4 FEATURE
Don Fambrough relaxes in his house in a room filled with Kansas memorabilia. The former Kansas football coach is still a big fan of the team and even attends some of the team's practices. Fambrough coached the Jayhawks from 1971-44 and again from 1979-82.
Weston White/KANSAN
Former head football coach Don Fambrough will never lose his love for the Kansas team
weston White/KANSAN
Fambrough has a framed article describing the day when former players dedicated a bench to him on the hill near Memorial Stadium.
By Jayson Jenks
jjenks@kansan.com
Don Fambrough stands between Kansas'two practice fields on a typically muggy morning in mid-August. Shading him from the sun are black sunglasses, the only non-Kansas related items in Fambrough's wardrobe today.
He walks around the outskirts of the field on the way to a training table. On the way, he is stopped by packs of players sipping water during a break.
"Hey coach," sophomore tight end Tim Biere says, patting Fambrough on the shoulder. "How are you doing today?"
So goes a typical practice for Fambrough, the twice-former coach who now spends his days strolling the sidelines as a spectator. He doesn't say much during practices, only offering a few words here and there before the start of drills.
But Fambrough stands as a living symbol connecting the Jayhawks' past and present — and, really, the distinction between Kansas' football program and Fambrough has increasingly narrowed through the years.
Follow Kansan football writer Jayson Jenks at twitter.com/jaysonjenks.
"He's just one of those people that as soon as you hear his name you associate him with Kansas football," former offensive lineman Ryan Cantrell said. "He is Kansas football."
At 85, Fambrough is the ultimate historian of Kansas football, his qualifications spanning seven decades as a Jayhawk.
His late wife, Del, was a teacher in the Lawrence community. His sons graduated from the University. So, too, did Fambrough. Plus, in some capacity, Fambrough spent 30 years as a coach, including eight years as a head coach.
"His life-blood is at Kansas," former Kansas coach Terry Allen said. "There's nobody I'm more pleased for with the success of Kansas football than Don Fambrough."
Yet Fambrough's ties with Kansas football are complicated, filled with equal parts passion and, at times, pure frustration.
THE WAVE OCTOBER 9,2009
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN