospect of outright retirement.
Timmons, who succeeded National Track Hall-of-Fame coach贝东塞, has carried on the tradition of the "pink and blue" coaching NCAA indoor championships in 1966 and 1969 and leading the 1970 team to both the indoor and outdoor championships. In Big Eight competition, Timmons has won 14 outdoor titles, 12 indoor titles and two cross country championships.
Timmons said he planned to use his spare time to try his hand
at acrylic painting, poetry and,
possibly, writing a book. He took
up painting at age 50 after suffering
a stroke. Three of his works
mingle with the trophies and
photographs in his Allen Field
House office.
"he's very goal-oriented," said Nebraska Coach Gary Pepin, who was a KU assistant from 1972 to 1981.
from 1972 to 1980.
The Pittsburgh native coached
24 NCAA all-Americans, six
Olympic team members and
three world record-holders at KU.
"He's really big on the team aspect," said Jeff Buckingham, who won Big Eight pole vault championships in 1979, 1980 and 1983. "He coaches the overall team, rather than just his events. A lot of coaches don't."
A bachelor's degree in the 1942 University of Kansas graduate, Timmons earned his degree in engineering. He served a three-year tour of duty with the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II.
Timmons said he thought he "wasn't getting any place" in the business world after the war. He trained coaching at age 26 because he loved sports and working with people. After stints at Caldwell High School, Emporia High School, Wichita East High School and Wichita West High School he settled in as cross country, track and swimming coach at Wichita East in 1956.
War II.
"I put him on a very demanding program. I was criticized for that, but I came from age-group swimming where records are made to be broken," Timmons said. "If Jim hadn't run the four-minute mile as a junior, I wouldn't have come when I did."
East in 1969.
"I figured that if I was ever going to go on to college, I'd better move at 40," Timmons said of becoming Easton's assistant in 1964. "Part of it was that I'd run out of goals and was looking for new worlds."
The last of Timmons' goals at Wichita East was helping future Olympian Jim Riyun become the first high school athlete to run a sub-four-minute mile. Ryun's record still stands today.
Easton was fired following the Kansas Relays in 1964, just after Timmons was named coach at Oregon State University.
Oregon State University "I walked in there and the athletic director (at Oregon
State) was on the phone talking about what happened to Easton," he said. "I was on the phone for a week trying to get Bill reinstalled."
Finally, Timmons surrendered and was persuaded to become KU's cross country and track and field coach.
"I had great qualms about the job," Timmons said. "I felt terrible about Bill. He was one of the all-time great coaches in U.S track and field."
During Ryun's career (1965-1969), Kansas won eight Big Eight titles and an NCAA indoor crown. The three-time Olympian won the NCAA indoor championship three straight years and set the world record twice in the mile. Ryun was proficient at any distance between 880 yards and two miles.
"There had never been an American runner with that kind of versatility," Timmons said. "Here was a guy who was right at the top of the world at 17 years of age. He was supposed to knock a home run every time he came up to the plate."
Despite the success of the Ryun years, Timmons considered leaving KU shortly thereafter.
"I didn't like the flavor of what was happening," he said. "I realized what people wanted and
But Markley said the housing office was violating state law by not having alarms in the five halls. He said the housing office could be liable if someone was injured or killed in a fire in one of the halls.
lin in 1988, in Hashinger and Ellsworth in 1989 and McCollum in 1990. Stoner said.
"I had been operating under the assumption that the plan is acceptable." Stoner said.
I am rather surprised KU still has five dormitories that do not have fire detectors, because fire detectors are our top priority in fire safety.'
priority in fire safety.'
— Paul Markley
Of the state
Fire Marshal Department
"A jury would probably have to answer that question," Markley said. "If they believed the University was negligent, or not making enough of an attempt to comply with the law, they could possibly be held responsible."
Two halls are about the most that could be wired with smoke detectors in one year because the housing office has a limited number of electricians. Also, the cost of the installation would take money away from other projects such as roof repairs, Stoner said.
Don McConnell, assistant director of maintenance for student housing, said that Oliver still was being wired for the smoke alarms, and that the project would be completed by the beginning of next semester.
Milroy said smoke detectors were installed in the scholarship halls in the early 1980s.
Stoner said smoke detectors had been installed in Jayhawyer Towers some time after the housing office began operating the Towers in 1980.
NCE
s support
from both. The load has to be shared."
Even though the amount of money KU receives from the state is 85.9 percent of the average amount received by peer schools, KU has the largest private endowment. KU's endowment totals $196 million. North Carolina has the second largest endowment at $105 million and Oklahoma has the smallest at $32 million.
KU's total spending for fiscal year 1987, which ended June 30, was $183.99 million. The Endow-
See PRIVATE, p. 14, col. 1
TOMORROW
Chancellor Gene A. Budig says KU will lose its best professors if the Kansas Legislature fails to approve Margin of Excellence this spring. What do legislative leaders say?
Also, the Board of Regents discuss Margin of Excellence and open admissions.