Kauffman likes to see ideas pay off
By MILTON RICHMAN UPI Sports Writer
NEW YORK—Ewing Kauffman, multimillionaire owner of the Kansas City Royals, and a man used to seeing his ideas pay off, was explaining a new one to a friend.
"What do you think of my idea?" Kauffman asked his friend after he was through explaining it to him.
"Not much," the veteran baseball man told him candidly. "I don't think it'll ever work."
Kauffman is trying to find high school youngsters with athletic backgrounds but preferably no baseball experience, and develop them into major leaguers while offering them a free education at the same time.
To implement his idea, Kauffman has built a baseball academy in Sarasota, Fla., due to open Aug. 15. Syd Thrift, who scouted
11 years for the Pittsburgh Pirates and signed such players as Al Oliver, Bob Robertson and Jerry May, is the director of the academy and is convinced the idea can succeed because he feels there are many youngsters in the country who would love to play baseball but do not have the opportunity.
To get candidates for the academy, Thrift sent out 21,000 questionnaires to high school athletic directors recently. A youngster must have a high school diploma with no remaining high school eligibility to qualify and also must show outstanding ability in one or more sports, preferably not baseball.
atee Junior College near the academy; free room and board at the academy; use of such recreational facilities as a swimming pool, tennis court and lounge; paid up health and accident insurance, plus $100 per month for the first 90 days, $150 per month for the second 90 days and $200 a month thereafter. Each boy admitted will be signed to a professional baseball contract.
If a boy is accepted here's what he gets: Major league baseball training; courses in English, history, human relations, personal finance, speech, basic conditioning and personal health at Man-
KC scouts will screen prospective candidates in tryouts and the NCAA did some mumbling about any participant in the tryouts becoming ineligible for interlegiate competition. Thrift, however, said the NCAA was doing a lot of "assuming" because the Royals intend to abide by all the rules "and the tryouts we are conducting are no different than
any other baseball tryouts as far as college eligibility is concerned."
Overall, Thrift is exceptionally optimistic about the academy's success.
Snelgrove, Nelson elected co-captains
Lynn Snelgrove and John Nelson, the only seniors on the Kansas baseball team, have been elected co-captains for the 1970 season, coach Floyd Temple announced Wednesday.
Snelgrove, second baseman from Tulsa, Okla., has been a regular for the Jayhawks three years. One of the better defensive infielders in the Big Eight, Snel-
grove improved hit batting average to .295 last year after hitting 183 in 1968. He currently is hitting .254 for KU's title contenders
Nelson, outfielder from St. Joseph, Mo, has also been a regular three years. An excellent glove man, Nelson hit .229 as a sophomore and 257 in 1969, but has had a tough time at the plate this year, hitting only .179.
Track squad to Ames for final league tuneup
Kansas will send a 27-man track squad to Ames, Iowa, this weekend for a triangular with Iowa State and Southern Illinois that will be the Jayhawks' final tuneup for the Big Eight championships on their own track the following week.
The triangular at Ames Saturday starts at 10 a.m. and precedes Iowa State's spring football game.
Coach Bimm Timmons will take his squad to Ames by bus Friday and the group returns to Lawrence shortly after the meet Saturday.
12 KANSAN May 6 1970
Iba to coach U.S.
NEW YORK (UPI) - Henry Iba, who retired as head coach at Oklahoma State following the 1969-70 season, today was selected coach of the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team.
Jim Gudger of East Texas State was named coach of the 1971 Pan American games team in the announcement made by M. K. Bill Summers, chairman of the Olympic Basketball Committee.
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