With the potential that Saturday’s game will be the last in the MU-KU rivalry, here is a parting shot (at least for now) at KU - and their beloved Jayhawk moniker.

KU’s version of the origin of the Jayhawk moniker can be found on the University of Kansas’ official web site.[1] After acknowledging that the jayhawker term was applied during the Kansas territorial period to men that “looted, sacked, rustled cattle, stole horses, and otherwise attacked each other's settlements”, the KU web site goes on to state, “During the Civil War, the Jayhawk's ruffian image gave way to a patriotic symbol. Kansas Governor Charles Robinson raised a regiment called the Independent Mounted Kansas Jayhawks. By war's end, Jayhawks were synonymous with the impassioned people who made Kansas a Free State. In 1886, the bird appeared in a cheer--the famous Rock Chalk chant. ” That sounds nice. However, let us examine the veracity of these statements.

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The 1960 MU-KU game, in which the Jayhawks defeated No. 1 ranked MU with the aid of an ineligible player, is recognized by most MU and KU fans as one the classics in the football rivalry.  Fewer recognize the significance and drama of the game played the very next year, which is also a rivalry classic.  The following essay is in celebration of the huge upset pulled off by the 1961 Tigers, 50 years ago this week.

KU entered the 1961 season with most of the starters from its Top 10 1960 team returning, and amidst high expectations by the Jayhawk team, KU fans, and national prognosticators.  In the preseason predictions, KU was ranked No. 1 by Playboy, No. 2 by Street and Smith, and No. 8 by the AP.  Based on the way the 1960 season ended , a home-town sports journalist characterized the ’61 Jayhawk team as “…a gang with a mission.  That mission?  To win a clear-cut Big Eight Conference title that nobody, not even faculty representatives, can dispute…Mitchell and his KU squad would enjoy immensely a high national ranking long about the end of November.  But they’ll readily surrender national orchids to win the league championship that was snatched from their grasp at the conference meeting table in Kansas City last December.”[i] 

Early in the 1961 season, KU suffered two close losses and a tie, and dropped out of the national polls.  However, KU then ran off six consecutive wins against Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Kansas State, and California.  Going into the traditional season finale against MU, KU was back in the Top 10.  In the last contest before the MU-KU rivalry game, KU amassed a total of 489 yards in the process of pummeling California by a score of 53-7.  By contrast, earlier in the season, MU had to come from behind, including a 4th quarter TD and two-point conversion, to tie California in a 14-14 game. Additionally, in MU’s most recent game, a 27-9 victory over Kansas State, the Tigers lost four starters due to injury.   Tiger Conrad Hichtler, a standout right end, suffered a leg fracture.  Right end Don Wainwright and quarterback Ron Taylor were carried off the field with ankle injuries, and halfback Norm Beal was hospitalized with bruised ribs.[ii]

While the Tiger and Jayhawks entered the rivalry game with identical 6-2-1 records, KU was a two-touchdown favorite to win.[iii]  KU’s late season run also put them in line for an Orange Bowl bid.  KU had not been to the Orange Bowl since the 1947 season, but the pre-game buzz was that, "Word from the Orange Bowl has it that the Kansas Jayhawks will get the New Years Day bid if they knock off Missouri’s crippled Tigers in Lawrence.."[iv]

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In case you missed them and are interested, here are some articles on historical aspects of the rivalry I have posted over the last few years.  (A little football and a lot of the real Border War.)

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The MU-KU rivalry has always been a key component of MU’s football tradition.  This week’s game is looking like it could be the last in the rivalry series (at least for a while).  Hoping it contributes to college football fan appreciation for the rivalry and the up-coming game, in the following essay I have tried to cover a lot of the incidents and anecdotes that, from this MU fan’s perspective, comprise the fabric of the rivalry. 

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It is somewhat of a KU fan tradition to fling the “slaver” epithet at MU fans.  With current rival fan banter over MU’s apparently impending move to the SEC and the potential end of the rivalry, the probability of epithet flinging is increased.  In case it is flung your way, you may find the rebuttal material provided after the jump of some use (or at least interest).

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Which is the bigger bribe to a propsective student-athlete? 

A.)  A $10,000 payment to a player?

B.)  Giving the player's parent a $50,000+ job in Lawrence that will last a period of 1 to 4 years?

 By NCAA rules, the smaller bribe (A) is illegal while the much larger (B) is not.  That is why the NCAA sucks.  That is why if the NCAA is to regain any credbility with fans or the "win at any cost" athletic programs. the NCAA must completely re-write its rule book.

I compiled this list under the assumption that these would be among the guys that would deserve consideration in an effort to identify the all-time greats.  If anyone would be so inclined,  I would appreciate it if someone could check my work. 

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I was wondering if Gill would continue the annual tradition of perpetunating the hate and rilling up the boys prior to the MU-KU game.  Fambrough was reportedly too ill to give the speech, but KU found someone new.   One thing didn't change wiht the new guy, the story is still not very factual.  It is pretty amusing to see the extent to which the truth is fudged in their history of the origin of the rivaly and what a jayhawker was.

The Gridiron

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Did anyone else catch the intro?  In their take on the origin of he rivalry, FSN had a sound little summary: the devastation by Lane and Jennison in western Missouri, Lawrence indentified as a jayhawker headquarters, Quantrill's raid described as one of retaliation.  Someone finally got it right.

Almost as surprising to see as back-to-back pass breahups by our DBs. 

Kudos to FSN, Steck, and MU!

Looks like things are trending in the right direction.

Norm Beal did not have a lot of running room that fateful day.

The 1960 game is the most infamous in the long MU-KU football rivalry.  In the regular season finale that year, KU beat No. 1 ranked MU, thus squashing MU’s hopes for a national championship.  However, KU was later ordered to forfeit the win due to their use of an ineligible player.  Was it simply a case of KU cheating, as some Tiger fans claim?  Or was MU a sore loser that pulled some post-season shenanigans to unfairly strip KU of the victory, as some Jayhawk fans maintain?  To judge for yourself, read on.

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I am doing some research with the intent to write an article later this season the 50th anniversary of the Coan affair. I have found some pretty interesting stuff.  However, there is one thing I am still trying to figure out, and sure would welcome any insights.

In the middle of the 1960 season, the NCAA issue its finding that KU was guility of excessive enterainment in the recruitment of Coan.  Nebraska, who was next on KUs conference slate, submitted a letter to KU questioning Coan's elgibility to play (this was reportedly done at the urging of MU).  In response, KU asked the conference for a ruling , and the conference quickly replied that KU would get their requested ruling, but not until the conference's regularly scheduled post-season meeting.   

Question: Why didn't the conference rule in a more timely manner?  I have my theories, but no facts.  Any clues or suggestions?

Or, KU’s Paean of Pillaging

“Rock Chalk, Jay Hawk, KU.” The chant is known to many. How many understand its origin?

Ask KU fans about the chant, and a respectable percentage of them are able to parrot back the official KU story of its origin with the KU Science Club in 1886, “Rock Chalk” replacing the “Rah Rah” of the original chant at some later date, and its eventual embrace by the larger student body. Ask about the meaning of the chant, and most KU fans focus on the “Rock Chalk” part, a transposition of “chalk rock” and an almost-rhyming reference to the limestone that comprises a hill and some of the older buildings on the KU campus. Well, what about the “Jay Hawk” part? That is simply a reference to the same mythical bird the football team is named after, right?

[Promoted to front page.  It's Hate Week!!!]

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[Ed.: Bumped to the Front Page. MAJOR thanks to Keith for sharing.]

The University of Missouri’s explanation is concise:

"The nickname ‘Tigers’ given to Mizzou's athletic teams, traces its origin to the Civil War period. Small towns, defending themselves against attacks by plundering guerilla bands, formed ‘home guards’ to provide protection. Columbia's home guard was called ‘The Missouri Tigers.’  Soon after Missouri's first football team was organized in 1890, the athletic committee adopted the nickname "’Tiger’ in official recognition of those Civil War defenders."[i]

The story of the connection between MU and the Tigers moniker is richer that can be portrayed in any three-sentence summary, and deserves to be told and remembered.

[i] University of Missouri, History and Traditions.  http://www.missouri.edu/about/history/mascot-colors.php.  Accessed January 30, 2010.

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One man that rode with Quantrill in his youth wrote the following later in life, well after the war, “We are all now under one flag and have clasped hands with all true and honest men who opposed us in the unequal contest.  We are wiling to let bygones be bygones and remain as such.  I entertain a sacred respect for those that were honest in their convictions, but we still hold and will die with a death grip of hatred for the men who shed innocent blood and destroyed the home of my sainted father.”[1]

Just in case there was any doubt, this quote confirms that hate has been part of the Missouri-Kansas rivalry.  During the original Border War conflicts, innocents on both sides suffered unwarranted brutality and the death of loved ones, and viewed the perpetrators as evil.  While the series of articles I wrote focused on the jayhawkers (which seemed fair since they are the ones with a college team named after them), their Missouri bushwhacker counterparts committed their share of equally reprehensible acts. 

But, if there ever was a legitimate time for hate between Kansans and Missourians over the tragedies of the Border War era, it has passed.  The generations with first-hand experience of the suffering of that era have long ago passed away.  The animosity of Missourians toward Kansans should be tempered by the fact that the Civil War in Missouri would have been hell anyway, even had not a single Kansan crossed the state line.  Perhaps the bitterness of Kansans toward Missourians should be mollified by the fact that, over the course of the era and even considering the Lawrence Raid, the Kansans did unto the Missourians at least as much as the Missourians did unto them. 

Thankfully, the hate has largely subsided.  Today, Missourians and Kansas stand together as fellow citizens of America’s Heartland, blessed by the nation’s bounty, and living together in peace (for the most part).  We are much more alike than different.  I consider Kansans to be among America’s finest, and I count KU fans among my friends.  Yet, relatively subtle differences between at least some segments of the MU and KU fan bases persist, and those differences help to sustain a spirited edge to the rivalry.  Nowhere are those differences more evident than in the views of the opposing fans on the rivalry’s historical basis. 

Erik Ashel is the producer of the television documentary "Border War", which details the historic roots of the Kansas-Missouri rivalry.  Ashel writes, “This project has also opened my eyes to the viewpoints held by those east of the state line…Maybe it isn’t exactly the same history I learned at KU, but that doesn’t mean it’s not valid. Sometimes history is more about what you believe to have happened, and how it affects you, than it is about what actually did happen.”[2]

It is easy to understand why some KU fans would prefer “what you believe” over “what actually did happen”.  The myths (or at least select truths) behind the jayhawkers and redlegs are things Kansans and KU fans can feel good about.  The complete truth, well…not so much.  That is why, for as long as KU athletic teams are called the Jayhawks, there will likely always be some tension between MU and KU fans over the historical basis of the rivalry.  Some KU fans will continue to embrace the myth of the jayhawkers as noble freedom fighters.  MU fans will not forget the truth of the jayhawkers’ crimes against Missouri civilians. 

The rivalry lives on! 

Keith Piontek

November 2008

[1] Kimberlin, J.N.  The Kimberlins in the Sixties.  Confederate Veteran, Twentieth Year, Eleventh Number.  November, 1912.  Copy available at: http://www.bourlandcivilwar.com/Kimberlin.htm.

[2] Ashel, Erik.  Producer’s Comments on the documentary “Border War, The Rivalry Between Kansas & Missouri”.  http://www.kcondemand.com/IntouchNews-BorderWar.aspx

{Editor's note: In preparation for this year's Border War, RMN reader Keith Piontek has authored a four-part series on the origins of the Missouri/Kansas rivalry. Today, we wrap up the series with part four.}

"When KU football players first took the field in 1890,
it seemed only natural to call them Jayhawkers."

(Official KU web site, Traditions at the University, The Jayhawk.)[1]

Given the odious nature of the original Kansas jayhawkers, how did the jayhawker term come to be embraced by Kansans, and later by KU?  Does the legacy of the original jayhawkers endure? 

[1] http://www.ku.edu/about/traditions/jayhawk.shtml

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{Editor's note: In preparation for this year's Border War, RMN reader Keith Piontek has authored a four-part series on the origins of the Missouri/Kansas rivalry. Today, we have part three.}

No event in the real Border War is more infamous than Quantrill’s raid on Lawence, Kansas.  The raid is often described as an unprovoked attack on the innocent citizens of Lawrence, having no legitimate military objectives, comprised of heinous crimes without precedent, and on a scale far surpassing the outrages that precipitated it.  This article provides a foundation of facts upon which the fairness of these characterizations can be assessed.  This article does not attempt to justify the raid; there is no justification for the horrors perpetrated during the raid.  However, this article does attempt to establish that, in the context of what had preceded the raid, the events of August 21, 1863 are understandable, and were predictable. 

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{Editor's note: In preparation for this year's Border War, RMN reader Keith Piontek has authored a four-part series on the origins of the Missouri/Kansas rivalry. Today, we have part two.}

One of the more hotly debated topics regarding the origins of the MU-KU rivalry is KU’s selection of “Jayhawks” as their athletic team moniker.  It is unlikely the KU athletic teams would have this name if not for one man, Charles R. “Doc” Jennison.  More than any other individual, Jennison gave the term “jayhawkers” a lasting place in the lexicon of Kansas and the surrounding region.  To understand Jennison is to understand the original meaning of the jayhawker term, and the jayhawkers’ place in Border War history.

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{Editor's note: In preparation for this year's Border War, RMN reader Keith Piontek has authored a four-part series on the origins of the Missouri/Kansas rivalry. In Part 1, he examines the mythology commonly associated with Kansas.}

Most passionate fans of the University of Missouri and University of Kansas know that the rivalry between the schools is rooted in the Civil War.  This rather unique basis for a college sports rivalry has led to a rather unique form of trash talking between the rival fans.  Almost inevitably, the rivalry banter turns to bushwhackers and jayhawkers, Quantrill and the burning of Lawrence, the depredations of the Kansas troops in Missouri, etc. 

Forgive me if I paint KU fandom with too broad a brush, but the version of Civil War era history that many KU fans seem to have is not much deeper than the following: it was "Missouri versus Kansas", with "Missouri = slavers", "Kansans  = noble abolitionists", and "noble abolitionists in Kansas = jayhawkers."   This is the first in a series of four articles that attempts to sort the true history of the rivalry’s origins from the mythology that tends to be cited by KU fans. 

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