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Page 2 University Daily Kansan Friday, April 20. 1962
Kansas Relays Has Exciting History
(Continued from page 1)
1960. East Texas State's Jim Baird went 25-5 1/4 in the broad jump to break the oldest Relays record, 25-4 1/4; set 29 years earlier. Also in the 1960 Relays, the now KU senior Bill Dotson nudged his high school rival, Archie San Romani, in the 1500-meter race with a 4:00.4 clocking in one of the Relay's most exciting races.
Baylor dominated action in last year's KU Relays by cleanly winning six titles and tying for the seventh before a crowd of 13,500.
National interest in the Kansas Relays over the years has remained high largely because of KU's own track standouts.
Glenn Cunningham was the first in the long line of great KU Relays performers. Cunningham captured the Relays' first 1500-meter title in 1932, repeated in the same event in 1933 and won the mile in 1934 with a 4:12.7 effort. In 1935, 1937 and 1938, Cunningham was beaten in the mile but came back to win in 1939 before 12,000 persons.
Another crowd of 12,000 looked on in 1940 as the by then famous Cunningham ran his last Relays mile race — Cunningham lost the race.
Cunningham placed fourth in the 1932 Olympic 1500-meter run and second in the 1935 Olympics in the same event.
Wes Santee's attempt at the four-minute mile barrier places him as one of the all-time Kansas greats.
Santee posted the second fastest clocking in the mile event up to that time in the 1954 Relays mile. Santee raced to a 4:03.1 effort before a record crowd of 16,000. Santee turned in a 4:11.4 clocking in the 1955 weather-hammered Relays.
In 1956, Bill Nieder tossed the shot put 59-7 7/8 for a new Relays mark. Just a week before, the Jayhawker had become the first college athlete to break the 60-foot barrier.
After earning a bronze medal in the 1956 Olympics, Nieder entered
the KU Relays and made the best shot put effort during 1957 with a 62-2 heave.
Competing as a Marine in the 1960 Relays, Nieder warmed up with a tremendous 66-1 1/4 heave and set a new Memorial Stadium mark of 63-1 1/4 in actual competition.
Nieder gained a gold medal for the United States track team in the 1960 Olympics.
KU's Al Oerter, gold medal winner in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics, won three straight Relays crowns in the discus event. Oerter captured the 1956, 1957 and 1958 titles.
Three other Kansas greats, Bill Alley, javelin, Ernie Shelby, broad jump, and Charlie Tidwell, 100-yard dash, were at their best in the 1959 Relays.
Tidwell earned the "most outstanding athlete" title and turned in a .09.9 posting in the 100. Alley hurled the javelin in 254-9, shattering the previous Relays best by 22 feet. And, Shelby came within seven-eighths of an inch of the oldest Relays mark with a 25-3 3/4 lean.
All three of the KU 1959 Relays stars became NCAA champions two months later.
Recent KU Relays have been held with some financial problems. Currently there is some speculation that KU will enlarge the seating capacity of Memorial Stadium by extending the seating area onto the track. A new track stadium in then reportedly planned for the area east of the Stadium and the KU Relays, the "dream" of a former KU student 40 years ago, would be dropped from the KU athletic program.
Whether or not the Relays are considered a financial success, much of the overall Relays success can be attributed to Bill Easton, Kansas Relays director and KU trak coach for the past 15 years. Coach Easton has not only led team after team to loop titles and national championships, but has also skillfully engineered the Kansas Relays.
O'Hara to Be Next 4:00 Miler?
"The first time I saw Tom O'Hara was at a high school meet," says a veteran track railbird. "His little sister came up to me and said she was here to watch her brother run. She pointed him out to me, and all I could think of when I saw this slight, pale kid was—little girl, you should have stayed home. You're only going to be disappointed. Then he ran, and he became a giant."
This represents a typical first impression of the 5-10, 130-pound Chicago Loyola sophomore who may be the next collegiate miler under four minutes.
He came close to the magic figure March 9 when he trailed Jim Beatty (3:59.7) home in 4:01.6 in the Chicago Daily News Bankers Mile. In the New York A.C. Games he ran 4:02.9 behind Beatty's 4:00.9, and he won the New York Knights of Columbus in 4:05.6. In his most recent outing the slender redhead anchored the Rambler sprint medley quartet to a new meet and field house record of 3:30.4 at the Wetsern Michigan Relays.
As a freshman last year, O'Hara anchored the same unit to the College division Kansas Relays crown in 3:23.1, just five-tenths off the meet record. With the little guy starting so fast this year the Chicagoans are certain to make a stout defense of their title here when the 37th Mt. Oread extravaganza unfolds tomorrow. The existing record of 3:22.6 was established by a Bill Tidwell-anchored Emporia State foursome in 1957.
O'Hara's avowed cinder ambition is two-fold—"To make the 1964 Olympic team and run a sub-4 minute mile."
His coach, Jerry Weiland, is confident his lithe running machine will break 4:00 before the season is over. "If he eventually gets as strong as we anticipate and can duplicate Beatty's four hours a day training, no one will touch him," says Weiland. "He can be an Olympic miler.
(Continued on page 13)
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