Bob Timmons served 23 years as Kansas University’s track coach. During his tenure, he had mixed emotions about the Kansas Relays.
“I loved the competition. I didn’t like what it did to me for almost two months ahead of it,” said Timmons, who coached at KU from 1966 to ’88.
“We spent an awful lot of time fighting for our lives to save the meet. I was frustrated because at one time it had been among the best. I could see it going downhill.”
Yet given a chance to help kill the meet, he resisted in 1978.
Because of construction at Kansas’ Memorial Stadium, Timmons organized a shift to sites in Norman, Okla., Emporia, Haskell and Shawnee Mission Northwest.
The Relays tradition continues this week. Relays No. 70 will be held on Friday and Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
While the Relays remains a massive undertaking, it’s not as star-studded as it used to be.
“There are two great meets now, Penn and Drake, and both are on the same weekend,” Timmons said. “For years, the Triple Crown (Texas, Kansas, Drake) was very popular. Athletes would attend all three meets. Because of academic requirements and financial considerations, teams started skipping the middle meet and that was the Kansas Relays.
“We did all kinds of things to salvage the meet. We added team scoring one year. We brought in superstars and open athletes. We did a little bit of everything.”
Now that he is retired — actually, he’s coaching junior high track this spring in Baldwin — Timmons says he doesn’t worry about it any more. He attends the Relays as a spectator, enjoys the competition and longs for good weather.
“I feel for the officials and meet management people if they have rain,” Timmons said. “I know what that is like. The first 20 years, it rained on us. I don’t mean on Saturday every time, but it did rain sometime in the four days for 20 straight years. Sometimes it would be terrible Friday and gorgeous Saturday, but it always rained.”
For years, KU had a dirt track, which made rain a major problem.
“We’d bring in tractors and throw gas out there and burn it,” Timmons said. “One time it was 11 o’clock on a Saturday morning. We had recruits in from California.
“It had rained, they looked at the track and said, ‘Are you gonna have a meet here today?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ That afternoon, a record was set in the 100 meters. Yes, it had dried out.”
