Woodling: Just one capital to go

By Chuck Woodling     Jan 9, 2007

And then there was just one more state capital.

When I saw this year’s Kansas University men’s basketball schedule a few months ago, I asked Journal-World sports editor Tom Keegan if he would allow me to sub for him at the South Carolina game.

When I told him why, he readily agreed.

Columbia, home of the Gamecocks, is also the South Carolina state capital and one of only two of the 50 U.S. capitals I never had visited.

Some people collect coins. Others collect stamps. Some people do baseball cards or jiggers or magnets, or you name it.

Everybody collects something, and over the years I’ve been compiling visits to state capitals. All of this started more than three decades ago when the KU football team played a game in Tallahassee, home of Florida State U. and also the Sunshine State’s capital.

About that time, I began to wonder how many Capitol buildings I had seen. I had been to Topeka, of course, and to Jefferson City when I went to college in Missouri. Also, I had lived and worked in Lincoln, Neb., before I came to Lawrence in the late ’60s.

Then when I started journeying to Big Eight sites while covering the Jayhawks, I passed through Des Moines, Denver and Oklahoma City many, many times. When the Big Eight expanded into the Big 12 by adding four Texas schools, I added Austin to the list.

In the meantime, I visited several other state capitals that also contain major universities while following KU football and men’s basketball.

There was Madison for a Wisconsin football game in 1975 (and an NCAA basketball regional in 2002), Nashville for a Vanderbilt football game in 1984, Honolulu for basketball in 1986, Lansing for a Michigan State football game in 1993, Raleigh for a North Carolina State basketball game in 1994, Salt Lake City for a Utah football game in 1996 and Columbus for an Ohio State basketball game in 2000.

There were other times when I would pass through a state capital on the way to a game – like when I stopped in Montgomery on the way to an Auburn football game in 1987, Salem for an Oregon State football game in 1992, Richmond for a football game with Virginia in 1991 and Cheyenne for a Wyoming football game in 2003.

I’ve been in Indianapolis (1991) and Atlanta (2002) for NCAA Final Fours and in Phoenix for an NCAA regional in suburban Tempe (1990).

Sometimes I made short side trips, like to Carson City while the basketball team was playing at Nevada in 2003.

Also in ’03 when the Jayhawks reached the Final Four in New Orleans, all the flights into the Big Easy were booked, and we flew to Jackson, Miss., instead. While in New Orleans, I also made the short journey over to Baton Rouge.

Bottom line, I have seen 24 Capitol buildings while on business trips. And I have been to another two dozen state capitals while vacationing – last year, for instance, I added Trenton, Olympia and Juneau.

That’s 49 state capitals – if you include Topeka – with one more to go.

Do you suppose there’s any chance Kansas would schedule a football game at Boise State? If so, I’m eager to go to Idaho.

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