Jump to content

Kansas Jayhawks

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 64.242.187.243 (talk) at 17:04, 2 May 2006 (→‎Origins of "Chokehawk"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mascot of The University of Kansas
Mascot of The University of Kansas

The sports teams at the University of Kansas, are known as the Jayhawks. They participate in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big 12 Conference.

The Jayhawks field teams in basketball, baseball, cross country, football, golf, rowing (women only), soccer (women only), softball, swimming (women only), tennis (women only), track, and volleyball (women only).

University of Kansas athletic teams have won nine total NCAA Division I championships, including two in men's basketball, one in men's cross country, three in men's indoor track and field, and three in men's outdoor track and field.

Origins of "Jayhawk"

The Jayhawk is a mythical bird, a cross between a blue jay and a sparrow hawk. The term came to prominence just before the Civil War, in Bleeding Kansas, where it was adopted by militant abolitionist groups known as jayhawkers. With the admission of Kansas as a free state in 1861, Jayhawker became synonymous with the people of Kansas. The Jayhawk appears in several Kansas cheers, most notably, the "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk" chant. [1]

Football

KU football dates from 1890. The program today is classified in Division I-A. While not a national powerhouse like KU's basketball team, the Jayhawk football team has had notable alumni including Gale Sayers, a two time All-American who later played for the Chicago Bears and John Riggins, another All-American with the Washington Redskins. KU has appeared twice in the Orange Bowl: 1948 and 1969, and most recently made a bowl appearance in the 2005 Fort Worth Bowl. The Jayhawks currently play in Memorial Stadium, and they are coached by Mark Mangino.

The Jayhawks compete with the University of Missouri Tigers in the longest uninterrupted rivalry in college football west of the Mississippi River, first played in 1891 and known as the "Border War." The name of the rival has since changed to the "Border Showdown" followed the aftermath of 9/11. Each year the winner of the game is awarded a traveling trophy, the Indian War Drum. KU has defeated MU the past three years, retaining possession of the trophy.

Bowl appearances

The Jayhawks have a 4-6 bowl record:

Football coaches

Head football coaches, including their win-loss records, years coached, and reason for leaving if other than firing:

  • E.M. Hopkins (6-1-1), 1891
  • A.W. Shepard (9-6-0), 1892-1893
  • Hector Cowan (15-7-1), 1894-1896
  • Wylie G. Woodruff (15-3-0), 1897-1898
  • Fielding Yost (10-0-0), 1899, accepted Stanford job
  • Charles Boynton (2-5-2), 1900
  • John H. Outland (3-5-2), 1901
  • Arthur Curtis (6-4-0), 1902
  • Harrison Weeks (6-3-0), 1903
  • A.R. Kennedy (53-9-4), 1904-1910
  • Ralph W. Sherwin (4-2-2), 1911
  • Arthur Mosse (9-7-0), 1912-1913
  • H.M. Wheaton (5-2-1), 1914
  • Herman Olcott (16-7-1), 1915-1917
  • Jay Bond (2-2-0), 1918
  • Leon McCarty (3-2-3), 1919
  • Forrest "Phog" Allen (5-2-1), 1920
  • Potsy Clark (16-17-6), 1921-1925
  • Franklin Cappon (5-10-1), 1926-1927
  • Bill Hargiss (22-18-2), 1928-1932
  • Ad Lindsey (19-28-8), 1933-1938
  • Gwinn Henry (9-27-0), 1939-1942
  • Henry Shenk (11-16-3), 1943-1945
  • George Sauer (15-3-3), 1946-1947, accepted Navy job
  • J.V. Sikes (35-25-0), 1948-1953
  • Chuck Mather (11-26-3), 1954-1957
  • Jack Mitchell (44-42-5), 1958–1966
  • Pepper Rodgers (20-22), 1967–1970, accepted UCLA job
  • Don Fambrough (19-25-1), 1971–1974
  • Bud Moore (17-21-1), 1975–1980
  • Don Fambrough (17-24-4), 1979–1982
  • Mike Gottfried (15-18-1), 1983–1985, accepted Pittsburgh job
  • Bob Valesente (4-17-1), 1986–1987
  • Glen Mason (47-54-1), 1988–1996, accepted Minnesota job
  • Terry Allen (20-33), 1997–2001
  • Mark Fatgino (19–29), 2002–present

KU alumni currently in the NFL (2005)

Basketball

The men's and women's basketball teams play in Allen Fieldhouse and are currently coached by Bill Self and Bonnie Henrickson, respectively.

There have been recent scandals in the basketball program. Kansas made a “mistake” when they approved gifts to graduating players and others who had used up their eligibility at Kansas, but denied there was any intentional wrongdoing. Payments were shown to go back as far as 1998. The violations were among several involving three of their athletic programs. The school responded to violations in the football and women’s basketball programs by reducing scholarships, but the men’s basketball violation was addressed through "extra education" about the rules regarding gifts.


The men's team has enjoyed considerable success, and has won four national championships. The 1922 and 1923 championships predate the current NCAA championship tournament and were retroactively awarded by the Helms Foundation in 1936. The 1952 and 1988 championships were won in the NCAA tournament. They have the third most wins in NCAA history, trailing only Kentucky and North Carolina.

From 1990 to 1999 Kansas compiled a 286-60 record, the best win-loss record of any team in the decade. From 1949 to 2006, the Jayhawks have been ranked 488 times in the weekly AP top 25 poll. 337 times in the top ten, 216 times in the top five, and 41 times ranked number one. A record in and of itself, only five schools have been ranked number one more times. Kansas was seeded fourth in the Oakland Region of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, the 22nd consecutive appearance for the school. KU ranks fourth in NCAA Tournament appearances, with 34. Kansas is also ranked fifth in NCAA Tournament victories, with 73.

The men's team has had several notable coaches, beginning play during the 1898-1899 season under head coach James Naismith, the inventor of the game and the only KU coach to post a losing record. In 1907, KU hired Phog Allen as head coach, where he would coach for 39 seasons. Allen would later be titled the "Father of Basketball Coaching," having passed his knowledge of the game to some of the most well-respected names in the history of college basketball. These would include the two winningest coaches of all-time: Kentucky's Adolph Rupp and North Carolina's Dean Smith. Two of Smith's assistant coaches later became head coaches at KU: Larry Brown and Roy Williams. Current head coach Bill Self shares this rich pedigree, having been hired as a graduate assistant by Brown in 1985.

Kansas first fielded a women's team during the 1968-1969 season. For thirty-one seasons (1973-2004) the women's team was coached by Marian Washington, who led the team to three Big Eight championships, eleven NCAA Tournament appearances and four AIAW Tournament appearances. The team's best post-season result was a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1996.

KU Men's Basketball Final Four history

Men's basketball coaches

Head men's basketball coaches, including win-loss record, years coached, and reason for leaving:

Women's basketball coaches

Head women's basketball coaches, including win-loss record and years coached:

Former KU players and coaches in the basketball hall of fame

KU alumni currently in the NBA (2005-2006)

Other Notable Athletes

References

  • Falkenstien, Max as told to Doug Vance. Max and the Jayhawks: 50 years on and off the air with KU Sports. Wichita, Kansas: The Wichita Eagle & Beacon Publishing Company, Inc., 1996.

Bibliography

  • University of Kansas Traditions: The Jayhawk
  • Kirke Mechem, "The Mythical Jayhawk", Kansas Historical Quarterly XIII: 1 (February 1944), pp. 3–15. A tongue-in-cheek history and description of the Mythical Jayhawk.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kansas_Jayhawks&oldid=51227061"