[sandycove]

Well, isn’t this special. And here I believed I was one the few left on the planet who had a memory for and a modest investment in these silly affairs.

A note on the Bert Coan hullabaloo: The Bud Adams matter is still is puzzle. Adams did have a Kansas University connection, but he was not a Kansan and his primary interest was his ownership of a Texas professional team. Coan was a mega-blue chipper Texas high school running back and guys like him played for Oklahoma if they didn’t play for Texas -- certainly not KU. Particularly since he was white, which was still a huge factor then in the southwest. Adams flew Coan to a college all-star game in a private plane. Why he would do such a dumb thing, on his own, remains a mystery. Coan would be tainted, no matter where he might matriculate later.

No one could have known then, but a healthy Coan would make up what might have been the most talented four-man college football backfield of all time. John Hadl and Curtis McClinton were All-Americans, Coan was better than both of them before his leg was broken, and the fourth was Lawrence native -- like Hadl -- fullback Doyle Schick. Schick was an All-Big Eight defender. All four had NFL careers (Schick played corner for the Redskins, Coan had a cup of coffee with the Chiefs.) Hadl, of course, could do everything. He was a halfback before he played quarterback (All-American at both positions), and then he called many of the plays (since coach Jack Mitchell tended to overheat during games), he returned kicks, and he is pretty much forgotten as one of the greatest punters in Big Eight history -- he was the Tom Harmon of his day. (Among the team records still standing: longest interception return, a 98-yard run against TCU; and longest punt, 94 yards vs. Oklahoma.) Three more players on that team had pro careers, including terrific center/linebacker Fred Hageman.

The lightening-quick, pre-Orange Bowl timing of the 1960 forfeit (and the last-minute voting rule change) underline the perceptions of Jayhawk supporters that the NCAA and, to a lesser degree, the league, historically scrutinized Kansas more than Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska -- three traditional opponents who had well-deserved reputations for tip-toeing around the rules. (In fairness, Missouri’s reputation would not come in question until years later.) The NCAA and the Big Eight were headquartered in Kansas City, only some 40 miles east of Lawrence, and Walter Byers, the long-time NCAA tsar and KC resident, was forever suspected by Kansans to harbour a special antipathy toward KU.

And it was true that Byers perceived himself as an amateur athletic purist and a saviour, and it was true there were any number of Kansas-haters in his neighbourhood whispering nasty rumours in his ear, and it was true that KU was in everyone’s sights the moment Wilt Chamberlain came to town.

No one could believe Wilt would choose to play at KU without compensation. Neither could Wilt! Wilt was gobsmacked when backhanders didn’t materialize after he arrived at Kansas. He’d been paid to play in the Catskills on his high school summer vacations and he assumed that would continue wherever he played college ball. He eventually manipulated a deal himself for a used car from a KC dealership, owned by an influential alumnus -- Wilt had his eye on a car owned by one of his fraternity brothers, the dealer bought it and sold it back to Wilt. Then Wilt refused to make the payments. A group of alums paid the car off, rather than repossess Wilt’s wheels. Big mistake... A mistake Kansas has been paying for ever since. (Some details in this account may never have seen print before. You’re welcome...)