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Friday, April 17, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
The 62nd Annual
Ryun returning to Memorial Stadium track
Continued from p. 1
college," said Timmons, who coached Ryun in college. "He never moans and groans about a practice."
In 1972. Ryun ran his last mile in Memorial Stadium in front of a crowd of 32,000, the biggest in the Relays' 62-year history.
Ryun has been named the Relays' outstanding performer four times, three while running for the Jayhawks. During his career, he has held three outdoor world records in the 880-yard run, 1,500-meter run and the mile, and an indoor world record in the mile.
But he never won an Olympic gold medal as many expected him to. He was a silver medalist in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. In 1972 in Yunnan, China, Ryan fell in the preliminaries of the 1,500 and did not make the finals.
He speaks to asthmatics all over the country about his experiences as a runner and his problems with asthma.
Today, Ryun said, he runs competitively in only six or seven road races a year and trains only when his schedule allows.
Ryun, who lives in Lawrence, represents Glaxo, a pharmaceutical company based in Research Triangle. N.C.
"In a sense, it's a higher calling to serve the Lord by sharing my personal experiences," Ryun said. "I have taken on more of a service attitude instead of an attitude of serving myself."
Timmons also coached Ryun at Wichita East High School, where Ryun became the first high schooler to break the 4-minute mile barrier.
Timmons said Ryun's success since high school was difficult because of the press attention he received and the resulting pressures.
"There was too much speculation about how he would perform when all
he wanted to do was run. "Timmons obligated to the public but to himself."
Timmons said that outside influences sometimes could destroy the spontaneous enthusiasm athletes have, like it did for Ryun.
"He used to run the home run every time he was up to bat," Timmons said. "No one can hit home runs, or run sub 4-minute miles forever, but people thought he could and that was unfair.
"He was never a machine. He's always been flesh and blood."
Timmons said the press never realized that Ryun's racing, like any other athlete's, depended on psychological factors, weather and training.
But Ryun's decision to compete at the masters level, racing on a track and in shorter races might force him to deal with the press and the same pressures he faced as a world record-holder.
Some press members already have speculated that he could be the first master runner to break the 4-minute mile.
But Ryun said he thought that now he could deal with the pressure because his perspective had changed since he was 25.
Ryun said that after his layoff he avoided shorter races on the track and tried to excel in road races, but the race was not much stronger strengths were the shorter distances.
"That all happened before I was a Christian," Kyun said. "I used to focus on winning a gold medal or an Olympic title because I thought my life didn't measure up to anything if I didn't."
Timmons said that he had encouraged Ryun to compete again in shorter distances, such as the mile, but that he never pressured him.
"I've accepted that I have a God-given talent," Ryun said, "and I am going to go out and enjoy it."
Courtesy of University Archives
Jim Ryun, second from left, jostes for position in the mile run in the 1971 Relays masters 800-meter in Memorial Stadium. The race will mark the Kansas Relays. Ryun is scheduled to compete at 4:18 p.m. tomorrow in the first time since 1972 that Ryun has competed on an outdoor track.
Kansas Relays finally take shape after yearlong planning process
Staff writer
By DIANE FILIPOWSKI Staff writer
This is the second year that Fereshetian has been in charge of the behind-the-scenes preparation for the Relays.
After a year of preparation, the 62nd Annual Kansas Relays have finally taken shape for AI Fereshevsky and his three student chairmen
"When I came to KU, I hoped to get some experience in meet administration." Fereshetian said, "I never expected anything like this."
The planning of the RELays is a yearlong process that began with an extensive evaluation when last year's meet was over and ended this week with final preparations and 16-hour workdays.
As Relays manager, Fereshetian is ultimately responsible for the Relays' 2,600 participants and the 1,800 volunteers at Get Fereshetnai said he enjoyed it.
"I like this time of year," said Feresheetian, who came to Kansas as a graduate assistant coach in 1985. "No matter how tired I get, I can always keep going because it's exciting to see the meet fall together."
Back in September, Fereshetian began organizing committees that would to run the Relays.
From the community, about 25 volunteers compose the Greater Relays Committee. From the KU student body come three chairmen, who eventually choose a committee of 30 students.
"It's a big commitment for these students to help organize the Relays when they probably didn't
know much about track when they started," Fereshetai said. "The tri-chairmen have spent all of their time working in office helping organize the meet."
The tri-chairmen are responsible for three areas: officials, sponsorship and the meet headquarters. Another student is named the manager of the 10,000-meter road race and the marathon.
This year's tri-chairman are Ron Brancon, Hutchinson senior; Ross Cargo, Allenspark, Colo. Shane Kaplan, Shane, Kansas City, Mo, Senior.
Fereshetai said that when the Relays were over tomorrow, about 600 people would have helped with the meet. He said from 100 to 150 people needed to run the meeting during the week and about 250 tomorrow.
A few more than half are adults. "We have a big group of adults that come back every year to help," Fereshetian said, "Some of us have been helping for 40 years. It really helps the meet run smoothly."
Cargo, the tri-chairman in charge of the headquarters, said that for two weeks he had been up until 2 a.m. and had not attended many classes while making final preparations.
When the Relays are over, Cargo said he probably would help with the preparation for the Big Eight Conference outdoor championships May 14-16 at Memorial Stadium.
While Fereshetian sees the opening ceremonies, watches records being broken and awards
"I just like track." he said.
presented, he also sees the dollars and cents side.
Last year, running the meet cost between $65,000 and $75,000. About $30,000 comes from sponsorship and another $34,000 from the KU Athletics team, Fereshetai said. The remainder is covered by the Williams Fund.
Fereshetian said all contributions were accepted and were usually divided into specific categories by amount.
For example, a person or business can sponsor a high school event for $300 and a collegiate event for $500.
About $10,000 of the $27,000 in sponsorship money is used to bring in top athletes and teams; it is not enough to cover all expenses.
Brancom, the tri-chairmen in charge of promotion, said the Relays had 142 sponsors this year.
"We want to attract good athletes to the meet." Fereshetian said, "but we have to work within the masses of our financial situation."
More than half of the money for team sponsorship goes to Big Eight Conference teams. Kansas does not cover a the full cost for other teams to compete, but offers tickets on tickets on Braniff. money for travel and some money for meals and lodging while in Lawrence.
"We started doing this in the early 1980's because participation had dropped off," Fereshetian. "The benefits are starting to show because the competition is getting better."
Susan Jordan, Topeka junior, an assistant scorekeeper at the Kansas Relays, finds some time to catch some rays instead of results. Jordan was taking a break yesterday afternoon in Memorial Stadium during the women's heptathlon competition.
Chad DeShazo/KANBAN
From Anschutz to Outland, Relays are full of memories
By DIANE FILIPOWSKI
Staff writer
John Outland, who is known as the father of the Kansas Relays, saw a dream come true in 1923. The native Kansan forsaw an event in Kansas that would be similar to the Pennsylvania Relays.
After Memorial Stadium was built in honor of the 120 Kansas students who lost their lives in World War I, such an event became a possibility. Outland, an All-America football player for Kansas i 1895, convinced Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, KU Athletic Director in 1923, and Karl Schlademann, KU track coach, to hold the first Relays in 1923.
There is a long history that accompanies the 62nd Annual Kansas Relays, which began Wednesday and will run through Saturday. Here is an account, which began with K for the Kansas Relays, of some of the many stories that have been passed on since 1923.
In fact, it rained on the first day of the Relys in 1923. Since then, there have been reports of thunderstorms, hail, duststorms and even snowstorms. There were reports of hard winters in 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1974. In 1973 tornado warnings interrupted the meeting.
A — ANSCHUTZ — The first events Wednesday that opened the 62nd Annual Kansas Relays were held in Anschutz Sports Pavilion because of rain, which is nothing new at the Kansas Relays.
Allen, KU's athletic director in 1923, took out insurance for the Relays to guard against low attendance and profit losses caused by Kansas weather. This ended in 1925 because insurance agents did not find the deal lucrative.
N — NINETEEN FIFTY — It was 1950 when the Jayhawks first sported their fluorescent pink shorts and baby-blue jerseys at the Relays because, Bill Easton, men's coach from 1948-1965, and team members decided a month earlier to change the team's colors.
The decision was made after the 1950 Big Seven Conference Indoor Championships when Jack Greenwood was not given credit for a third-place finish in the 60-yard high hurdles until another runner verified his finish.
TheJayhawks wanted uniforms that would separate them from other competitors and would never allow a teammate to go back to the Jayhawk to disappear in a race again.
S — SOVIETS — In a press conference in March 1983, Bob Swan, the founder of Athletes for Peace, and Mark Scott, executive director of the group, announced that they wanted to bring Soviet athletes to Lawrence. Swan wanted the athletes to compete in the 58th edition of the Relays in a
*pursuasive role in helping lead America and Russia away from the global crisis*
The Relays that year was considered the most publicized and successful of the recent Relays history. Only after the Soviets declined twice did Swan and Scott receive a confirmation from the Soviet Embassy that 13 world-class Soviet athletes would compete, among them two women worldrecord holders and a world-ranked vaulter.
This year, Kansas spent almost $10,000 of its $27,000 from sponsorship to bring top athletes into Lawrence to compete in the Relays. These athletes and teams, including Big Eight players, will compete on the summer and an offered some money for travel, lodging or food to attend the meet.
A — ARTIFICIAL TRACK — The use of a new tartan, all-weather track highlighted the 45th Relays in 1970. Jim Hershberger, a former Kansas track athlete and a Wichita oilman, owns 20,000 for the installation of the track.
Hershberger Track was a gift from heaven in 1970 when rain plagued the Relays. The Lawrence Daily Journal-World reported after the Relays that Elon Torrence of The Associated Press said Hershberger should be awarded the outstanding athlete award "... And not because of his thirdplace finish in the masters mile, but because of his gift of the track that made an impossible meet possible."
S — SPONSONSORSHIP — By 1980, the Relays began to lose popularity, and meet officials decided it was time to use sponsorship to attract nationally ranked teams and athletes to Lawrence. Allen, athletic director in 1923, knew that top athletes attracted large crowds
R — RECORDS The Kansas Relays scored crowds of 20,000 yearly during the 1950s and 1960s because of the high quality of athletes at the meet. It was simple. The potential broke made for an exciting Relays.
The Relays' longest held record is Harrison Dillard's 1948 world record in the 120-yard high hurdles with a time of 13.6 seconds. It wasn't until 1973 that Gregg Vandaveau broke the record with a time of 13.5.
At the Relays in 1925, the first world record was broken when Kansas' 440-yard relay team recorded a firstplace time of 42 seconds.
These events include: the Carl V. Rice high jump, Rice was Kansas' first national champion; Bill Nieder shot put and the Jim Bausch decathlon, Nieder and Bausch were Olympic gold medalists; Bill Easton four-
E — EVENTS — Ten events at the Rams are named after past competitors or people who have made an outstanding contribution to the meet.
mile relay, Easton was the Kansas men's coach from 1945-65; high school boys' Jim Ryun one-mile run, the Glenn Cunningham invitational 1.500-meter and the Wes Santee 1.500-meter run, Ryun, Cunningham and Santee were world record holders while they competed at Kansas; the Larry Winn 3.000-meter steeplechase, Winn was a congressman and a supporter of the Relays; the Ed Elbel distance-medley relay, Elibel was the Relays manager for almost 40 years; the Julius Marks 440-yard relay, Marks was the original maker of the meet's award watches; and the Cliff Cushman 400-meter hurdles, Cushman was an Olympian and an inspirational member of the Kansas track team in the early 1960's.
L — LONG DISTANCE RACES —
the first events tomorrow morning,
the marathon and 10,000-meter road
increased in 1970 and 1980,
respectively.
Gene Burnette, of Lawrence, organized the first marathon, which became a popular event in the Midwest because no other marathons were run in the area at that time of year.
The marathon and the 10K were designed to allow mass participation in the Relays. Because the qualifying times for the meet are difficult, many people are not able to compete, and the marathon and 10K were a way to get non-qualifiers and amateur athletes involved.
But more importantly, it was designed to allow community involvement. Five hundred participants tomorrow morning in these races.
A — AWARDS — Since the first Relays, meet officials have insured that the meet's winners do not go home empty-handed. Sol Marks' jewelry store in Lawrence made the watches awarded at the first Relays in 1923. The eight, seven-jewel, white gold, Eglin watches each had a different design and were displayed in the store's window.
Today, Marks Jewelers, 817 Massachusetts, still supplies the Relays watches that are awarded to the winners of the collegiate events. Richard Yeakel, co-owner of Marks Jewelers, said he was responsible for supplying the 70 men's and 55 women's Rodana watches thatinnen the incipient "Kansas Relays" and a picture of the Jay hawk.
Y — YOUR KANSAS RELAYS — The Relays saw its best crowd participation, 32,000 in 1972, the last time Jim Ryun participated in the Relays. This was an exceptional turnout considering that campus violence in the late 60s and early 70s chipped the 1971 attendance to 3,500.
In 1973, attendance fell to 15,300
See HISTORY, p. 16, col. 1