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3 University Daily Kansan
The 61st annual
Friday, April 18, 1986
Kansas works to regain lost prestige of Relays
By Matt Tidwell
Sports writer
Bring up the Kansas Relays and it's easy to find lots of compliments.
And at first glance, everybody seems to love this 61-year-old Kansas sports fixture — the track showcase that Phog Allen started, Jim Ryun made, and Bill Easton and Bob Timms continued.
Bryan Grayes/KANSAN
"It's probably the one event that has the greatest tradition of any of our sporting events," said Monte Johnson, Kansas athletic director.
Relays manager Al Fereshetian agreed.
Southeast Missouri long jumper John Schweker takes off during the long jump competition in the first day of the decathlon. He finished second in the event during the first day of the 61st Kansas Relays on Wednesday afternoon.
"I love this meet," he said. "It's been an exciting challenge for me to work with an event as prestigious as this one." We are only four in the big country.
Timmons said, "The biggest Relays ever we had was the year Rum came out of retirement. We had 33,000 people in Memorial Stadium."
But over the past few years, mostly through no fault of its own, the once-mighty Relays stumbled.
Relays organizers found themselves competing with basketball and football not just for fan support, but also for their piece of the University of Kansas Athletic Corporation dollar.
Awareness and fan interest dropped off significantly. Bad weather always seemed to plague the Relays.
People stopped caring about the Kansas Belays.
Freshestian probably is closer to the recent problems than anyone else. As the RELays manager, he's the one chiefly responsible for chipping away in the recent bad luck and trying to make people aware of the RELays again.
even though he's underfunded an understaffed. Fereshetian has made it his business to attempt to overcome at least those problems he has some control over — increasing the participating teams, getting outside funds through sponsorships, and, ultimately, putting more people in the stands by rebuilding awareness of the Relays.
When deciding whether to come to the Relays, always a given in the past, great collegiate teams opted to go elsewhere.
In one area, Fereshetian's efforts have immediately paid off. Team participation is up from last year, by 33 percent. This weekend, a field of 49 teams chose to come to Kansas. By getting more teams, Fereshetian meet would be more competitive and more attractive to fans.
"In just about every event we have a full field, which is much better than last year." Fereshetian said. "Last year, we took anybody mainly because we had to. This year, we've got full fields and we'll probably have to turn some people away. We can be a little selective. Getting good competition helps bring more people into the stands."
But climbing back up the ladder, and building the kind of consistency it will take to bring the meet back, takes time.
"It isn't so much that we're getting pressure from the community or the Athletic Department," Fereshetan said, "but we want to get this meet where it needs to be. We know we'll probably fall short this year in a couple of areas but we're slowly and surely working things out."
Although he declined to say there was pressure to make the great comeback this year, Fereshetian said everyone involved with the event is pressuring themselves to have a good year.
One area where Fereshetan said the Relays would fall short was getting enough corporate and private sponsorships to adequately supplement the $37,000 Relays' allotment from KUAC.
But it's in the last goal, recreating public awareness, that big strides have been made.
Downtown businesses and campus buildings are all sporting big red Relays posters. Gov. John Carlin has declared this Kansas Relies Week, downstream merchants held a bed race through the business district, and people are buying and wearing $2 buttons that not only promote the Relays, but also are good for free admittance to the event.
"We're really excited about how the button sales have been going." Ferehesetian said. "It's a great value, $2 for four days of entertainment."
If the Relays aren't successful this weekend, it will be hard to point a finger at Fereshetian and his crew of organizers.
What may frustrate Relys supporters more than anything, however, is that many of the factors for success are beyond their grasp.
The Relays bills itself as being comparable with big university meets at Texas, Drake, and Penn State. The KUAC is peanuts in comparison. The KUAC is peanuts in comparison.
And a look at the total operating cost shows that it takes about $65,000 to run the event.
Tradition becomes harder to rebuild when Relays planners are faced each year with raising half of their budget on their own.
"That's the way we run the meet right now, at between $62,000 to $65,000." Fereshtein said, "but if we wanted to have the meet that we really want, then best meet in the company — we'd have to multiply that by a bit more.
"We have to look at Drake, which is budgeted at about $180,000, and the Penny Reales, which have a budget of about $225,000. As a matter of fact, at Penn, they have $35,000 wrapped up in awards alone."
And while Athletic Department officials have lended lots of verbal support to this tradition giant, they have been reluctant to increase the Relays allotment more than two or three thousand dollars each year.
"At Drake." Fereshian said, "football is down the basket, tasket ball is not that competitive, and the track team isn't very strong. The entire focus of their athletic department is on the Drake Relays.
"Kansas basketball is the showpiece of KU athletics, football is coming along, and then there is the Kansas Relays. We're kind of in the
Another uncontrollable factor for organizers is the back seat the Relays take to basketball and football.
"Des Moines is a much larger city
Drake's 18,000-seat stadium is sold out every year. The city of Des Moines gives the Drake Rakels first priority in other sporting event in town all year
Admittedly, one thing other meets do that the Relays do not is pay high-priced appearance fees to bring big crowds in. They sit at Dwight Stones to their events.
and they have an 18,000-seat stadium." Fereshetian said. "What they end up with is a high demand for tickets. They sell out every year. If we get 18,000 people in Memorial Stadium (51,500 capacity), but it just doesn't look like there are that many people in the stands."
"Even if we could afford to, we just don't believe in that and we won't have it here. The focus of this meet is on collegiate."
Even though names like those could increase attendance by several thousand, the thought of paying an athlete to come to what is supposedly an amateur event is too much to sacrifice.
names we get in are good names but they're not the people you hear about in Time or Sports Illustrated because we don't pay appearance fees.
"It's not only a policy decision, it's a matter of what's right and wrong." Feresheetal said. "We do pay their expenses, but that's on the level. The
Chris Magerl/KANSAI
In the end, Fereshetian and the rest of the Relays organizers settle for doing the best with what they've got.
But indications that their best is pretty good. The Kansas Relays are pulling even with other big名 meets. At the Texas Relays earlier this month, only 11,000 fans attended. The 75,000-seat Memorial Stadium.
Last year, 12,000 track fans came to the Kansas Relays, and with good weather, this weekend's meet could draw more than 11,000.
Kansas heptathlete Jaci Tyma puts the shot during the shot put competition. Tyma finished third in the event Wednes day and second in the overall competition during the 61st Kansas Relays.
KU teams set to face tough races
Bv Matt Tidwell
In keeping with the title of the Kansas Relays, running relay events will get more emphasis than most other competitions at the Relays today and
The weekend will give the Kansas Jayhawk relay teams a chance to meet their toughest competition of the season.
Sports writer
"There will be some pretty stiff competition, especially out of the Big Eight," said Ray Mitchell, Jayhawk senior and team captain. "I think we'll do pretty well. I've heard some of the times of the Big Eight teams and they're really not much better than ours."
Mitchell joins Jayhawks Orrin Gaines, Rodney Harris and Courtney Hawkins on the Kansas 440-yard relay team.
See related stories p. 13, 15
Kansas assistant coach Steve Kuefer, the man in charge of the Kansas relay squads, said he felt good about the Jayhawks' chances to win the 800-yard team of Orrin Gaines, Ornette Gaines, Harris, and John Creighton.
"I'm really pleased with our 880- yard team." Keuffer said. "I think they can be a contender to win the title, but match-up very well in that event.
"This is the first time we've run the 880 relay but the race fits our guys very well."
"We're working on technique right now," Mitchell said. "Thanks like the hand-and stuff we've been practicing all year."
Mitchell said the major emphasis for the Jayhawks could be on smaller but important things like the hand-off from one teammate to another.
Kueffer said Big Eight rival Iowa State would be one of two teams providing perhaps the toughest competition in the relay events.
"I think Wayland Baptist should be real good and probably Iowa State as well," Kuefer said.
Other Jayhawk relay teams competing this weekend include the sprint medley relay team of Ornette Gaines, Brad Cobb, Creighton and Greg Daizell, and the mile relay team of Gaines, Miller, Cobb and Creighton.
All of the Big Eight teams except Missouri and Colorado will field relay teams.
There is a new race in collegiate track and field — one which does not include a starter's pistol and is not based on time or distance.
It is not a race between athletes, but between coaches, in what has become intercollegiate track's most debated issue — the recruiting of foreign athletes.
Relays rely on students for help
243 Kansas students volunteer time to help coordinate event
By Dawn O'Malley
Sports writer
The search for student officials for the 61st Kansas Relays began months before the athletes had begun thinking about the outdoor season.
Joe Campbell and Al Fereshetian began recruiting students in January and February on behalf of the Kansas track programs. Campbell, Lawrence senior and tri-chairman of the student relays committee, and Michael McBride used advertisements in the Kansas to solicit the students.
This year, 243 people have donated their time to help with the Relays, an increase over last year, said Campbell.
An official's duties include working the field events and aid station — a general helper.
"Most want to be helpers where ever needed," Campbell said.
Year after year, former officials return to help with the Relays. Terry
"Spring in Kansas means KU Relays," Pennybaker said.
Zerr, Park senior, and Kent Pennybaker, Evergreen, Colo., senior, each have officiated for five years
"Each event has its own pressure," Pennybaker said. "In the 200 (meter dash) you hope the camera works."
Pennybaker was tri-captain of the student relays committee when the Soviets competed in the Kansas Relays three years ago. Consequently, he said he knew how hectic it could become on the track.
"It is a volunteer type of meet," he said. "Thousands donate time all for the interest of athletics and have too many to be a part of such a major national meet. It's like why, volunteer to be a ball boy for the Super Bow!?"
The officials are not paid for their services, however they are allowed to keep a Kansas Relays T-shirt. Pennybaker said he had kept each of the four shirts he had received for acting as an official.
Pennybaker and Zerr each will spend close to 30 hours at the Relays this week.
Zerz is the retails office in charge of awards. His duties include getting the awards ordered, delivered to the team and distributed to the athletes.
The Kansas Spirit squad will present the awards to the athletes, he said.
"I am constantly surprised at the friendliness of the great athletes." Zerr said. "You look back on some of the relays, and there is so much tradition, it's exciting. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"What it all boils down to is you get out of something that you put in. You put energy in it and you get caught up. That is why I want it in it because this is great tradition."