University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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Maurice King Ron Johnston In the Big Seven, Iowa State and Kansas State should put up the biggest battles but none of the teams will be pushovers. The entire nation will be watching as the Jay- hawkers take to the floor. In pre-season polls Kl has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation. Can a senior-sophomore combination do it? Wait and see. Eddie Dater Harry Jett

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by CHARLES HYDEMAN With the coming of the first signs of winter, the doors of Allen Field House will swing open along with the record books as KU ' s 1956-57 basketball team takes to the hardwood. Gene Elstun and John Parker will lead this year ' s senior-sophomore laden squad as co-captains and will be supported by eight other lettermen. Coach Dick Harp will take over his first season as head vai ' sity mentor after being assistant to Dr. Forrest Allen since 1949. Jerry Waugh, former head basketball coach at Lawrence High School, is Harp ' s new assistant coach. Elstun and Parker were also co-captains at Shawnee-Mission High School, where they played the same roles as they have as Jayhawkers. Elstun has always ranked high among the team ' s top scorers and Parker has been the calm floor general. Another pair of senior lettermen who played together in high school are Lew Johnson and Lee Green. They both have good height — Johnson is 6-6; Green 6-5 — and both can score well. Also from Kansas City is the hard driving, ball- hawking Maurice King. Maurice was among the top scorers in the league last year, and pulled down a lion ' s share of the rebounds for Kansas. Eddie Dater, Blaine HoUinger, Harry Jett, and Ron Johnston are also senior lettermen. John Cle- land is the only junior letterman on the squad. From last year ' s freshman team comes one of the most promising groups of players ever to play at KU. Leading this group is Wilt Chamberlain, the seven-foot giant from Philadelphia, Pa. Last year Wilt scored 42 points against the varsity team in the annual varsity-freshmen game. Backing Chamberlain up in that game with fine support were Ron Loneski, Bob Billings, Gary Thompson and Monte Johnson. All of these boys have the potential to add great strength to the team this year. The toughest competition will come prior to the Big-Seven Tournament and the schedule is one of the roughest KU has ever played. Northwestern has practically its entire squad back from last season, and Washington and California from the West Coast are both favored to win their leagues. Lew Johnson Lee Green Wilt Chamberlain

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( III by JIM LONDERHOLM on to the Olympics The eyes of the sports world are on Melbourne, Australia, where the 1956 Olympic Games are being held this fall. The record books stand to take a terrific beating as the world ' s top athletes compete for the coveted Olympic gold medals. In the thick of this battle are three Kansas Jayhawk- ers: shot putter Bill Nieder, discus thrower Al Oerter, and former basketballer Bill Hougland. Both Nieder and Oerter were instrumental in KU ' s strong second place finish in this year ' s NCAA track and field meet. Hougland was a standout on Phog Allen ' s teams of ' 51, ' 52, and ' 53, and made the ' 52 Olympic team along with six other Jayhawkers. Four other KU trackmen competed in the Olympic trials, but they failed to place in the top three in their events, which would have earned them a berth on the team. Dick Blair finished fourth in the 200 meter dash, Les Bitner placed fifth in the javelin, Kent Floerke dropped out of the hop-step-and-jump because of a leg injury, and Blaine Hollinger, who also competed in the hop-step-and-jump but failed to qualify for the finals. Nieder is one of only three men who have Bill Nieder puts the shot. heaved the 16 pound shot put over sixty feet. Parry O ' Brien and Ken Bantum have also surpassed the sixty-foot barrier. Nieder, O ' Brien, and Bantum, United States entry in the shot, are expected to sweep the first three places. Oerter, who finished second only to world rec- ord holder Fortune Gordien in the Olympic trials, is up against some rugged competition in the discus. Veteran performers like Consolino of Italy and Gordien rank as favorites, but as past Olympics have shown, there is no such thing as a sure winner. Oerter owns both the national high school and national collegiate freshman discus records, and numerous meet records. The 20-year-old giant has a best throw of ISl ' lO , which, if improved a little, could make him a top contender. Although to determine a team championship isn ' t considered the main function of the Olympic Games, there is a rivalry shaping up between Russia and the United States. The Russians fin- ished a strong second in the 1952 Olympics, and are now predicting a victory this fall, but if men like Nieder and Oerter are samples of what the rest of Uncle Sam ' s team is like, they are going to have their hands full. Al Oerter throws the discus.