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Friday, April 18, 1975
University Daily Kansan
Kansas Relays grows, faces new problems
By KEN STONE
By KEN STONE Sports Writer
"From the sun-kissed slopes of Mount Oread, on the banks of the majestic Kaw, there was sent in the spring of 1923 a call to athletes of America inviting them to meet on the Kansas memorial stadium field in a game against the University from the 1926 Kansas Relays, meet program.
The frustrated writer who wrote that fairy-ale account of the beginnings of the Kansas Relays was right about one thing, at least. The Kansas Relays, by 1926, had certainly developed into "a major outdoor relay classic."
The first Kansas Relays program, in 1923, gave the first job of telling the story of the early Relays.
"Being at Penn, where the relays were being developed into the biggest annual athletic event in the history of the world, Doctor John Outland (an All-Star for the 1986 KU team) was filled with the spirit of the games." the program said.
"Returning to his native state, he began to insist that Kansas should have games similar to the Pennsylvania carnival, but lack of facilities impeded him.
"It was only when Kansas students and alumni built the memorial stadium, in token of the sacrifice of the 120 students in the class that the Relays became a possibility."
THAT'S HOW JOHN OUTLAND came to be called, "the father of the Kansas
But if Outland was the father of the Relays, Forrest C. "Phog" Allen and Karl Schlademan gave the relays life. Whereas Outland got the idea, Allen, the KU athletic director at that time, and Schlademan, the KU track coach, gave life to the idea.
Allen, in those early years of the Relays, undertook a promotion campaign that would rival anything produced by Madison Avenue today.
Edwin "Doc" Elbel, who came to the University in 1928 to teach theory courses in physical education, has been manager of the Kansas Relays since 1928. He recalled two weeks ago some of the stunts Allen was able to publicize the Relays across Kansas.
Perhaps the most bizarre promotion ever
up in 1930—a
cleddie, and buffalo biceps.
THAT YEAR, a rodeo was held on Friday night, after the high school track events, on the KU football field. Later, a buffalo was slaughtered and barbecued as a meal for the coaches and meet officials. A prize was given to the contest to guess the buffalo's weight.
"Yes, I saw this," Elibel said. "It was quite an affair. And I'm sure it was a dwarf buffalo because it was the toughest thing I ever tasted."
Another Allen publicity technique, which, by the way, is still a stall among meet promoters today, was to bring in the group of foreign board holders, Olimpiams and foreign stars.
The University Daily Kansas took a polite view of a congenial visitor from the Netherlands, Adrien Paulen, who ran the 440 in 1926.
"The foreign champion made himself popular during his visit on the hill in the manner in which he roamed over the field drinking pop, eating ice cream and getting acquainted with everyone; causing plenty of comment."
Paulen was one of the many Kansas Relays stars of the early years. Another was Tom Poor, the Kansas high jumper and NCAA champion in the event.
Poor won the first three Kansas Relays in the 1920s high jump titles with leaps of 6-1/4, 6-4 and 6-5. Far from the 7 foot leaps of our team, jumping was really quite remarkable.
Elibel said high jump rules in those days were quite different from today.
"The jumpers had to take off feet first, go over feet first and land feet first." Elibel
That didn't allow for much variation in technique, so most jumpers either went over on their sides or used the 'scissors' technique.
Almost as famous as some of the greatest athletes that starred in the relays were the referees of the early Kansas Relays, and Allen knew how to pick them.
In 1925, Knute Rocke, the famous Notre Dame football coach, was the referee. And in 1931, Alonzo Stagg, of the University of Chicago, was the referee.
BUT THE ATLETHETS OF STATURE were the real drawing cards, especially if they had the potential to break a world record in the Kansas Relays.
"People just loved the idea of seeing someone break a record." Elabel said.
And many records have been broken through the years.
KU's 440-yard relay team, running a 42.0,
was the first team to set a world record in
racing.
One of the most long-lived of Relays records was set by Harrison Dillard in 1948 in the 120-yard high hurdles. His world record time of 13.6 stood as the relays record until 1973 when KU's Gregg Vandever brought it down to 13.5.
Other Kansas Relays superstars included Glenn Cunningham in the 1930s, Jim Rum in the 1980s and KU sprinters Charlie Green and Todd Scales and earlier, Jim Bausch, in the decathalon.
1 one relays participant had to be singled out as the most loved . . . and the most successful athletes and athletes, that participant would have to be the Midwestern weather.
The first bad rain occurred with the very first Kansas Relays in 1923 when it rained heavily during the high school meet on May 6, and the team was started in 1944 by Chancellor Strong.
Stories of killer monsoons, hail, dust,
excesses in the Kansas Relief are mindful.
Reports of hard rains and high winds were made in 1923, 1929, 1932, 1947, 1951, 1955, 1969, 1965, 1969, 1970 and last year, 174 Spots of rain have fallen during most every Kansas Relays, and completely clear weekends were rare.
"Phoq" Allen realized from the start that the relays might be severely crippled financially if the rains came, so he did what he wanted to protect an expensive investment.
HE TOOK OUT INSURANCE on the Kansas Relaws.
Alien insured the relays for $5,000. The proposition was this: if one-tenth of an inch overhang is allowed on the line
Alen got away with this in 1923, 1924 and
1925, but after that, no one would
insure the Rolls-Royce.
Saturday of the meet, Kansas would receive the money.
"The insurance companies found out they had a losing proposition," Ebel said.
It wasn't until 1969, when Jim Hersberger, Wichita oil man and KU track athlete, contributed $125,000 towards the installation of a Tartan all-weather track in Memorial Stadium, that fears of a financial catastrophe were alleviated.
Elon Torrence of the Associated Press, the Lawrence Daily Journal-World reported, even made the suggestion after the rain-drenched 1790 Kansas Relays were over that the outstanding athlete of the meet was because of his third place. Hershberger "not because of his third place," Mile, but because of his gift of the track that made an impossible meeting possible."
The relays moved into the era of social consciousness in 1972 when a group of 300
demonstrators, with prior approval from the University administration and Bob Timmons, KU track coach, entered the south gate of Memorial Stadium on Friday and proceeded to stage a short, well-conditioned demonstration against Nixon's war policy.
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