Friday April 22, 1988
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 98, No.140 (USPS 650-640)
Relays seeks lost prestige Competition, low budget have damaged meet
By Joel Zeff
Kansan staff writer
In the tired eyes of Al Fereshetian lurks the constant pressures of trying to redeem the lost tradition, glory and honor of the Kansas Relays.
Fereshetian, director of the Kansas Relays, realizes that he faces the same nagging problems in the 63rd year of the Relays that have plagued it for 15 years.
Financial difficulties, stiff competition, low attendance and sub-par Kansas track teams have placed the Kansas Relays in a state of limbo.
In the past, college track teams would not hesitate to travel to the top three relay meets in the country. The famous triple crown, which consisted of the Texas Relays, Kansas Relays and Drake Relays, would get the best track teams in the country.
Bob Frederick, KU athletic director, said the triple crown and the Penn Relays were the four premier events in track and field 20 years ago.
"The Kansas Relays is a meet that was once in the national spotlight but is struggling now," Frederick said. "I'm not sure the Relays can ever be the event that it once was in terms of national attention, but it can be a financial success."
Feresheti, who has been the Relays director for three years, said that one reason the triple crown didn't exist anymore was that financial budgets for college track teams were low.
Budget cuts have prompted some college track teams to make decisions on which track meets they are able to attend. Today, a track team can spend as much as $3,000 to travel to just one meet. Twenty years ago, traveling costs were considerably cheaper because the team could ride a train from Texas to Kansas to Drake.
"Now, coaches have to make a decision," Fereshetian said. "The team will go to Texas because of the warm weather. They will go to Drake because Drake is the number one meet in the country. If they have to leave someone out, they leave KU out."
Bob Ehrhart, director of the Drake Relays at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, said that all university track teams were in poor financial situation.
"Very seldom do teams seek the Triple Crown anymore." Ehrhart said. "There is just not enough money. And I don't think it will get any easier." They must put in a crunch, they just can't afford all three.
Fereshetian said he was combating the problem of competing with other meets by emphasizing the college competition and including all NCAA individual events and significant relavs.
Besides the competition from regional meets, the Kansas Relays is competing with California meets that are able to pay appearance fees for travel and may pay the travel costs for talented college teams.
"California is a strong location," Fereshietan said. "Many of the great athletes are already training there, and they have immediate access to the facilities of the relay meets have budgets of $450,000."
Ron Suggs, a member of the 1964 and 1965 KU track teams, said that 20 years ago, there were fewer outstanding meets than there were today.
"Track has changed," Suggs said. "The major athletes of today have a lot more places to go. There is more competition to share the spotlight."
However, for a meet to have a share of the spotlight in today's track and field world, it must have a considerable amount of money.
The Kansas Relays, which has a budget of $25,000 not including money from sponsorships
See KANSAS, p. 12, col. 1
KU athletes capture the first two events
By Keith Stroker
Kansan sportswriter
It was a Kansas sweep on the second day of the 63rd Kansas Relays at Memorial Stadium.
Craig Branstrom, Moon Bay, Calif., senior, qualified for the NCAA championships with his decathlon victory, and Ann O'Connor, Salina senior, broke KU heptathlon records in her victory.
Branstrom set a personal best by scoring 7,525 points in the Jim Bausch Decathlon. Branstrom's mark was 125 points higher than the necessary 7,400 to qualify for the NCAA championships.
See related graphic p.13.
Branstrom's mark is the third best in history for a KU deacathte, behind Steve Rainbelt's 7,719 points, set at the 1980 KU Relays' 7,575 points, set at the 1983 NCAA championships.
H. R. McAdams of the University of New Mexico was second with 6,827 points, followed by Steve Fritz of Hutchinson Community College. Danny Owere of Chadron and Benson Ower of Park College.
For Branstrom, it was the best decathlon he had ever had.
"I was somewhat worried about doing well, but I'm really excited with the way it happened." Branstrom said. "I was jumping high and throwing far throughout the competition, which was something that I needed to prove to myself that I could do."
Branstrom was never really
challenged. Even he was surprised with his wide margin of victory.
"This is only my fifth decathlon that I was able to complete because of injury problems in the past," Branstrom said. "I was very happy with the large lead I had because it gave me a chance to relax and kid around with my teammates between events."
Branstrom was able to surpass all of the goals he set before the competition. Now, he has his eyes set on the Olympic trials, needing 7,800 points in order to qualify. He plans to work on his weakest leg and try to improve them enough to accomplish his goal.
The NCA4 championships are June 14 in Eugene, Ore.; and the Olympic trials are set for July in Indianapolis.
O'Connor's effort earned her 5.192 points, breaking the KU school record of 5.138 points set by the 1986 Big Eight championships.
The only setback of O'Connor's performance is that she shefly了 in the 5,300 points needed in order to qualify for the NCAA championships. But she still has time to reach the mark this season.
O'Connor was especially pleased with her performance in the long jump, which has been a problem for her in past competitions. She finished second in the event, jumping 17-6$\frac{1}{4}$.
"The long jump was the best I've ever had," O'Connor said. "I wasn't on the board, so I knew that I didn't want to be proud with how I stuck with it."
O'Connor said she would use her
Kansas heptathlete Ann O'Connor crosses the finish line in the 800 meters. O'Connor won the race and laterchool the school record as she took first place in the Kansas Relaks heptathlon.
performance in the heptathlon in order to prepare for the Big Eight championships, May 13-15, in Ames. Iowa.
munity College and Jean Kolarik of Emporia State University.
Lynne Frey of Nebraska finished second in the heptathlon with 4,876 points, followed by Jennifer Proud of Chadron State, Busarid Rogers of Barton County Com-
Today, the high school events start, beginning with the women's shot put at 8 a.m. Other events today include the men's Billy Mills 10,000 meter run at 8:27 a.m. and the men's pole vault at 1 p.m.
Gore quits race keeps delegates
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Sen. Albert Gore Jr. gave up his 1988 White House bid yesterday but suggested that he harbored hopes of a future campaign and moved to protect the delegates he has won so far.
"It hurts to have come so far and have fallen short," Gore told a Senate office room crowded with supporters. "But there will be other days for me and for the causes that matter to us."
Gore ended the race $1.5 million in debt after waging a long-shot campaign that challenged the traditional dominance of Iowa and New Hampshire. It succeeded in the South, where he won favor as a moderate.
Gore said he would technically remain a candidate to permit his delegates to attend the Democratic National Convention.
In suspending his campaign, he praised his opponents but denounced Republican George Bush and pledged support for the eventual nominee.
"I want no part of a stop Jackson or a stop Dakikas movement," Gore said. "The only man I want to stop is George Bush."
He said he planned no endorsement and repeated his contention that he had no interest in the vice president's education, though he left that door open.
Gore's withdrawal was assured by his third-place showing in New York, a 10 percent finish that capped six weeks of frustration for Gore since his victories in five states on Super Tuesday. New York had become his last chance to get back into contention.
Census canvassers finishing; next step is verifying results
By Jill Jess
Kansan staff writer
State census workers are wrapping up canvassing and are starting a "Were You Counted?" campaign across Kansas, a census official said yesterday.
Frank Ybarra, public relations director for the division of census, said that census results were in from about two-thirds of the state.
He said that preliminary results had been compiled from many of the counties in the state but that Douglas County was not one of them.
Almost all of Douglas County residen were visited by canvassers Ybarra said, because many students responses needed to be verified.
The division of census sent out census cards to every residence in the state. Yharaa said that the divination was done at a residence vassing at most of the residences.
With the canvassing almost complete, the division is now placing ads in every newspaper in the state and on many of the radio stations, Ybarra said. The ads are part of the "Were You Counted?" campaign and have a mail-in answer sheet with the census questions.
Ybarra said that anyone who wanted to verify whether they were counted could call the division of census toll free at 1-800-346-0077 or call the division of census information over the telephone at that number.
The Kansas Legislature will decide on state district reapportionment based on the census results.
College students will be counted at their parents' house unless they have established themselves legally at another address.
However, because the state mailed cards to every residence in the state,
Anyone who wants to verify whether they were counted can call the division of census toll free at 1-800-346-0097. People also can give the division the census information over the telephone at that number.
students should have received census cards in January at their school address.
Andrea McKee, Wichita junior,
said she had sent in her card as soon
as she got it.
She said that she had been interested in the results and that because the card was postage-paid, she had mail it.
"It'd be nice to know how many people there are in my hometown," McKeen said. "It's growing all the time."
Tabel also said that she did not think she had received a census card.
Not all students filled out cards, however Cheri Tabel, Lenexa sophomore, said that she was counted on her parents' card.
"I think we got one delivered to our apartment for all of three of us who live here," she said.
Ybirra said that he did not know exactly when the results would be finished. However, he said that by law, a census report would have to be delivered to the Kansas Legislature by the beginning of 1989.
'Leaper's special talents earn field house friends
By Susan L. Feightner
Special to the Kansan
His name is Todd Williams. But you can call him Leaper. Or Leap. That's what his friends call him.
His trademarks are sportman ship, enthusiasm and loyalty to friends. And he has many friends.
Williams, 34, is a mentally handicapped maintenance man at Allen Field House. He was hired in 1972 from Lawrence High School's special education program by former KU Athletic Director Wade Stinson.
William's father, Skiper Williams, was one of the three founders of the Williams Fund, which raises more than $2 million annually for KU athletic scholarships. The other two founders of the fund were Odd and Dick Williams, Leaper's uncle and erandfather, respectively.
Friends like Kansas coach Larry Brown and Kansas forward Danny Manning. Friends that understand the nature of teammates that sometimes occur in life.
Hired as an errand boy, Williams has worked diligently to rise above his disability. In return, he has acquired many additional responsibilities including friends and superiors at the field house. His supervisor boasts that
there isn't anything Leaper can't be trusted to do.
"He opens the field house every morning at six. He's never late and has been sick only one day in three years," said Tony Ice, supervisor of custodial services. "He does everything from cleaning restrooms to handing in children to visiting the field house. He's proven to me that he is very dependable and responsible, in spite of his mental handicap."
"My son was in the same class with Todd at South Junior High," Ice said. "Every time they picked basketball teammates, because of Todd's leader shot in basketball, Steve started calling him Leaper. It just caught on."
It was Ice's son, Steve, who nicknamed him Leaper.
William's leaper shot, a variation of a layup, is just one of his athletic abilities. He has been competing in the Special Olympics for 17 years, participating in events such as basketball, softball and track.
In 1985, Leaper was named to the Special Olympics Hall of Fame in Wichita for his outstanding performances and dedication to the Special
AIDS reporter faults policies, media
See LEAPER, p. 10, col. 1
By James Buckman
Randy Shilts, author of the book "And the Band Played On: Politics,
People and the AIDS Epidemic."
Kansan staff writer
The refusal of KU administrators to allow condom machines in residence halls is a perfect example of the blundering that has plagued them. An expert and author on the epidemic last night in the Kansas Union.
Randy Shilts, author of "And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic," told about 150 people in the Kansas Union Ballroom that the condom machine controversy was an example of how political maneuvering had triumphened over the public's health.
"The administration voted against it essentially because they didn't want to be viewed as condoning sexual activity," Shilts said.
"Just because somebody can't adhere to abstinence, that doesn't mean they should have to die. I think that is really the net impact of not allowing condom machines on campus."
Shilts has worked for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1982 and is considered to be the only reporter in the country to be covering AIDS full time. His book is an examination of public policies concerning the handling of AIDS, a criticism of the media for trivializing the epidemic, Shilts said.
"I don't believe AIDS had to happen with the proportion that it has unfolded in this country," he said. "We have the most sophisticated network of health agencies to stop epidemics and a free news media to be a watchdog on those agencies and make sure they are doing their job."
He said that the media's reaction to the book was an ironic mirror of the problems that he talked about in it. Although serious aspects were presented in the book, the media chose to focus on the sensational issue of "Patient Zero," who was portrayed as the man partially responsible for the massive spreading of AIDS in the United States, Shills said.
United States." I never said he was the man who brought AIDS to North America," he said. "It was almost as if someone was looking for someone to blame for the AIDS epidemic."
The AIDS spent much of his lectures saying that the rapid spread of and refusal to deal with AIDS could be attributed to prejudices against homosexuals. He said that the media portrayed babies born with the disease as the innocent victims of AIDS.
Shiits said that though progress in halting the AIDS epidemic was slowed by foolish political squabbles.
"Then who are the gully victims?" he said. "Nobody wanted this disease. The fact that changed the media's perception was the clock Hudson) collapsed in the lobby of the Hotel in Paris in 1985."
"You have the opportunity to stop it. Just don't blow it."
"In Kansas you have the jump on everyone," he said. "By the time we were aware of AIDS in San Francisco, 10 to 15 percent of gay men deeply affected. Here in Kansas there is low incidence of the disease."
Mike Brown, a graduate student in nursing at the University of Kansas Medical Center who has done research on AIDS, said that Shilis' criticism of the way the epidemic was handled was not totally justified.
"Hindisight is 20/20 vision," Brown said. "I think that maybe he gets carried away with that at times. We can't put ourselves in the shoes of people who were dealing with the situation."