Former KU coach Dick Harp revered by his players

KU head coach Dick Harp had just made history in 1957, even if his beloved Jayhawks fell one point short of North Carolina in the NCAA title game, 54-53, in a thrilling three overtimes. Harp was the first coach to ever reach the NCAA finals in his first year as head coach and the fourth first-year coach to earn a berth in the Final Four since the event started in 1939.

In the aftermath of the game, the Lawrence Journal World’s sports editor Earl Morey reported that one North Carolina reporter, basking in the glow of the Tar Heels winning it all, said that Harp will never earn recognition and fame because he isn’t the “flamboyant” and show-off type like UNC’s head coach Frank McGuire and Oklahoma City head man Abe Lemons.

A Chicago reporter countered that argument. He said that Harp had already “earned his place among the best” with his outstanding coaching acumen. He also spoke to Harp’s players, and they all admired him greatly.   

“The boys called him as fine a gentleman as they’d ever seen, a man they’d like to be someday,” the scribe said. “They say he’s a first-class person on or off the court and they respect as much as anyone they’ve ever known. I never saw kids who have so much faith and respect in a guy. They’re almost reverant when they talk about him. It’s amazing for a guy that young (39 this Thursday) to be so respected by a team. And other coaches are the same way toward him. He’s a head coach one year and already coaches are saying he’s earned his place among the best. You got to admit he did a terrific job while on a tremendous hot spot this year. So he loses to Carolina by a point. Kansas is as good as they are. Anybody can see that.”

A representative from America Illustrated, the U.S. magazine printed in Russian for publication in the Soviet Union, echoed those remarks when speaking to the criticism of the North Carolina writer.

“Harp made his name this season by doing a great job,” the America Illustrated reporter said. “Wilt Chamberlain is just a sophomore, but just look at how he’s improved under Harp. Guys who saw him the first of the season say there’s no comparison to what he is now, and that’s coaching, brother. Harp doesn’t have to worry about reputation or fame coming his way when he can do a job like he’s done this year. Phil Woolpert of San Fransisco isn’t a popoff guy, either, but he’s done a great job. Maybe recognition or fame will come a little slower since he didn’t play it sensationally, but it’ll come nonetheless. I’d a lot like rather get it that way than the other way.”

Harp actually never sought recognition or fame in life or coaching career; one of his big goals in coaching was to mold his players into fine men with the highest character who would graduate and succeed in their future endeavors. He obviously wanted to win, but had a higher calling and purpose. He developed not only their athletic skills, but also nurtured and mentored them mentally and spiritually. Harp’s values, morals and integrity were peerless in the coaching profession, and above all, with mankind.

Don Pierce, KU sports publicity director at the time, wrote a profile on Harp in the January 1958 issue of Sports Review. Pierce and Harp were close friends, although Harp’s assistant Jerry Waugh (1956-60), said they had an “unusual relationship.” Pierce wrote that “Harp demands three things from his players…1) A belief that the University of Kansas is the finest place on earth; 2) Confidence in and respect of his teammates; 3) The desire to want to play the game and the desire to become as good as his potential will permit.

“A boy much have all three things to be successful,” Harp says.

“…As for Harp, the man, even a stranger cannot help but be impressed with his honesty, sincerity and deep concern for each of his players," Pierce continues. "It is the last item which impresses most. Now and then, he will say…’Maybe we can’t make a real good basketball player out of that boy, but I think we can help him to be a better man.’

“He is so concerned about every facet of even the lowliest substitue’s well-being that a friend once told him, as he fretted over a detail…’Coach, why don’t you leave something for the parents, the Chancellor and the federal government to worry about.’”

Bob Billings, a sophomore on the 1956-57 team, spoke about Harp’s greatness as a man to Steve Bucker and Lyle Niedens in their 2002 book, Portraits of Excellence:: A Heritage of Athletic Achievement at the University of Kansas.

“Dick was very intense,” Billings said. “But he cared an awful lot about his players. He was extremely interested in what they did off the court as well as they they did on the court. Dick really was like a father to me. I have great respect for him.”

So did Monte Johnson, also a sophomore on the 1957 national runner-up KU team. Johnson later became KU athletic director in the 1980s.

“Harp’s character outshone that of most in the profession,” Johnson told Buckner and Niedens. “He was a quality person. In some ways, it wasn’t surprising that he left coaching to go into the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) because he might have been one of the better people who ever coached.”