Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1964 University Daily Kansan
Page 7
Wanted a Letter Boyhood Heroes Spur Elder
Fred Elder
(Special)—A simple observation drove Fred Elder into football . . . watching his friends earn letter sweaters at Roosevelt Junior High in Wichita.
"It's no fun walking home every day after school while your pals are playing on some team," recounts Kansas' tall tenure tail, who rates as the Jayhawkers' best up-front bracket this season.
"We didn't have junior high football in Wichita, just basketball and track. I couldn't do anything in track and was the world's worst basketball player. The guys that could play were heroes in my eyes. I had to do something. So when we got to high school (Wichita East), I went out for sophomore football."
PLAYING FOR Bob Timmons, now KU track assistant. Elder was a center that season. He still was handling pivot when he moved up to the varsity the next year under Jim Barger, former Oklahoma State tackle. As a senior he played offensive center (he earned second-team All-State) and defensive end through three games, then switched to tackle.
He has manned the latter post since, but its been a long pull at Kansas, from second string as a freshman, to red shirt, to varsity reserve, and finally, this season, a starter.
"That redshirt year is tough," Elder recalls. "You're a nothing. Even if you're good, which I wasn't, you're a nothing. It might hurt your attitude for a while until you discover that they're (the coaching staff) doing you a favor. I'm a lot better football player for it."
BETTER FOOTBALL player, I guess. Offensive line coach Don Fambrough says of the 6-3, 221-pound, tackle, "Elder is one of the most valuable players we have because he knows every lineman's
Second-Round IM Deadline Tomorrow
Results of second-round play in intramural tennis, badminton, golf, horseshoes and handball must be turned into the Intramurals office by 9 a.m. tomorrow, according to Robert Lockwood, director of intramurals.
assignment on every play. He helps the young ones when they run into something different in a game. He's always alert to something different the defense is doing. Too, he's a fine blocker himself. He always gives 100 per cent; that second and third effort that's so important if you're going to gain ground."
"You've got to know at least the assignments of the men on either side of you to play at all." Elder explains. "There's a lot to learn with all the things the defense does. For that matter, you've got to know what the others are doing when you're on defense too. That's why it's hard for a sophomore lineman to play, although sophomore backs have a lot to learn too."
Elder's intelligence and application extend to the classroom. He's a mechanical engineering major with an overall grade average of 1.8. He'll complete that course at the end of the current semester.
ELDER WOULD have been satisfied, perhaps, with one foothold in the athletic orbit. But his orig-hall, Barger insisted his gridders
become wrestlers in the off-season, inal push netted two. At East unless they were varsity contenders in another sport. Elder became good enough to place second in the state prep heavyweight division as a senior. He wrestled heavyweight for the Jayhawks last year when they reactivated the mat sport.
"Yes, wrestling helps a football player," the lean Wichitan emphasizes. "It helps your balance more than anything. It's hard to explain, but you get the feeling you are under control at all times. If you've ever seen a blind wrestler you know what I mean. Their balance is unbelievable. It also helps your quickness and overall strength."
Elder's belly is flat as the deck of an aircraft carrier. Yet, he keeps his wife, the former Jane Thompson of Wichita, cooking most of the time she's not teaching fourth grade at nearby Lynwood.
"He eats four meals a day," she laughs.
How come? is the logical query,
"Because I'm hungry," somes the
equally logical answer.
THE CLASSICAL FILM SERIES
presents
THE GOLD RUSH A Chaplin Classic
ADMISSION 60c
Wednesday----7:00 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.
FRASER THEATER
Sprinters Lead American Relay Teams to Victory
TOKYO —(UPI)— Sprinters Bob Hayes and Henry Carr anchored crack United States relay teams to world records today boosting America's gold medal haul to 34 in a brilliant drive to wrest the over-all team championship from Russia.
With only three days of competition remaining, the U.S. now has 15 more gold medals than the Russians, who must score heavily in gymnastics, boxing and canoeing to catch up.
AMERICAN SPEEDSTERS SWEPT the men's 400 and 1,600 meter relays in the track and field windup today while the Soviets matched that pace with a victory by high-jumper Valery Brumel and another by its women's gymnastics team.
Brumel, contributing Russia's first and only gold medal in men's track, barely edged long John Thomas of Boston as both cleared 7 feet, $ _{1/4} $ inches.
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