Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday
October 13, 1998
Section:
Sports
B
Page 1
The football team tries to answer questions about late game letdowns that have resulted in recent losses. See Page 3B
Big 12 Football
The Big 12 Coaches reflect on a weekend that saw Nebraska upset in conference action.
SEE PAGE 4B
Pro Baseball
George Steinbrenner pumps up the Yankees and the results of last night's National League game.
SEE PAGE 6B
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matt@ukans.edu
Track history
Athlete was miles ahead of competition
This is the second in a series about Kansas all-time running great leading up to the NCAA Championships at Rim Rock Farm in November.
By Cal Butcher Special to the Kansan
If does not matter how small the town is, what obstacles need to be overcome, success is possible with desire.
That is the moral of the story of the legendary Glenn Cunningham.
He grew up in Elkhart in southwestern Kansas and became the world's fastest miler in the 1930s.
At Rim Rock Farm, the University of Kansas' home cross country course and site of the 1998 NCAA Division I and II Cross Country Championships, seven life-sized silhouettes depict some of the most successful athletes in Kansas history.
Cunningham, Al Frame, John Lawson, Billy Mills, Jim Ryun, Wes Santee and Herb Semper are being honored by former Kansas coach Bob Timmons who owns the course. He had silhouettes installed so runners and fans could enjoy them at the championships on Nov. 23.
Cunningham's story is heroic and historic. A kerosene fire burned young Cunningham's legs. He was in the hospital for six months recovering from the burns.
Told he might never walk again, he began running to strengthen his legs. He won nine national Amateur Athletic Union Championships and an Olympic silver medal.
Kansas assistant track and field coach Sam Hume was born in Elkhart. He remembered visiting the park that bears Cunningham's name.
Cunningham inspired him to become an athlete and coach.
"I think about it all the time," Hume said. "When I'm talking to recruits, I tell them it doesn't matter if they aren't from the big city. They've got just as much of a chance as anybody."
Cunningham was the first NCAA track champion at Kansas, winning the mile in 1932 and 1933. He received the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete in 1933.
In 1934, he held the world records in the indoor 1,500 meters and in the indoor and outdoor miles. From 1932-34, he won 13 Big Six Conference Championships, including back-to-back-to-back titles in the outdoor 680 yard run and the mile. His conference championships ranged in distance from the mile relay to the two mile run.
His Kansas contributions did not end after leaving.
Cunningham placed fourth in the 1,500 meters at the 1932 Olympics. He traveled to Berlin in 1936 on the Olympic team with Jesse Owens, and this time, Cunningham finished second in the 1,500 meters. He was an original inductee of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974.
"Even after he had finished school, he came back to run at the (Kansas) Relays," said Wes Santee, who starred at Kansas in the early 1950s. "And even when he finished competing, he used to come and watch every year."
Cunningham ran in his last Relays in 1940, but was a staple at many meets until his death in 1988. The Kansas track team annually presents the Glenn Cunningham Award to those who provide exceptional leadership, while overcoming personal adversity.
Timmons said Cunningham's widow Ruth and one of his twelve children were expected to attend next month's festi ties. It is Cur
Kansas soccer team loses 1-0 in close Texas Tech match
By Brad Hallier
Kansas sportswriter
Kansan sportswriter
NORMAN, Okla. — The road to San Antonio has become a little tougher for the Kansas soccer team.
Texas Tech scored in the 79th minute, and the Red Raiders held on for a 1-0 win against Kansas yesterday at Parkhad Field at Griffin Park. The Jayhawks are 5-7-1 overall, 1-3-1 in the Big 12 Conference. Hike, only
"We're only
nailway through the conference schedule," Kansas coach Dan Magner said. "We don't want to get down or negative. We still have five contests to play in the conference."
The Red Raiders controlled the first 36 minutes of the match, but Kansas controlled the final 10 minutes of the first half.
Everybody raised their level," Magner said. "Melanie Schroeder added a real spark. Taking people on and going to the goal was very helpful to us."
The Jayhawks nearly scored first in the 46th minute when defender Kvlie Watts found herself one-on-one
with Tech goalkeeper Brittney Peese. Watts chipped the ball over the bar of the goal.
Defender Jackie Dowell had a free kick in the 50th minute from about 30 yards out that struck the crossbar. It was the second time this season she has hit the crossbar in a 1-0 loss.
"I was kind of far out, but I looked up and thought we needed to take opportunities," she said. "I hope I don't hear the ping of the crossbar again."
Katie Garrity started in goal for the second time this season. She performed well, saving five shots including one in the 69th minute.
Kansas nearly found the net again in the 57th minute when forward Erin Hon had a shot on a breakaway, but again Peese smothered it.
A Red Raider hit a hard shot across the mouth of the goal from 10 yards out, but Garrity got a hand on the ball and pushed it wide of the goal.
"It was a tough loss for sure," she said. "I didn't play that well. I was hesitant on a lot of balls I shouldn't have been. I had a good save, a big save, but I knew that she was going
"I hope I don't hear the ping of the crossbar again."
Jackie Dowell
The loss didn't sit well with her.
to shoot there. It helped keep our momentum."
Kansas defender
Texas Tech finally broke the deadlock in the 79th minute. Forward Amy Rutstein broke free behind the Kansas defense and placed a perfect shot into the upper left-hand corner of the goal from about 18 yards out.
Magner praised the hard work of defenders Dowell, Watts, Lindsey Loefler and Sarah Korpi. The four played the entire 300 minutes the team has played in three games since Friday.
"They were stand-out players," he said. "They did well, considering the number of minutes they played."
The Jayhawks play their final home games against No. 10 Nebraska on Friday and against Iowa State on Sunday.
The games will be the final home matches for seniors Korpi, Hon, Dowell and Jen Silvers.
Pick 'em games Week 7, Oct.17
Submit your predictions to the University Daily Kansan. We'll print the top pickers next week on the sports page. Other predictions will be published on the UDKi at www.kansan.com.
Return your picks to the Kansan newsroom in 111 StaufferFlint Hall or e-mail them to the sports editor at matt@ukans.edu by 5 p.m. Friday.
Include your name, year in school and hometown
Score Teams Score
Kansas at Nebraska
Kansas State at Oklahoma State
Missouri at Oklahoma
Texas A&M at Baylor
Texas Tech at Colorado
Syracuse at Boston College
Oregon at UCLA
Virginia at Georgia Tech
Kentucky at LSU
Louisville at Tulane
Eastern Michigan at Western
Michigan
Minnesota at Ohio State
Kristie Elliot/KANSAN
Commentary
Memories of football are childhood highlights
I asked myself this weekend why I'm a football fan.
Some people might brush sports aside, saying that fanaticism about athletics is merely an escape. And it's true that sports
are an escape — a great excuse to sit on the couch Saturday and Sunday afternoons in front of a television.
But competition has given me and many people I know so much more.
Cross country meets, baseball games and soccer matches are gathering places.
Friday nights in small towns across the state and country.
Matt Friedrichs
matt@ukans.edu
For me, football represents all that is important and good about sports.
the lights at the football stadium draw people in cars, pickups and on foot to the local competition between the hometown team and its archrivals from 30 miles down the highway.
for me, resisted opportunities important and good about sports. I grew up wanting to be a high school, college and professional football player. It wasn't a desire born out of a violent thirst for blood or the need to escape from a lowly background.
Once, when I was little, Dad told Paul and me that the best football players stayed low. On the next play, we both lowered our heads, ran and smoked our skulls together
I remember playing catch with my dad and running patterns against my brother Paul. I learned the down and out route, the button hook and the fly pattern playing with my family.
in grade school we'd play football at recess along a barbed wire fence whose posts marked the distance needed for a first down. Like other school children, we had ms — the Pittsburgh Steelers,
In grade school we'd play football
favorite teams - the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Dallas Cowboys and the Kansas City Chiefs
The first organized games I remember seeing were eight-man football games played in Odell, Neb., between local high school teams. I also saw my uncle, Fred, play football at Concordia College in Seward, Neb.
After one of the games, Paul wore Fred's jersey and sweat-soaked shoulder pads. On my very young brother, the sleeves covered most of his arms and the Jersey brushed the ground.
At Thanksgiving, Christmas and other weekend family gatherings at grandma's house we'd play football. Paul and I measured our physical progress in those games. First we guarded each other, but gradually as we grew faster, bigger and stronger, we lined up against our uncles.
As a freshman at Marysville High School, I played organized football for the first time. Coach Dallas Cox asked me if I'd play quarterback for the Bulldogs because he thought I'd remember the plays.
My big chance came my junior year. Both our all-league quarterback and our all-state center graduated. Coach Bill Lo We asked me to practice at both positions. Robert Peschel was faster and quicker than me, so he became our wishbone quarterback, and I became the center — 165 pounds of high school lineman.
I still play catch with my dad, brother, uncles and cousins; compete in intramurals at the University of Kansas and play games with my friends at home. I love football not for the oaf, beer-swilling fanaticism but for the memories of family, friends and the punt I blocked against Hiawatha in a district game my junior year in high school.
I hope you have something as dear to your heart.
14
research is a Bremen graduate student in journalism.