Carla Eckels: OK, if you made that left turn, you’re on the right path to our next stop, athletics. To get there, we’ll take a right on Perimeter Road, zip across the street, safely, until you’re overlooking a big field and the new Student-Athlete Center, it’s 36,000 square feet, two stories and focuses on both the athletic and academic development of students. College sports always inspire a sense of school pride. Through the years Wichita State has seen devoted fans and national successes. One of my favorite memories was interviewing the Shocker Basketball player Aubrey Sherrod, a Wichitan, who stayed in his hometown to play in the early 80’s, even though he had other options. He says those experiences stay with you for the rest of your life.
Aubrey Sherrod: "We've been able, been fortunate really, to graduate. So, when we speak to the kids today, we really mean it by saying education's very important. Knowledge is power and that's really the key to life."
Carla Eckels: He was even drafted by the Chicago Bulls. Not only basketball, but Wichita State has also seen major wins on volleyball courts, an NCAA baseball title, great track and field, tennis, golf, bowling, and even esports. For more on the history of sports, here's Tom Shine. Tom has spent more than 40 years as a journalist in Wichita covering Shocker sports.
Tom Shine: "We're talking with Mike Kennedy, the voice of Shocker Athletics for more than 40 years, and the foremost authority on the history of Wichita State Athletics. We're standing on campus in front of the Student-Athlete Center. To our left, is Koch Arena, the home of Shocker basketball. Let's start by talking about the statue in front of the Roundhouse and who that is."
Mike Kennedy: "Dave Stallworth, who, in a long history of great basketball players and great athletes at Wichita State, I think most would acknowledge as the greatest basketball player of all time, maybe the greatest all-around figure in Wichita State history. He came to Wichita State in 1961 and finished in 1965. The strange thing was he was eligible at the middle of the year and so he ended up graduating, running out of eligibility at the middle of his senior year in 1965.
Tom Shine: "And didn't play on that Final Four team."
Mike Kennedy: "At the end, yeah. Helped them get off to a great start. They were nationally ranked. The other thing that happened with that team was, Nate Bowman the 6'10" center who was also a future NBA player, became academically ineligible at the same time and suddenly they went from having those two guys to a much smaller, much different kind of team."
Tom Shine: "Wichita State also went to the Final Four in 2013. You broadcast the 2013 Final Four. What was that like?"
Mike Kennedy: "It was almost surreal. Because, by 2013 so much had happened in college athletics. The power conferences really taking over everything. There was such a gap, it seemed like. You wondered if it was even possible for Wichita State to ever approach something like that. So that whole run, that whole March just got better and better and more exciting and a little bit more unreal all the way to the end.
Tom Shine: "Let's switch gears and let's talk about baseball. Gene Stephenson revived a dormant program and made Wichita State a national power. That included winning the College World Series in 1989."
Mike Kennedy: "Well, you know by then they had become a consistent national powerhouse. They'd been in the final four of the world series the year before, so it wasn't certainly a surprise that they got there and were in contention."
Tom Shine: "Not far from Eck Stadium is Wilkins Stadium, where the Shocker softball team plays. The program has really been on the rise the last few years. Women's tennis, basketball, golf, all have made numerous NCAA appearances. To me, volleyball was the one program that sort of led the resurgence in women's sports, showing what was possible at Wichita State.
Mike Kennedy: "First of all, as you kind of touched on, there was some success over time when women's programs came into being with individual athletes in track and field and golf. But basketball, softball, volleyball -- significant growth in team sports. And as you say, volleyball was one that nobody really paid any attention to. Chris Lamb came in with a vision of what it could be and all of that has led to a national-level program."
Tom Shine: "We can also see Cessna Stadium. Wichita State of course no longer plays football, but a really good track and field program uses the stadium."
Mike Kennedy: "You can go back to Harold Manning at the 1936 Olympics in the steeplechase and that's continued over time. Fritz Snodgrass had very strong programs back in the 50's and into the 60's. Of course Herm Wilson had great programs there. Steve Rainbolt has continued to keep it at a high level and so it's just sort of joined the others as being a consistent, high-level national program."
Tom Shine: "You mentioned Olympic athletes from the program. Aliphine Tuliamuk competed in the marathon for the United States."
Mike Kennedy: "Harold Manning. He was Wichita State's first NCAA champion. He won the 2-mile at the 1930 NCAA Championships. And then Preston Carrington in the late 60's in the long jump was an Olympian. Einars Tupuritis who was an NCAA champion in the 800 represented Latvia in the Summer Games. Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage, who played basketball here, was on the Puerto Rican Olympic Basketball Team. The first basketball team in the Olympic Games in 1936 in Berlin, Gene Johnson who had coached here was the assistant coach. He was with the McPherson Globe Refiners by then. His brother Francis and Jack Ragland, who were both former Shockers, were two of the players on that team.
Carla Eckels: Thanks, Tom and Mike! That's a lot of Olympians, and I can't help but brag about the softball champions of 2021 and 2022. (audio clip: applause) Now, those ladies have been on fire! WSU has a broad sports community with a rich history, like Coach Willie Jeffries who coached Shocker football for five years before the program was discontinued in 1986. I had the pleasure of talking to him in 2019 when he was recognized at the Heartland Wichita Black Chamber of Commerce Football Classic right here at Cessna Stadium.
Willie Jeffries: "I've been honored today and it's a great honor when we can come back to Wichita. I will say this: the people here, to raise a family and do good things, Wichita has been a great place for us. Out there on that field, it was very nostalgic thinking about the days that we were out there. It was just unbelievable. I'm so grateful that I was recognized today."
Carla Eckels: Coach Jeffries became the first African American head football coach at the NCAA Division One level when Wichita State hired him in 1979.
Let’s start walking to your right, that’s uphill to the east on the sidewalk, to our next stop. By the way, Cessna Stadium the one on your left, has been home to more than Shocker sports. The Kansas State Track and Field Championships are held here. Plus, Cessna Stadium has hosted concerts from the Rolling Stones (music: “Satisfaction”) to the Doobie Brothers (music: “Taking it to the Streets”)! You know a lot of things are named after aircraft companies, like Cessna, because Wichita is called the Air Capital of the world. And the futuristic part of WSU, called the Innovation Campus is closely related, with out-of-this-world aeronautics labs and research facilities. But now, back into history. Just keep moving along this sidewalk until you get to Perimeter Road and get ready to turn left on Yale.
(music: "Taking it to the Streets" continues)
If you turned left on Yale, our next stop is coming into view.