Members of Kansas University’s 1975 Sun Bowl team — the most prolific rushing team in Jayhawk football history — will hold a reunion this weekend in conjunction with K-Club Weekend.
Lawrence’s Mike Wellman, the starting center on that squad and the reunion organizer, said he expected about 55 former coaches, players and managers to attend.
“A lot of these guys haven’t been back since they played here,” Wellman said.
Head coach Bud Moore will be on hand, along with former aides Don Blackwelder, John Levra and Jack White.
Moore fashioned a wishbone attack around quarterback Nolan Cromwell and running back Laverne Smith that ran for 3,488 yards, including 556 in the regular-season finale against Missouri. Both are school rushing records.
Smith, who lives in Wichita, will be here, but Cromwell couldn’t make it. He’s the wide receivers coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
Also expected this weekend are the three team captains — cornerback Steve Taylor, center John Morgan and linebacker Rick Kovatch. Among the players who plan to attend are Mike Butler, Terry Beeson, Tom Dinkel, Kurt Knoff, Eddie Lewis, Lindsey Mason, Franklin King and Jim Zidd.
The 1975 Jayhawks, who finished with a 7-5 record after bowing to Pittsburgh in El Paso, Texas, will be recognized at halftime of Saturday’s Kansas-Texas Tech game.
