[Although this article was written in 1978 during the Ted Owens era, a time many now consider to be the "dark days" of KU basketball, it demonstrates that KU fans and KU's basketball tradition have always been among the best in the country.]
Nowhere is college basketball a bigger spectacle than at Kansas, where every game evokes vidid memories of Naismith, Allen and Chamberlain.
Everyone who is at all interested in athletics is now talking basketball, yet it does not stop here. Those who hitherto maifested no interest in any sport of skill and strength seem now to be enthusiastic over the new game. University Weekly, Lawrence, Kansas Dec. 12, 1898.
From the very beginning, basketball has always been something special at the University of Kansas. A few schools may win more games or attract larger crowds or produce more All-Americans, but no one, not UCLA, not Kentucky, not Indiana, has a legacy to equal Kansas'. This is the school where James Naismith and Phog Allen coached, where Clyde Lovellette and Wilt Chamberlain played, and where Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith learned their trade. This is also the school where students shout "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk - KU!" and nobody asks what it means.
The Jayhawk is a mythical bird, a 65-pound costume worn with great difficulty, but there is nothing phony about the tradition it represents. And when Kansas plays arch-rival Kansas State in Lawrence, that tradition consumes the KU campus, Snob Hill vis. Silo Tech, as the two schools are known in their home state, is the kind of game that gives college basketball excitement and intensity that most other sports rarely match. there are other great rivalries across the country, but for statewise interest, dirty tricks and institutional pride, this one is special.
The most recent reminder came three weeks ago when 15,790 people left the warmth of their homes and the convenience of their television sets to make the trip up Naismith Drive and into Allen Field House. The line for seats to the 7:35 pm game began forming at 1:30am in 9 degree weather when four Acacia faraternity brothers pitched tents inthe snow, unrolled sleeping bags and uncorked a half-gallon jug of rum. At 4:30 am other students joined the vigil to obtain tickets for the last 400 unreserved seats, which did not go on sale until midmorning. For all of these hardy souls, the sacrifice was made worthwhile by an exciting 56-52 victory, the 114th bu Kansas in the 185-game series.
The history of the rivalry - indeed the history of all basketball - goes back to Naismith, the man who invented the game at a YMCA training sschool in 1891 and began coaching it at Kansas in 1898. "Coaching" may not be quite the right word, because Naismith once told his student and successor, Allen, "You don't coach basketball, you just play it." being a minsiter and doctor by training, Naismith more an advocate of spiritual and mental fitness than a teacher of technique. " So Much stress is laid today on the winning of games ." he wrote in 1914, "that practically all else is lost sight of and the fine elements of manliness and true sportsmanship are accorded a secondary place." Not surprisingly, Naismith is the only one of Kansas' five coaches with a losing career record.
This did not prevent Naismith from being named to the Jayhawks's athletic Hall of Fame. In his case, the criterion that a coach had to have won a national championship was waived. Allen, on the other hand, was admitted on performance. Ted O'Leary, an all-conferance player for Kansas in 1932,says, "Doc Allen convinced us we had and obligation to win."
It was Allen, the colorful, controversial osteopath, who turned Kansas into a basketball power. In 39 seasons(1908-09 and 1920-56 ) he won 24 conference titles, two Helms Foundation national championships and the 1952 NCAA tournament. He was also the founding president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the leader of the movement to make basketball an Olympic sport, and a severe critic of the AAU, NCAA, college football and Kansas State. His greatest tribute came from Naismith, who gave him a picture incribed " From the Father of Basketball to the Father of Basketball Coaching."
Until Rupp passed him in 1967 with his 771st victory at Kentucky, Allen was also the winningest college coach in history. When he lost the distinction to his old player, Allen stayed in character by saying, "Bless his bones . If Rupp can count that high, he can have it."
Rupp warmed the bench on the national championship team of 1923, and Dean Smith was a sub on the 1952 NCAA winner. Both men proved to be better students of the game than players, Rupp taking Allen's fast break to Kentucky and Smith his pressure defense to North Carolina. Other outstanding coaches who played for Allen were Ralph Millerof Oregon State, who began this season fifthamong active coaches with 411 victories, Dutch Lonberg, whose Big Ten titles in 1931 & 1933 are the only ones Northwestern has won, and Frosty Cox, whose Colorado team won the NIT in 1940. The list of luminaries would be even longer had Allen been successful in his attemptto recruit an Indiana schoolboy named John Wooden in 1928.
The Kansas tradition is so overwhelming that not only is the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA named for Naismith, but it inclludes eight Jayhawk players and coaches - more than from any other school. Indeedit seems that almost everything that matters in the sport is somehow connected to the school. The national sales manager of Converse shoes, the director to the Pizza Hut Classic, an extra in the movie One on One and the executive director of the FCA all attended Kansas.
Allen Field House is not worthy of protection merely as a historic site, in the last three years it has received $1 million in improvements. Phog might not recognize the place. The old raised court he knew has been replaced by a synthetic surface. The floor was sawed into 4x4 and 4x8 foot sections that were sold for $25 and $50 each as momentos. A local doctor bought enough pieces to build a wall in his house.
When the Kansas team finally appeared at 7 o'clock, there were loud cheers. A few moments later, as Kansas State came on to the floor, there were loud boos, a banner showing K-State star Curtis Redding saying " As long as I get my 30 points who cares if we win!" was unfurled and Curtis was pelted with hot dogs. Cheerleaders cheered, tumblers tumbled, and the band played a 40's arrangement of In the Mood. Upon returning to the dressing room for last minute instructions, the Jayhawk heard Coach Owens say " We have five seniors playing their last home game against K-State tonight. Lets's make it a great occasion"
For most of the evening it was anything but, Kansas had to come from seven points behind to take the lead late in the game, and when that happened all the spectators started swaying their hands - this is known as "Waving the Wheat" - in rhythm to the Jayhawk fight song. That was a sure sign that K-State had lost for the 114th time.
"We expected to win 95-52," a student said, "but you take what you can get." It has been that way at Kansas for 79 years.
