Spirit looms large at KU pep rally

By Mark Fagan     Mar 17, 2007

Mark Fagan
Steve Peyton, Cory Kelly and Ray Wittlinger at the base of the 100-story John Hancock Center

? Kansas University is conducting its pep rallies outdoors, in the shadows of the 100-story John Hancock Center.

The setting couldn’t be more appropriate, to hear Cory Kelly and his fellow KU students tell it.

“It reminds me of the dominance of Sasha Kaun,” Kelly said.

“And the length of Julian Wright,” added Ray Wittlinger.

How about the towering presence of KU coach Bill Self? Steve Peyton considered it, then backed away; earlier in the day he’d already decided that a 110-ton stainless steel jelly bean sculpture in Millennium Park would give his Jayhawks “better ups” during Friday night’s game and the rest of the NCAA Tournament.

Friday’s pep rally complete, the three friends looked at one another and decided to drop the analysis and get down to business. Time to hit a bar.

“The Jayhawks and St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago,” Kelly said, “just isn’t all that bad.”

¢ KU-UK: Brooke Yoder earned her law degree at KU, after picking up a bachelor’s degree at UK.

She came to Friday night’s games at the United Center fully equipped: blue “Kansas” T-shirt for game one, then blue “Kentucky” T-shirt for game two.

While her parents aren’t all that happy about it, Yoder informed her that she would be pulling for KU no matter what matchup materialized in Sunday’s Round of 32.

“I really feel loyal to this team,” Yoder said. “We’ve been watching them all season. I’ve watched them grow, and I have a lot of respect for Bill Self and what he’s done.”

Yoder also knows the score. She was in school at UK in ’96, when her boys won the national title at the Meadowlands.

“I really feel this is KU’s year,” she said, of her hopes for KU’s third NCAA title. “Kentucky’s already got seven national championships. KU needs another banner.”

¢ Party time: Each November, the Thursday before the basketball season starts, Mary Keith Burns and her husband, Arliss, invite nearly 100 of their closest friends over for a little party at the Doubletree Hotel in Overland Park.

They come from all over the place – California, South Carolina, Texas and seemingly everywhere in between – to share in the spirit and camaraderie that come with being charter citizens of Jayhawk Nation.

Then they bid their five-month farewells.

“Nothing interferes with us traveling with the Jayhawks,” Mary Keith Burns said, hunkered down at the KU team hotel. “I tell all my friends not to bother us from November to the first part of April. Just don’t bother us. We’ve got other things on our minds.

“There are things more important than friends.”

Until November, anyway, when the Burns hope to be sending out invitations for a celebration more spectacular than most: one fit for honoring a national championship.

¢ Nice cuts: Hairstylist Teresa Wolff wins every time her beloved Jayhawks appear on television, and especially during this, the ultravisible NCAA Tournament.

That’s because she cuts the hair of five people who get plenty of face time: team managers Mitch Runco, Taylor High, Molly Bachand, Justin Pins and, of course, Matt Wolff.

That’s her husband.

“It’s nice to know ’em all,” Teresa Wolff said, “and I like to see them on TV.”

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