Bow-legged benefactor
Hershberger's muddy reminder helps clear KU's track picture
By MARTHA
MANGELSDORF
Kansan Sports Special
Jim Hershberger remembers one of the all too many soggy chapters to the Kansas Relays.
Ankle deep in mud, KU's mile relay squad huddled under umbrellas while posing for a picture. That was in the early '50s, and today, KU athletic officials are especially glad Hershberger didn't disappear in the muddy cinders.
The 5-foot-6, bow-legged Jayhawk spinner flashed his spikes at many opponents in those days. Tuesday, Hershberger flashed a $125,000 check in the direction of his alma mater.
New life was breathed into the Kansas Relays. The donation meant a new all-weather Tartan track for KU, replacing the six-lane cinder eyesore that has fallen victim to mid-April rains throughout the 44-year history of the track classic.
"Why did I make the contribution?" Hershberger asked himself in reply to a newsman's query. "You might say Wade Stinson happens to be a better salesman than I am."
Actually, the 37-year-on Wichita oilexecutive said his loyalty to KU and his interest in upholding the tradition of the Relays prompted his generosity. Hershberger will tally more in income tax deductions from his family of seven children than from his huge donation.
Deep loyalty
Just the same, Jim Hershberger will not have to go begging on Wichita street corners. Hershberger Explorations Inc. has put him in a plush estate on Tara Road, and to keep up with the times, a sleek Lear jet.
But the lap of luxury has not dulled his obsession for physical fitness. In 1958, Hershberger endured 180 holes of golf and completed the marathon in 12 hours and 56 minutes.
"My knee was bummed up after 90 holes," recalls Hershberger, who jogged more than 60 miles between shots. "We froze it, and a doctor kept it on ice for the last 90."
Hershberger played those first five rounds in just under five hours. The bothersome knee had troubled him in 1952, just about as much as his diminutive stature.
Short stride
"You think I'm a runt now. Heck, I was three inches shorter in those days," said Hershberger. "On top of that, I was bow-legged and I hated to run on a muddy track when everyone else took a longer stride."
Hershberger's best events with the KU track teams of 1950-51-52 were the 220 and 440, and his anchor carry on the
Jayhawk mile relay helped KU to a Big Seven Indoor victory in 1951. His finest achievement followed his 1953 graduation, running a :20.9 in the 220 at an All-Comers meet in Colorado Springs in 1954.
8 KANSAN May 9 1969
KU track Coack Bob Timmons might have beaten Hersberger's 220 clocking in his
KANSAN Sports
dash to the bank teller's window Tuesday. Not that the check would bounce-Timmons was just beside himself.
"I still can't believe it," bubbled Timmons, "and the fellows probably won't believe it when we get back home. It's just tremendous."
Timmons, in explaining a cost analysis made by 3-M Company engineers, estimated a $3-per-square-foot price tag on the red Tartan track. Of that amount, $2.50 would pay for the all-weather surface with just over 40 cents per-square-foot for the asphalt base.
Tuesday's press conference was strictly coat-and-tie, what with television cameramen squeezed into his eighth-floor office in Wichita's First National Bank Building.
But Hershberger said the tie
with spiked heels in order to penetrate the Tartan surface and prevent falls on a slippery track.
Now Timmons' troubles with the KU Relays have been reduced to finding quarter-inch spikes for his athletes, and shoes
Diamond toe
Hershberger never ran in shoes like that, nor anything like his eye-catching tie tack—a replica of a track shoe with a diamond-studded toe. The jewel didn't match his 14-carat gold cuff links—miniature oil wells—but the connection was clear.
His oil industry adventures began in 1960 with his first drilling, an Illinois well that has
since yielded $950,000 profit. Hershberger has sold that well, but in the process of 300 to 400 other drillings, a fortune has been realized.
Not bad for a fellow who started with a Wichita truck line, boasting a 14-cent bank account and several thousand dollars in debt.
was too much. Casual is Hershberger's byword, especially when the running buff goes through his rigorous daily workouts.
Now his tidy bankroll puts him in bronze silk pants, complementary bronze and gold silk ties, and contrasting amber and tattersall-plaid sports jackets.
806 MASS.
V1 3-1171
Makes you wonder why Jim Hershberger uses the elevator on his way to the office.
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