8B
Thursday, April 28, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Hawk owner is almost a KU tradition
By Jeff Suggs
Kansan staff writer
Over the years, the Jayhawk Cafe has served many beers to KU students. Established in 1920, the Hawk almost has become synonymous with other campus traditions, like waving a heat and the "Rock Chalk" chant.
And like the Hawk, the man behind the bar at 1440 Ohio St. almost has become an institution.
Ken Wallace, otherwise known as "The Count," has owned and run the Hawk for 14 years. For some students, the two are inseparable.
"I couldn't picture anyone else owning it," said Rich Bell, Iowa senior and Hawk bartender. "It wouldn't be the same."
Terry Gibson, Junction City junior agreed.
"The Count is like the Hawk," Gibson said. "It's an institution."
In the summer of 1974, a year after graduating from the University of Kansas with a bachelor's degree in English, he purchased Ken Wallace purchased the Hawk.
"Well, I drank here as a student, and I think like a lot of students." Wallace said. "I thought it would be a great way to make a living, or at least a great way to spend some time out of college."
Going into his planned field was the least of his concerns.
"At the time, I was more concerned with staying around and partying with my friends," Wallace said. "As a patron of Hawk as a student
As a patron of Hawk as a student
and now as owner of the college hangout, Wallace has noticed changes in college life.
With music bring the jumke-box and a beer in hand, Wallace, 36, sat in a booth in his establishment to listen as we took as it was when he was a student.
The late 60s and the early '70s were a turbulent time in the United States, especially for a lot of college campuses that became centers of social unrest. But it wasn't just a problem in Berkeley, Cal., or Ann Arbor, Mich. Lawrence also had its problems with protests and riots.
Despite all those problems, Wallace managed to make it down to the Hawk.
"A lot of times, you had your sunset curfew," he said. "You would have to come down to the Hawk before sunset and dodge the National Guard. You would try to get back to the dorms without getting shot."
When Wallace first bought the place, a lot of the fashions of his college days were still in vogue.
"The hair was much longer," Wallace said, "Everybody was still in bell bottoms. Drugs were rampant. Violence was violent and vandalism back then."
In the '80s, Wallace has noticed more of a clean-cut image with students.
"Now, it's back to short hair and well-dressed suits," he said. "Although I'm happy to see that blue jeans stayed."
Other changes that Wallace certainly had noticed were the changes in the drinking laws. Back in 1974, the governor ordered a ban that served 18-year-olds and up.
Things changed last summer for the Hawk when the 21-year-old drinking age took full effect. Because of the change, he was a liquor-serving club on October 8.
While sipping his beer, Wallace spoke with great conviction about the drinking law change.
"I just thought we had a perfectly workable system in Kansas with 3.2 beer at 18 and liqueur at 21," he said. "Because of the change of laws, we were pretty much backed into a corner. We had no choice."
The change in the drinking age also affected his business. But he said becoming a club allow him to do what he did when the Hawk was a 3 a2 tavern.
"It'll probably never return to those years of glory weyear when there were lines four days a week here," Wallace said.
Wallace didn't take the drinking law change sitting down. As president of the Kansas Bar and Tavern Association, he lobbed the Legislature to keep the drinking age from going up.
Wallace said it was hypocritical that 18-year-olds were considered to be adults, yet they were not allowed to drink. He was not optimistic about the drinking age coming back down. "A good screening war in 'Control'
America or the Middle East would probably cause a few states to rethink their drinking ages," Wallace said. "Before they draft enormous amounts of 18-year-olds and send them overseas to get massacred, they might rethink it."
Despite the increased drinking age, the Hawk still packs people in. For some, the Hawk seems friendlier than other bars in town. Many attrib-
"He's everybody's friend around here." Gibson said.
Wallace said that he enjoyed hanging out with the college crowd.
Mike Torrey, Fairfax, Fa., juni.
said, "He's the kind of guy you can go up to and talk to. He just makes you feel comfortable in here."
"A good shooting war in Central
"Most people my age wouldn't either have contact with people of this age or they don't have children that age," he said. "I enjoy it. It keeps you young. Most people don't think I look my age."
Wallace owns five rental homes near the Hawk. Besides that, Wallace, who is not married, said that running the bar was his life. He said he had no regrets about buying the place.
"If I had to do it over again, I'm sure I would have bought the bar." Wallace said. "I don't think that anyone could have had as many adventures and as much excitement and met as many people and done as many things as I have been able to do in the last 14 years."
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