Thoughts on the Kansas Relays

The past weekend marked the 80th running of the Kansas Relays, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious track and field events, along with the Penn Relays, Drake Relays and Texas Relays. I've been attending for at least 25 years, which means I've been coming since I was a little boy.

I've been a fan, a competitor, a volunteer and thankfully a champion, both in high school and in college, earning a coveted Kansas Relays watch. I always admired my father's, which he earned as a manager in 1956, so I was thrilled to eventually earn one for myself and proudly gave my second watch to my mother in 1994.

Sure, you could say it's just a track meet, but the Relays are special. It was my father's first exposure to the University of Kansas as a schoolboy, and it continues to provide a impression of KU to thousands of high school students who compete here each year. I still cherish my Relays watch and show it off with pride whenever someone asks me for the time.

Each year the Kansas Relays presents 800+ awards, each one representing a positive- sometimes life changing- experience that is attached to the University of Kansas. For some, it's validation for all of their hard work. For others, it represents the first taste of the excellence they knew they had inside of them all along. Not a bad impression for KU to make, particularly in such a beautiful setting in April at the foot of Mount Oread. It is indeed difficult to overstate the impact the Relays have had in my life, and the lives of countless others.