Monday Night, March 6, 1967, AFH
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Here's what you younger Jayhawks need to know about John Hadl.
In 1961 Coach Jack Mitchell made an unusual change by moving Lawrence native John Hadl from halfback to quarterback prior to his junior season. Hadl was also the punter, setting a KU record that still stands and one that led the nation for many years â a season punting average at 45.6 yards. He also holds the record for the longest punt of 94 yards against Oklahoma in 1960. I was there. I saw it â a quick kick that just bounced and bounced and bounced!Hadl also holds the record for the longest kick-off return of 97-yards against Syracuse. He also set a record that stood for over 50 years with the longest pass interception return of 98-yards against TCU. He was named first-team All-American as a halfback in 1960 and a first-team All-American at quarterback in 1961. He led the Jayhawks to their first bowl victory, a 33â7 win over the Rice Owls in the Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston, Texas, signing his pro contract under the goal posts after the game. I watched the game on TV. The contract signing was carried on TV as well, as this was the beginning of the âwarâ to sign college footballers between the established NFL and the upstart AFL. Hadl was named the MVP of the East-West Shrine Game AND the College All-Star game, the only player to be so-honored. Of course, Hadl went on to a pro Hall of Fame career playing quarterback for the San Diego Chargers, still wearing #21.
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Here's one more post from the "Way Back Machine." If I don't get any comments (Approxinfinity?), then I'll quit.
My Dad and I had a tradition for the end of each football game in Lawrence when I was young. Depending on which team was leading with two minutes left in the game, we'd go down onto the track (You could do that in those days!) and walk toward that team's locker room to watch âthe big boysâ jog off the field. On this particular day, October 1, 1960, KU was playing Syracuse, the 1959 National Champions featuring All-American-to-be Ernie Davis. With two minutes remaining, the Orange were up 14-7 (the eventual final score), so we headed out of the west stands and down onto the track. Laying beside one of the wooden benches was a pile of about ten white Syracuse jerseys. The Orange were wearing âtear-awayâ jerseys, and some of them had been replaced during the game. Dad said, âWhy don't you ask someone if you could have one of those jerseys?â Instead, I just grabbed one. I stuffed it under my gray hooded sweatshirt and walked on. Much to my amazement, Dad didn't say a thing! When we got outside Memorial Stadium, I pulled the jersey out, and it was #44, Ernie Davis'. Ernie was a great football player and a great person. He would be diagnosed with leukemia at the College All-Star Game and die within the year. The jersey was pinned to the wall of my bedroom for many years. As an adult, it was in the bottom of a drawer. -
@JoJoAndMe wow. I had no idea that the first black player to win the heismann died of leukemia before ever playing a professional game. I will have to check out Express The Ernie Davis story. Thanks for sharing this beautiful story. I need to catch up on your other tales!
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@JoJoAndMe Hadl sounds Chamberlainlike in the freakishness of his athleticism. Would be nice if we had someone that dynamic on our teams. Everything is so specialized now. We had a few football players on Self teams. It would be really cool if one of them were good enough to play meaningful minutes
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@JoJoAndMe I love how accessible the players
were in your stories. -
Great stories. Appreciate your posts!
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@approxinfinity In the '50s players had to play both ways. Then the rules changed and you could substitute two players on offense and defense. Shortly before Hadl, McClinton, Schick, and Cone (what a backfield!), the rules changed to unlimited substitution. I was always under the impression that the NCAA did that so more guys could play.
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@jojoandme gotcha!
In other news I ducked into a library yesterday for a booksale and we bought an old cook book for a dollar. I flipped to a random recipe and the first step was to kill the chicken. It's good to remember how much has changed over the last 47 years!
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@approxinfinity I remember my grandmas killing chickens. Itâs a very vivid memory! Definitely where the saying, âChicken w/its head cut offâ came from. Both my parents were raised on farms. Lots of fun times. Good chicken n noodles.
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@approxinfinity honestly, the live chicken recipes are much tastier
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@crimsonblu22 Iâm a little jealous.
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Iâm starting to think being 37 years old I maybe one of the youngsters on here haha. @jojoandme I really enjoy the old stories from before my time. 100% Wilt is the GOAT imo, people forget he was a track star and unbelievably athletic. They are only about 5 guys the good lord put on earth with his size and athleticism. They changed the rules time and time again to prevent Wilt from dominating games. They changed the rules time and time again so guys like Michael and LeBron could dominate. Big difference in the two. If Wilt was born about 20 years later it wouldnât even be a question as to whom the greatest was in college or professional.
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@kjayhawks2.0 Couldn't agree more. Phenom!
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Merry Christmas to All! It's fun to share. Glad y'all are enjoying these clips from the past. Here's a good one.
The 1961 KU vs MU game is the game I remember the most. KU was 6-2-1 going into the Missouri game with a one-point loss at TCU and a one-point loss at Colorado. KU was loaded with All-American John Hadl at quarterback, Bert Coan and Curtis McClinton at halfback, and Doyle Shick at fullback. (All four would go on to play professional football.)
Both teams were highly ranked. It was a much-anticipated game. I have mental pictures of this day. A bright, crisp fall day with the field surrounded by Kansas Highway patrolmen, many of them with German police dogs! Thatâs how intense the rivalry was still 100 years after the start of the Civil War. (People just don't realize how intense the rivalry was. German shepards surrounded the playing field!) Before the game, the spirit squad had covered the bottom of the south goal posts with a paper sign encouraging KU, and the team was to charge out of the locker room, burst through the sign and onto the field. Before the KU players came out of their locker room (in those days under the east stands), a Missouri student ran onto the field toward the sign-covered south goal posts. A highway patrolman with a German Shepherd on a leash started after him. Just as the Missouri student broke through the sign, the German Shepherd was nipping at the buttocks of the studentâs blue jeans. (A mental picture that is indelibly etched in my mind.)
The game ended dramatically with the Columbia blue-clad KU Jayhawks leading 7â3 when, late in the fourth quarter, a KU fumble near the west sideline (back-lit by a late fall sun) bounced in the air. A MU player grabbed it and ran it in for a 10â7 Missouri victory. (Another mental picture Iâll never forget)
In spite of the loss, KU went to the Bluebonnet Bowl, and MU did not get a bowl invitation! Ha ha. Missouri officials were, of course, incensed. So they tattled to the Big 8 Conference. Bert Coan, a Texas recruit, had been flown in the private airplane of Bud Adams, owner of the Houston Oilers, to the College All-Star game in Chicago, Illinois. Bud Adams was also an alumnus of the University of Kansas. The violation of rules, however, happened when Coan was previously enrolled at TCU!
Still, the Big 8 forfeited KUâs win two years previously in 1960 when MU had been ranked #1, thus erasing Missouriâs only loss that year. Missouri counts the 1960 game as a win by forfeit, thus giving it the only undefeated and untied season in school history. However, Kansas (and the NCAA) count the game as a Kansas victory. Ever since, the two universities have disputed the overall winâloss record in (what used to be) the longest-running continuous series west of the Mississippi River.
Coan, notable for his extraordinary speed (9.4 in the 100-yard dash) at 6â 5â and 220 lb., went on to play in 72 games in seven seasons in the American Football League, the first season with the San Diego Chargers and the rest with the Kansas City Chiefs.
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I hope I'm not boring you . . . . Here's a "chuckle" from the mid-60's. It shows you how much the game has changed!
I had three fraternity brothers who played football. One was Bill Wohlford, a farm boy from Geneseo, Kansas, who became an attorney on Bob dole's staff in D.C. Bill started at guard, linebacker and center his three years of eligibility. After returning from a game against Missouri in Columbia, Bill told me that in a team meeting on Friday before the game, Coach Jack Mitchell asked the team what they wanted to do that night. (Notice how casual and loosely planned the program was in those days.) No one said anything, so Coach Mitchell said, âWhy donât we go to a drive-in movie?â One of the players replied, âBut coach, how are we gonna do that? We got here in busses.â Coach Mitchell replied, apparently in all seriousness, âWell, weâll park the busses sideways.â This story came directly from Bill Wohlford. I have no reason to believe itâs not true.
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@JoJoAndMe ha just read through this one now. Would love a physical picture of the missouri student sign ripping German shephard takedown!
Thats great that Missouri disputes the rest of the world on its only undefeated season
Thanks for sharing this one! -
@JoJoAndMe haha as a person who has spent time craning my neck on the couch 90 degrees to see the tv i recognize this as a joke⌠i think
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@approxinfinity No joke. I promise. Would swear by it in a court of law.
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@JoJoAndMe Oh I mean... did they actually watch it out the side of the bus or was the coach just joking?
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@approxinfinity No. They didn't actually take the buses to the drive-in. However, just the suggestion shows how different and basic college football was 60 years ago. It was truly an amateur sport. Remember, it had been only since 1952 that Kansas hired a high school coach to revise (unsuccessfully) its football program.
