Volume 125 Issue 67 kansan.com Tuesday, February 5, 2013 ONLINE Excess Hollywood podcast http://bit.ly/VF0VoR ON THE ROAD AGAIN GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN Dan "The Bus Driver" Morelan is now a taxi driver after being fired from his position as a bus driver on the Campus Red route. Morelan works for Ground Transportation Services, which is now expanding its services to students. 'DAN THE TAXI MAN' Dan Morelan, former KU bus driver, has found a new calling: taxis VIKAAS SHANKER vshanker@kansan.com Known for whistling, singing and cheering up students while driving the Route 43 Campus Red bus at the University for four years, Dan Morelan earned campus celebrity status as "Dan the bus driver." But he has since acquired a different set of wheels in Lawrence. He still whistles and sings to the radio. He laughs with passengers and cracks jokes. He helps with your groceries. He's the same guy, but in a taxi. Morelan is now "Dan the Taxi Man." THE BUS DRIVER Morelan, a 55-year-old Lawrence resident, started driving buses for the University-contracted company MV Transportation in 2008. His positive attitude and friendliness — both on the bus and off campus — inspired students to create a Facebook fan page, customize "Dan our favorite bus driver" T-shirts and mention him in many Free For All submissions on the Kansan's opinion page. "He would give you the shirt off his back," said Skyler Richardson, a senior from Salina and creator of the Facebook fan page. "If you've got something going on, he's always willing to help you." Despite his popularity with students, Morelan was fired in September by MV Transportation for singing on the bus with passengers. Morelan felt the company was always out to get him. "The other drivers, I got along with most of my co-workers," Morelan said. "But some of them resent the fact that when a student gets in and sits down and says, 'I should have gone on Dan's bus.'" Morelan filed a grievance with the bus drivers' union; however union representatives told Morelan nothing could be done. His firing led to a petition, which reached 3,342 signatures, demanding the University rehire him. Bryan Sorenson, the owner of Ground Transportation Services (GTS) in Lawrence, wanted to THE TAXI MAN expand the reach of his taxis to include more students. He met Morelan through a mutual friend who was also applying to be a driver for the company. "Dan had put an application in before," Sorenson said. "I came back and looked his application over, looked him up on Facebook. Not only is he a good driver, but the customer base that he brings with him would be unconditional." He quit that job and started driving taxis for GTS on Jan. 7. Most of Morelan's customers are Lawrence regulars who need to run errands like getting groceries or going to the post office, but he has driven some students. After he was fired from MV Transportation, Morelan took a job working with Aero Stage Lines, a charter bus company, but he couldn't interact with students like he had as a University bus driver. "I've picked up a few who've recognized me," Morelan said. "There's a warm, fuzzy feeling that "I just love the kids here," Morelan said about students at the University. Sorenson said that in the future, Morelan may also drive for a new van service that would pick up groups from Massachusetts Street on weekend nights after the Lawrence bus service ends. you actually have meant something to these people." "It's a good job for him," said Daniel Palen, a senior from Denver. "He'll get to see the students he liked so much again. I would definitely just go ride around with him." Morelan currently drives taxis from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. Call (785) 842-8294 to request a ride with him. GTS taxis take you anywhere in Lawrence for $9. MEN'S BASKETBALL Edited by Emma McEthaney KANSAN FILE PHOTO Allen Fieldhouse legend dies at 80 RYAN MCCARTHY rmccarthy@kansan.com One of the great players whose jersey number hangs in Allen Fieldhouse has passed away. Former Kansas men's basketball legend B.H. Born died on Sunday, Feb. 2, in Peoria, Ill. He was 80 years old. David Born, B.H.'s son, informed Kansas Athletics of the news on Monday. "We heard this morning about the passing of B.H. Born," Kansas coach Bill Self said Monday in a statement. "He's one of the very few people that have been the most outstanding player of the Final Four on the team that did not win a national championship." Born was born in Osawatomie on June 6, 1932. His family moved to Medicine Lodge when he was in fourth grade, which is where he began his ascent to basketball stardom in Kansas. While in high school, Born was named to the All-State team as senior at Medicine Lodge High, where he averaged 25.1 ppg. He also set the 1A state tournament scoring record with 111 points in 1950, according to a recent Kansas-sports.com feature. Nicknamed the "beanpole" Born's astonishing statistics brought him some national attention and college scholarship offers from around the country. He decided to stay at home and went to Kansas, where he was coached by legendary coach Phog Allen from 1952-54. During that time, the Jayhawks won three conference titles and had a 63-14 combined record. In his sophomore year, Kansas won the 1952 NCAA National Championship. That season, the Jayhawks had a 28-3 overall record. Born only attempted 46 shots and averaged 1.7 ppg according to College Hootedia. In 1953, he established himself as one of the nation's best centers. He was named to the All-American team and first-team All-Big Seven that season. Later that year, Born won the most outstanding player award in the NCAA Tournament. He was the first player to win the award from a non-championship team. Kansas lost to Indiana, 69-68, in the 1953 NCAA title game. Born had 26 points, 15 rebounds and 13 blocked shots, which is SEE BORN PAGE 3 ENVIRONMENT Sustainable energy building in progress EMMA LEGAULT elegault@kansan.com On the far west corner of the Park and Ride lot on Becker Drive, the tall, wooden pillars emerging out of the slab of concrete signify construction to those passing by. However, the 20 students and one professor working in the 20-degree temperature are braving the cold with a vision that extends beyond the skeleton framework. By this May, the University's Studio 804 capstone architectural design-build class hopes to have completed its latest project: Founded in 2008, EcoHawks is a School of Engineering group project program focused on sustainable energy and transportation. Students have the opportunity to take ideas from existing vehicles and incorporate them into new hybrid and electric models, as well as explore where vehicles will go in the future. a new teaching facility to house the EcoHawks program. The program, headed by assistant professor Chris Depcik, is run as a design project and part volunteer group. The group's current Each year, the students enrolled in Studio 804 design and construct, in a nine-month period, a fully functional and energy-sustainable building as a culmination of the Architectural Masters degree program. Depcik said the similar missions of each program made the partnership a "perfect match." location is a barn that lacks heating and air conditioning as well as windows and a bathroom. "The flux of both sustainable building practices and a sustainable transportation and energy program ... it made sense to link the Last fall, Depcik and the EcoHawks met with the Studio 804 students to start the design process, incorporating the needs of the EcoHawks program with the abilities and ideas of Studio 804. Construction began in November, and with concrete poured in December, the site work is well underway. two programs and come up with this vision of what we could see in the future," Depcik said. The facility is designed to be a net-zero building, which means it will produce more energy than it actually consumes. The building will have an array of sustainable features, such as vehicle charging stations and 10 kilowatts of solar panels on the roof. Depcik said the goal is to be able to charge a battery electric car using the solar panels during the day and to use the stored energy to run the electricity in the building at night. Mandy Moore, a Studio 804 graduate student from San Antonio, said what Depcik wants to accomplish with solar energy and the integration with vehi- DANIEL PALEN/KANSAN SEE ENERGY PAGE 3 Studio 804 architecture class is building a new facility on West Campus for the EcoHawks program. EcoHawks is a project started by the School of Engineering that focuses on sustainable energy. **Index** CLASSIFIEDS 7 CRYPTOQUIPS 5 SPORTS 8 CROSSWORD 5 OPINION 4 SUODKU 5 I contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2013 The University Daily Kansan Today is World Nutella Day! Stock up on some hazelnut goodness. Today's Weather Clear. Winds from the West at 5 to 15 mph.