University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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THE JAYHAWKER '

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' Ill OCTOBER 19-37 17 HFTER the last rush of Commencement in the spring, a lull falls over the Hill. During summer school the town yawns lazily, and then, in August, it falls sound asleep. Other towns may become dead in summer, but none so dismally dead as a college town when the college is closed. The town boy wanders the sidewalks aimlessly, seeing a Lawrence that others seldom see. Taxi drivers slumped slumbering in the seats of their parked cabs. The Hill hangouts closed completely, their doors bearing signs, Remodeling. Will Open Sept. 1. Barbers sitting in their own chairs, flipping absently through last June ' s Look. Ober ' s windows blank and empty, without lights at night. If the town boy goes to a show, there are perhaps five others in the audience, three of them over forty, two of them under ten. If he enters a store, the proprietor stares at him with suspicious unbelief. But then, in the last few days of August, the town boy has a thrill that others never have, for he sees the Hill awaken. The bang of hammers and the squawk of saws begin to issue from hangouts, from fraternity and sorority houses. Cars bearing Kansas licenses beginning 79 and 6 and 34 , or even plates from Tennessee or Cali- fornia, begin to rumble up Mississippi hill, faces peering curiously forth. Ober ' s windows burst forth in a blaze of light, new shirts, and fall tweeds. Taxis begin whizzing down Massachusetts, suitcases piled behind. Suddenly the movie audiences become younger, larger, and rowdier. Merchants no longer look up sadly and say, I suppose you want to use the phone. It ' s over there. Now they nod curtly and bark, Glad to see you back. Be with you in a minute. Abruptly the Hill hangouts fling open their doors to jammed booths, hysterical feminine greetings, and waiters dashing madly, with aprons flapping; they open their doors to back-slapping, to, YOU still here? WHADdayuhSAY? and to Caravan beating out so deafeningly that the sandwich man has to scream, Whatcha say goes with the ham? To everyone but the town boy it ' s the same old Hill. But to him it is a great, lovable monster which, for some perverse reason, hibernates in the summer and comes to noisy, lumbering, frantic life every fall.

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OCTOBER 1937 19 THE athletic hysteria which gripped the university last year has largely died down. The Kansan is less vitriolic; the students show more sincere interest and constructive hope, less cynicism and despair. The reorganization of the athletic department is com- pleted, with a new personality at its head. To Gwinn Henry look other Big Six coaches, reinspired alumni, students of K. U. It is time we got to know the man and his plans. Versatility and variety are predominant character- istics of Gwinn Henry ' s life. Born in Southwest Texas, he has spent most of his life in the midwest. In college including Howard Payne college, South- western college, and Columbia University he took second in a national oratorical contest, ran, played football, liked mathematics. Observes Mr. Henry, In Texas everyone thinks of me as a track coach. And with good reason. In 1911 and 1912 he held undisputed the title of the fastest man in the world. His races were innumer- able; in a single four months period he ran three- hundred races from one end of the country to the other. Yet, in his entire career, he was defeated only once. And then the man who gave him his only defeat was himself defeated by Mr. Henry on twelve other occasions. He ran against all the fastest men of his time and defeated all of them. Called the Texas Speed Marvel by the New York Times, he equalled the world records in the 120 yard dash, the 110 yard dash, the 75 yard dash, and held the world record in the 125 yard dash. He was national champion in the 110 yard dash. He was national champion in the 110 yard dash and the 220. As a result of his astonishing record he was chosen a member of the 1912 Olympic Team without even a tryout. Yes, there is a good reason to believe Gwinn Henry might be a top-notch track coach. Kansas and Missouri think of Mr. Henry as a By BLAINE GRIMES football coach, and they too have a good reason. Though fairly light, he was all-Southern and all- Western end for three years. During his five years stay as football coach at the College of Emporia, his teams lost only three games out of forty played. In nine years of coaching at Missouri University, Henry ' s teams won the Big Six championship three times and took second place three times. This was in the days of the Four Horsemen at Notre Dame and of Red Grange at Illinois. And yet in those days Nebraska, with the greatest teams in all her history, was beating Notre Dame and Illinois. In the previous twenty- six years, Missouri had been able to score on Nebraska only once. Then, under the leadership of Gwinn Henry, Misosuri whipped Nebraska three consecu- tive years. Nebraska almost never recovered. Such a thing was not only unbearable; it was utterly im- possible. So the Kansans and the Missourians are as right as the Texans. This is the Mr. Henry we welcome to Kansas University. I started to college at seventeen and I ' ve never been out, says Mr. Henry. Perhaps this explains his understanding of and interest in students which is so striking in the man and in his plans. He feels that the University of Kansas is badly in need of increased facilities for physical training and for the intramural program. He believes that the gym- nasium is absolutely inadequate and that our swim- ming pool is built only for those who are already good swimmers. He states, Girls should have a gymnasium of their own such as girls in every other large university have. There would be less need for a student hospital if girls had the means of securing much-needed exercise, and if boys had the oppor- tunity to participate in the competitive sports which they enjoy. (Continued on page 79)