In Phog Allen’s last year as KU’s legendary head coach in 1955-56, the Jayhawks finished just 14-9 before Allen was forced to step down at 70 years old, the age of mandatory retirement. While he appealed all the way to the Board of Regents, it was to no avail.
Allen dearly wanted to have one season coaching his prized recruit Wilt Chamberlain, who would become eligible during the 1956-57 season.
“It would be the thrill of my life to end a long coaching career with a truly great team,” said Allen, who called his just completed last season “very disappointing.”
The Lawrence Journal-World’s Bill Mayer summed up how close Allen came to his dream of coaching Chamberlain, only to see it never fulfilled.
“Phog was like Moses, who got to see the Promised Land but never was allowed to enter,” Mayer wrote. “The Kansas retirement rule said professors, coaches and other faculty-type people had to retire after the academic year in which they turned 70. Phog Allen hit 70 that night of the freshman-varsity clash in 1955 and gave way to assistant Harp for Wilt's sophomore year of 1956-57.”
Allen’s loyal assistant Dick Harp, though, told John Hendel in “Kansas Jayhawks: History-making basketball” that he actually believed Allen didn’t care to return for the 1956-57 season.
“A lot of people said he wanted to coach Wilt Chamberlain just one season,” Harp said. “But he never told me that. I think it was a case of some people wanted him to do it and he got caught up in it. He was flattered and so let it go on.”
Before Allen’s resignation became official, Harp spoke to the University Daily Kansan about the possible vacant head coaching position:
“As for applying, if the job were open, I presume (athletic director) Dutch Lonborg knows I hope to continue coaching here,” Harp said.
Still, even in the last moments, Harp was pulling for Allen to keep the job.
“If it is possible for Dr. Allen to remain as coach if that is what he wants and thinks is best, I will be happy for him,” Harp said. “No one has had more joy or reaped greater benefits than I have in eight years coaching under Dr. Allen.”
Harp continued talking to the paper about Allen and himself.
“There has been no change in the type of fundamentals we teach here, not in Dr. Allen’s insistence that fundamentals get perfected," Harp said. "Dr. Allen says fundamentals never change. Dr. Allen was years ahead of other coaches in his techniques of teaching and realized before others that without perfection of fundamentals, you can’t play the game well. He’s still a great stickler for doing things correctly.”
While Harp admitted he had other coaching offers in the past, he has always been happy to remain at Kansas.
“Maybe I’m a sentimental guy--this is our school and I wouldn’t have taken a coaching job anywhere but here,” Harp said. “Sure I’ve been approached by other schools but the most attention I have ever give to another offer was to once an overnight looking at it. I enjoy coaching--particularly the association with the kids. That will keep me in coaching. I could be happy doing a lot of things, but probably not as happy anywhere as in coaching.”
The student paper wrote that “Harp believes the Allen-built tradition of championship team has stood Kansas in good stead often...and will continue to bring the school victories.”
The paper called Harp an “avid student of the game” whose “studies have included everything I can get my hands on in the way of reading and lectures.”
Off the court, the University Daily Kansan wrote that Harp’s “music desires can be satisfied with a pop concert. It is a sore spot with his wife that he’ll not go dancing, not even at the annual Christmas faculty party.”
“We’re always playing basketball then,” he grins.
And KU basketball has always been a central part of Harp’s life, a dream to play for the Jayhawks since he was just 9 years old. Finally, on March 30, 1956, the Kansas Board of Regents named Harp as KU’s new head coach, effective July 1. The Regents also made a statement concerning denying Allen’s written request appeal.
“This board has nothing but the highest respect for Dr. Allen and his desire to serve. This unhappy dilemma always occurs when the retirement rule is applied to a man or woman of vigor, ability and national stature. However, the benefits resulting from the retirement rule far outweigh its disadvantages and the board unanimously feels that it must be applied to all.”
Allen concluded his legendary 46-year career with a 746-264 record, tops in the NCAA before his former pupil Adolph Rupp first broke it. Allen, who had won or shared 31 conference championships, coached at KU for 39 years with a 590-219 record and 24 league titles.
But his coaching career was now over.
The torch had been passed from the game’s inventor James Naismith, to W.O. Hamilton, to the Father of Basketball Coaching Doc Allen, to now Dick Harp, just the fourth head basketball coach in the Jayhawks’ illustrious history.
It was the job he dreamed of in high school growing up in Rosedale, where his life revolved around KU basketball 365 days per year.
Now, it was his. Dick Harp was the new man in charge of Kansas basketball.
When Harp was announced as the new head coach, it was the beginning of a third chapter in his life and another dream fulfilled. First, he realized his dream of playing for KU. Next, he got the opportunity to become Dr. Allen’s assistant. And now, he was running the program as head coach at his beloved alma mater. He was looking forward to beginning his duties and continuing the rich tradition at Kansas.
“I am greatly honored by my appointment as basketball coach at the University of Kansas,” Harp said in a statement. “However, I cannot help being somewhat saddened by the realization that my intimate relationship with Dr. Allen will no longer continue. I shall certainly look to him for guidance and counsel during my tenure as basketball coach.
“There is not greater basketball heritage in the United States than at our university, and it will be my constant effort to maintain this tradition which has been foster so long and well by Dr. Allen.”
While he was succeeding a legend, Harp didn’t feel any extra pressure to perform. At least he didn’t admit so publicly.
“I never put it in terms of following Doc because that’s not possible,” Harp told Hendel. “It was not possible for anyone to follow Doc Allen. If you knew (Allen) at all, you know that would not be possible. I never gave that a thought.”
In a June 7, 1956 letter to friends, Allen wrote that KU and Harp would seemingly coast with Chamberlain on the team.
“Wilton could make a successful coach out of anyone.”
Chancellor Franklin Murphy was happy to have Harp on board. He made a statement thanking Allen for his service while also lauding the hiring of Harp.
“The long and distinguished career of Dr. Forrest C. Allen speaks for itself. The records made by his basketball teams, and what is even more important the records made subsequently by members of his teams in their business and professional lives, are eloquent testimony to his unique abilities in not only building championship teams but also building first-class citizens.
“It is entirely appropriate that his great contributions to the University of Kansas will be forever memorialized in the great field house which bears his name. I believe that the university is fortunate indeed to have obtained, as Dr. Allen’s successor, Mr. Richard Harp, generally recognized as one of the brilliant young basketball coaches in the country today. It is entirely appropriate he is an Allen-trained man. It is our conviction that he is especially equipped to continue the great tradition established by Dr. Allen and indeed to enlarge and further develop it.”
Harp expressed his sentiments to Hendel on what Allen meant to KU basketball.
“The experiences of competition and the the people you meet and the opportunities you have from that should be instrumental in your life as an athlete and not just the winning and losing of the game, he taught that in many different ways.
“In the game itself that is when his competitiveness surfaced. As long as you’re in the game, you may as well do your very best to win that. But he thought there was more to athletics other than the outcome of the game.”
Harp, who like Allen believed in a higher purpose for basketball, had the good fortune of further developing the great KU basketball tradition his first season with the arrival of Chamberlain to Mount Oread.
“I think Kansas will have a good 1956-57 basketball team,” Harp said in a glaring understatement.
It would turn out to be a magical run to the national championship game.
6 comments:
I did not know Harp was essentially a KCk guy from Rosedale. Would that have put him at Wyandotte High School early in a tradition that produced Lucius Allen, Larry Drew and Calvin Thompson while also beating Danny Manning and Lawrence High in the 1984 Kansas State High School basketball championship tournament?
No, Harp didn't go to Wyandotte. Allen, Drew and Thompson were all great players. I was there in Allen Fieldhouse when Wyandotte best LHS and my high school classmate Danny Manning for the state title. Thanks for your comment! Best, David
I saw Harp went to Rosedale High. Still KCK essentially and, for the city legally, eventually. Do you think there was a piety Harp should have let go of some and confront the bigots more that harassed KU POC players? By that late in life you are who your are - or is there room to change with the times?
Always wondered more about that LHS vs. Wyandotte game in 1984. Any good online accounts or blog posts of it?
Wyandotte had a David Johnson, Class of '83, who did fairly well at OU. Any info on him?
Picking from your blog posts and adding comments (sorry if it ever seemed too much) I saw after a while that it was a resulting good exercise in writing without as much overthought. I know the subject a little, don't check stats or other sources and worry less about each and every word or phrasing - which probably shows. I realized later that struggle in writing is a given part of writing - at least a decent amount of time.
I read about KU when the only alternative seems to be going out for one beer during winter evenings.
Appreciate the social justice focus.
Thanks for your kind comments. Truly appreciate your great feedback and what you wrote about my social justice focus. Means a great deal to me! I'm passionate about racial equality and social justice. My dad attended the March on Washington and sat next to Jackie Robinson on his plane trip from New York to D.C. I have written some on Danny Manning and the LHS' 84 team, and the state final game vs. Wyandotte. I have deadlines coming up, but will send you the link to my stories about that. Thanks again fo your support! Best, David
I wanted to ask you about your view of exactness in writing. it is not uncommon at times to strain for a good while over wording and later realize the effort may not have changed the piece too much especially if there has been a lot of effort.
Also, not uncommon is not revising and proofreading enough and sending something to print, or to an editor or reviewer, before the piece is ideal enough.
I might also say that a prolonged straining for the correct word in a given sentence can seem fully just and worth it even if the time-effort-result equation does not make sense on paper or to an outside party.
Where is the balance on effort, exactness and not taking each piece as if its subject matter relies on each and every word. But sometimes, it might especially with your subject matter and the few who may be addressing it today. Objectively and ideally, it should matter to all.
Update on issue of players who played in NYC-Philly-Boston area:
Three of the five starters for Texas Western on their 1966 Championship team came from the east. Bobby Joe Hill (who made two early, great steals off Louie Dampier in that game) being one of the three.
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