By Richard Shank
Shank’s Scoop
Several decades after graduating from Kansas State’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, it is still exhilarating to visit Manhattan, especially a few weeks in advance of the 2026 football season.
Kedzie Hall, where several generations of journalists have been educated since the department’s inception in 1910, looks much the same as when I joined a group of aspiring writers with plans to remake the world.
Actually, the department’s most famous alumnus Milton Eisenhower—Ike’s youngest brother—did just that and returned in 1943 to serve a seven-year stint as the school’s president before moving on to a similar position at Penn State University.
Speaking of football, Memorial Stadium, where I attended my first college game, remains to the south of Ahearn Field House, an imposing structure that once housed the basketball program.
Doug Weaver, K-State’s coach at the time, with insufficient funding and support, was in what would be his final season.
Still, Weaver retained his sense of humor. After being hanged in effigy in front of the school library, Weaver quipped “I’m glad it happened in front of the library. I’ve always emphasized scholarship.”
Weaver’s life after leaving Kansas State is noteworthy. Next, he traveled east to Lawrence and enrolled in the University of Kansas School of Law. When Jayhawk Coach Pepper Rodgers found out Weaver was on campus, he promptly hired him as an assistant coach. He went on to serve as athletic director for Michigan State University, his alma mater, where he was a star player in the 1950s.
Weaver will be 96 years old in October and resides in Oklahoma.
I remember Sept. 21, 1968, when K-State dedicated a new football stadium, a 33,000-seat facility that we were told was expandable to 55,000 seats. On that fall day, we could not imagine a time when the stadium would need 22,000 more seats, but we are happy to be proven wrong.
Much has changed in the past 58 years as it pertains to K-State football.
The most recent change is signing one of the school’s greatest players, Collin Klein, who was coached by one of the nation’s greatest coaches, to lead the Wildcats.
In a visit to the football complex, we stopped at the Rally House, a store on the stadium’s west side, which markets everything from purple as it pertains to Kansas State. There is something for everyone at the Rally House and it is safe to say most people find something they can’t live without. We were no exception.
Then, it was on to the Vanier Complex, a limestone structure on the stadium’s north side, which is the headquarters for K-State football. Entering, visitors can view a row of trophies won by the Wildcats on the gridiron.
The Klein era launches on Sept. 5 against Nicholls State in Manhattan and the regular season concludes Nov. 28 against Iowa State.
Coaching must be a tough job. A coach’s future is decided on how his team performs during 12 days of football games each year. Close losses are still defeats. Years ago, a K-State coach dubbed close losses as “moral victories,” but the Wildcats are far beyond that era.
On the other hand, coaches are well paid these days, so a single year in the profession can assure one’s financial security for a lifetime.
For the record, Kansas State’s legendary Coach Bill Snyder was hired following the 1988 season for an annual salary of $90,000. Coach Klein signed his first contract for close to $4 million.
In his writings, Snyder told the story of how, soon after his arrival, he wanted to paint the dressing room walls and even offered to pay the bill himself, before the powers to be approved his request. Yes, times have changed at Kansas State and everywhere else.
Coach Snyder is alive and well living in Manhattan, and on Oct. 7 he will celebrate his 87th birthday.
The Wildcats will take the field in Manhattan Oct. 17 to defend the school’s 17-game winning streak against cross-state rival Kansas University and one can assume it will be a game of interest throughout the Sunflower State.
The highways and byways will be busy this fall on roads leading into Manhattan and Lawrence. We noted what appears to be a roundabout being built surrounding the Ogden exit, where K-State fans arrive from the west before driving the final 12 miles into Manhattan. Everyone hopes it will be completed in advance of opening day.
How could a K-Stater close a column such as this one without saying “Go Cats.”
Richard Shank is a retired AT&T manager and external representative for Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. He can be reached at shankr@prodigy.net or by calling 620-664-1517.