Fridav. April 20. 1962 University Daily Kansan Page 11 POST-GAME SHOW — KU Sports Network director Tom Hedrick (left) interviews KU football coach Jack Mitchell (right) in the Jayhawker locker room after each football game. The post-game show is a new trend in sports broadcasting. Tom Hedrick Is Top Sportscaster By Steve Clark A brash, young kid still wet behind his ears walked into radio station KLWN, Lawrence, and told Arden Booth, now manager, "I am going to be the best sports announcer in the country someday and I would like to start here." Booth, taken by surprise, could only chuckle. "Do you have an audition tape?" "I JUST HAPPENED to have one," laughed Tom Hedrick, director of the KU Sports Network, in describing how he got his first job in radio. "Ive always wanted to be a sports announcer." Hedrick said. "People back in Baldwin used to think I was crazy. I would walk around town doing play-by-play, and people would just look at me kind of funny and say 'I wonder what's wrong with that Hedrick kid?' Recently Hedrick, in his second year as KU Sports Network director, won the Kansas' top sportscaster award for the second consecutive year. He was selected for the honor by his fellow Kansas sportscasters. HEDRICK'S FIRST play-by-play was the Kansas Relays and this year he will air the Relays again over KLWN. In addition he broadcast Lawrence High School's football games, the KU alumni game and the Big Eight annual track and field meet, the last two which he will also do for KLWN this spring. Hedrick, in his present position, announces all Jayhawker football and basketball games. Last year he initiated a new trend in sportscasting. In addition to his pre-game football show, he did a post-game show with Jack Mitchell in the locker room. Hedrick is also in constant demand to broadcast special games and appear as a guest or substitute on area sports programs. EVEN THOUGH sportscoasting is fun to Hedrick, he takes a serious attitude toward it. He takes great pride in his broadcasts and spends hours doing research so that he can fill in during a broadcast with statistics and other tidbits of information. When Hedrick enters a field house Gardner Wins Award Jerry Gardner, highest-scoring guard in Kansas basketball history, has been selected to the Helms Foundation third All America team. Only other Big Eight player placed on the 30-man roster is Kansas State center Mike Wroblewski. or football stadium, one might think he was a famous trial lawyer going to the "Scopes trial" with his briefcase in hand. Within the briefcase are the fruits of Hedrick's many hours of research. HEDRICK'S INFORMATION is close at hand during his broadcast. He keeps a card on each player which lists his height, weight, hometown, scoring average, how he has done in previous games against KU and any other information that Hedrick can find. Hedrick is well prepared. He also has a statistician to compile vital facts and scoring that occurs during a game, so that he can keep his listeners informed. Hedrick is a competitor, too. He believes in the old show business adage, "the show must go on." When Kansas played Nebraska in basketball at Lincoln this year, Hedrick did the broadcast despite the fact that he had been sick for several days and had a temperature. KANSAS BROKE its seven-game losing streak that night and Hedrick got so excited in doing the broadcast that he was hoarse for several days. As a matter of fact, Monte Johnson, color man for home basketball games, had to do the play-by-play for a freshman game the next night and part of the Oklahoma game the following Saturday night. Hedrick is quick to credit those about him for making possible his success. His first reaction to winning the sportscasting award was, "It would not have been possible for me to win unless I worked for the University of Kansas and without the cooperation of the players and coaches." A man that Hedrick is quick to heap praise upon is his engineer, R. P. Stringham. "He is an electronic genius," says Hedrick. Stringham developed a special microphone for Hedrick that is "perfect for playby-play." HEDRICK FIRST JOINED the KU Sports Network in 1957-58 when he was working toward his master's degree here. He assisted Monte Moore, now announcing for the Kansas City Athletics, as color man. In 1958 he was sports director at KOCA in Kilgore, Tex. That year was a busy year for Hedrick as he did 140 broadcasts of football and basketball games during a six month period. Coane Keeps KU Tradition Tonnie Coane may be far from his home in West Islip, N. Y., but his track exploits are right at home in keeping with the rich track tradition at the University of Kansas. He moved to KWBW in Hutchinson in 1959 as sports director. In addition to his duties there he did play-by-play for the national junior college basketball tournament network. The 5-111, 150-pound junior is a bright newcomer on Coach Bill Easton's varsity squad, breaking into a veteran two-mile relay unit that set a new American record at the Chicago Daily News meet and then broke their own record at the Kansas State Indoor relays. ALTHOUGH A JUNIOR, this is Coane's first shot at varsity intercollegiate competition. From Stoney Brook Prep School at Stoney Brook, Long Island, he enrolled at Duke University in Durham, N. C. COANE ARRIVED at Mt. Oread in the fall of 1960, eligible to compete only in freshman postal competition. He worked hard in practice sessions and finished third in the freshman cross-country postal competition, and was the league's top individual scorer in indoor postal competition. After a semester and a half at the Atlantic Coast school, he was not as happy as he thought he might be, and decided to seek his track fortunes elsewhere. He scored $205^{3 / 4}$ points during the indoor season for a new school record for individual competition. Coane averaged about $18^{1 / 2}$ points per meet for 11 meets scoring points in the 440, 880, 1000, mile and two-mile runs. A running mate at Duke was Norman Fordyee Jr. of Kansas City who had attended Coach Easton's summer camp at Ely, Minnesota. Fordyee, having more than a bare knowledge of Easton and Kansas track tradition, convinced Coane that if he was not going to remain at Duke he should transfer to Kansas. This fall. Coane was on hand to bolster Easton's cross-country squad that regained its Big Eight championship after a year's stay at Oklahoma State. He finished seventh in the conference cross-country meet held here in November. DURING THE INDOOR season which saw the Jayhawkers go undefeated in five meets including an 11/12 of a point squeaker over Nebraska at the conference meet, Coane doubled in the 600 and 880 yard runs in addition to serving duty on the Jayhawk mile relay team. He pushed teammate Bill Thornton to a new Allen Field House record in the 880-yard run during an Oklahoma-Missouri-Kansas triangular before Thornton inched ahead of him at the finish line to win in 1:11.8. Coane waived the half-mile at the conference meet to concentrate on the 600-yard run and finished fifth among a strong field that saw Greg Pelster set a new record of 1:11.1. COANE CAME back to help the Jayhawkers score a badly needed two points (fourth place) in the mile relay. With relay season near, Coach Bill Easton sought a replacement for graduated Gordon Davis on the Kansas two-mile relay team which last year set a new Drake Relays record and posted the nation's second fastest time in that event. Coane was his man. WITH COANE running a 1:54.8 number two position, the relay team posted a 7:30.8 clocking at Chicago to better Manhattan college's year-old record by two seconds. A week later, Coane turned in a 1:52.1 half mile as the Jayhawker crew lowered their own record to 7.29.2 at Kansas State. How fast can the two-mile relay team go? Coane was slow to commit himself, but conceded that "given the right day and the right competition, we have the potential to run 7:20." A 7:20 TWO-MILE relay time would entail an average of four 1.50 half-miles. Coane again not committing himself as to how fast he will run, said, "I do not set any goals for myself, but instead try to improve my time each race." He believes that a performer who sets goals for himself can become discouraged if he does not reach his goals. WHILE IN high school Coane was barred from state meets because he attended a private prep school. Nevertheless he was able to post a 1:56 time in the half-mile. He was eligible to run in the Eastern State Championships, open for state and conference winners from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and other Eastern states, and finished second. --- TRAINING PUTS AN ATHLETE IN CONDITION ABILITY + TRAINING = GOOD ATHLETE AND SO IT IS WITH THE MEN AT OUR SERVICE STATION TRAINED TO SERVE YOU BEST ABILITY TO DO THE JOB RIGHT THAT'S WHY SO MANY FOLKS COME TO US YOU try our Service Station We'll strain everything to serve you best FRITZ CO. PHONE VI 3-4321 8th ond New Hampshire DOWNTOWN — NEAR EVERYTHING ---