University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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O B E R 1937 33 By GEORGE MURPHY ONE cool gray morning around 1856, a raucous fellow on a wobbly yellow mule cantered into the small Free State town of Osawatomie. From his saddle-horn hung a great turkey, four chickens, and a string of red peppers. Trailing behind, plodded a goat encumbered with a sack of potatoes, a pair of boots, and a sheep-skin. The rider, one Pat Derlin, had retaliated on the Missouri Pro-Slavers by pillage and plunder. Where you been? shouted an early riser. Answered Pat with a twinkle, Oh, been Jay- hawkin ' over in Missouri. So Pat coined a word that day that was perfectly expressive of the spirit of himself and of his steed. During subsequent border warfare the Missourians seized the title and applied it to all Free Staters as a term of derision and scorn. In the same way, the British troops once called the American revolutionists Yankee in loathing; and the word Jayhawker , just as in the case of the word Yankee , was adopted by those it was intended to annoy, and soon became a synonym for any Kansan. It remained, however, for the later university to elevate the Jayhawk to an exclusively idealized form.

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THE JAYHAWKER V .

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THE JAYHAWKER I ; m In 1903 a Kansas Gty cartoonist represented K.U. ' s 5-0 win over M.U. with a fighting bird flying away with victory. Caricatures of this little fellow, representing the university, began to appear in the Annual of 191 1. By this time the bird and the name were completely united and the resultant symbol be- came conventionalized. Later, and slowly, this curious little felolw as- sumed a greater significance than any other college symbol, because it developed a personality. True, there is the Missouri Tiger, the California Bear, the Detroit Lion, the Pitt Panther, and countless others; but the Jayhawk is unique. Whereas the others are largely stilted and artificial, the Jayhawk is real, with a colorful, cocky existence of his own. To say, I ' m from K.U. means no more than to say, I ' m from M.U. or O.U. or S.M-U., such terms carrying with them at best only a hazy picture of college. But to say, I ' m a Jayhawker, releases a new feeling. It brings up pictures, not only of the bird itself, but of the million vivid college memories of the Hill, of the town, of the roomates and best girls that all together mean K.U. and that could belong only to K.U. And most of all it brings up a flashing picture of the Jayhawkers that have gone before, that have themselves both been proud to call themselves Jay- hawkers and been a part of making the Jayhawker a term to be proud of. The winning or losing of any one year or group of years in sports at K.U. cannot change the fact that among the world ' s finest players in every sport are Jayhawkers, holding allegiance to the same symbol, sharing the same spirit, as each of us does. Among football immortals is Tommy Johnson, probably the greatest athelte ever to attend this school, and was without peers in his time. Many older Kansas men can remember the day called the greatest thrill in gridiron history when he ran ninety yards for a touchdown, only to be called back on a Kansas off-side. Then, the next play, undaunted, he raced 95 yards through a broken field to the goal line again. He was the greatest pole-valuter and hurdler in the West for a decade. Dutch Lonborg, now at Northwestern, Bert Pooler, and more recently, Elmer Schaake, in their respective eras were nationally known. Had Schaake been with an outstanding eleven, he undoubtedly would have been All-Ameri- can. And tribute is here paid to Charley Black, our greatest living athlete, a gridiron warrior of wide fame, versatile in every other major sport. For 12 out of 16 years Kansas has held the Big Six Basketball Championship. In 1923 and 1935 the team was without a defeat. Graduates today speak with great favor about the immortal captain of the 1923 quintet, Paul Endicott. Bob Heiser in 1908 and 09, Al Peterson a few years later, and the present Ray Ebling have won permanent places among the basketball great. In the field of track, Kansas shines brilliantly. We have produced probably more great decathlon win- ners than any other univeristy. Everett Bradley, who holds the record for scoring the most points in a conference meet, and Poco Frazier, for three years a championship distance man, are great names. Jar- ring Jim Bausch, 1932 Olympic decathlon winner and record holder, was a national idol. In school now are students who were present when the Nebraska- Kansas dual meet hinged on the last event, the javelin throw. Bausch, exhausted after having just com- pleted the 1000-meters run, came through in his typical under-pressure form and in his first toss estab- lished a mark no Cornhusker could attain. The much- prized mile record belongs to another great Jay- hawker, Glenn Cunningham, the world ' s premier miler. In other fields, Wilber F. (Junior) Coen, at one time Bill Tilden ' s doubles partner on the Ameri- can Davis Cup team, and Pete Mehringer, 1932 Olympic wrestling champion, are two men proud to be called Jayhawkers. To cover all the other Kansas claimants to fame in the world of sports is impossible in this article. They are many and were indispensable to their branch of sports. To shift to the field of politics, two of the most prominent figures are Jayhawkers Alf Landon and William E. Borah. The nationally known journalist, the Sage of Kansas, William Allen White, is a Jay- hawker. Roy Roberts, Marvin Creager, Charles F. Scott, and Oscar Stauffer, all well known journalists, claim Kansas.