6
KANSAN.COM
RETIRED JERSEYS
File photo/KANSAN
MAX FALKENSTIEN
Broadcaster, 1946-2006
No.60
▶ AMIE JUST
@amie_just
It was March 1,2006,and Max Falkenstien had no idea what he was walking into.
An irke knew was that this was his last game, as the longtime radio announcer was hanging up his hat after 60 years.
As Falkenstien made his way to his seat, the student section held up a page of
The University Daily Kansan. That page had the words "Thanks, Max" and two pictures: one of him in 1946 and one from 2006.
That wasn't going to be the only tribute.
"At the halftime, a lot of the former players who were here came out on the floor," Falkenstien said. "I sort of thought they might do something special, but I didn't anticipate having my jersey hanging in the Fieldhouse. But it was a wonderful feeling to be recognized up there with all the great athletes who have wore the KU crimson and blue as a singular honor. I don't know if anyone else will ever put 60 years into KU
like I did, so that makes it very special."
To put a cherry on top of his career, Kansas defeated Colorado that night. 75-54.
After retiring in 2006, he wrote a book titled "A Good Place to Stop," because his goal was to finish 60 years. Though, Falkenstien jokes he should have stuck around for two more years.
["I thought] 60 years would be a good place to put it to bed and it turned out that it was a terrible title for my book," Falkenstien said. "Because two years after I quit, we won the Orange Bowl and the national basketball championship in the same year
and I thought, 'What the hell. I should have stayed two more years, then it really would have been a good place to stop.'
Falkenstien had been there for it all, though.
His father, Earl, worked for Kansas Athletics as the business manager when Falkenstien was a kid, so naturally, he worked close with Phog Allen. But Falkenstien doesn't call him Phog. He calls him Doc.
"I knew Doc very well as I was growing up," Falkenstien said. "We were close when I became a broadcaster working with him until he retired. I had a very close relationship with him."
Falkenstien started his
radio broadcasting career in 1946. The first game he ever called was Kansas versus Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) in the NCAA tournament that year. Kansas lost, 49-38.
His broadcasting career spanned the last 10 years of Allen's career, eight seasons with Dick Harp, 19 seasons with Ted Owens, five seasons with Larry Brown, 15 seasons with Roy Williams and the first three seasons of Bill Self's career.
He saw Kansas win two national championships and 24 conference titles, and play in 11 Final Fours and 33 NCAA tournaments.
Although Falkenstien retired in 2006, he still comes
to all the home games he can. He estimates he's been to more than 2,000 basketball games in nearly 93 years of life.
"There have been a lot of spectacular finishes and some heartbreaks too," Falkenstien said. "Far more great wins than tough losses. Coaches are interesting though, they always pretty much agree in one thing. The agony of defeat is much greater than the joy of victory. They think about the ones that got away more than the ones that you won."