KANSAS
HUMANITIES
Volume XL • Issue No. 1
Winter 2015
Hometown Teams: Sports and Community in Kansas
A
s the Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America
initiative kicks off in Kansas, Hometown Teams Tour
Scholar Michael J. Zogry reflects on communities
and the shared experience of sports. Zogry is an associate
professor of Religious Studies and the director of the
Indigenous Studies program at the University of Kansas. He is
the author of an upcoming book about how James Naismith’s
religious beliefs influenced his invention of basketball and the
commemoration of his legacy.
Athletics, or sports, are closely linked to many communities
in Kansas, the United States and throughout the world.
While not everyone in every community may be a fan, clear
to any observer is the fact that a large number of people
focus a great deal of energy and attention upon their
favorite spectator sports. In some cases, such as during the
World Series between the Kansas City Royals and the San
Francisco Giants, fans’ allegiance can reach a fevered pitch,
and can even entail a significant financial commitment. This
passion for sports in the present also has expressed itself
in the past, and there exists a rich historical record for later
generations to study.
Hometown Teams, the 2015 Smithsonian Institution traveling
exhibition and locally-produced companion exhibits,
present selected examples of ways in which team athletics
have impacted and reflected the “lives and times” of six
Smithsonian host and nineteen Hometown Teams partner site
communities in Kansas. Although the majority are not large
municipalities who support professional or college sports
teams, these cities and towns have strong athletic traditions.
Their exhibits illustrate an exciting range of local events and
personalities.
Athletic or sporting events have in many places and times
functioned as town squares for communities of all sizes.
These events are public occasions that can draw more
people together in one place physically than any other single
annual event, save perhaps a festival or fair. In some cases,
high school gymnasiums or stadiums have been the only
structures that could hold everyone, or nearly everyone, in
town. Teams even have been
said to take on the character
of their hometowns and reflect
the values and way of life of the
residents.
Hometown teams’ games
have been and continue to be
occasions to join together; to
cheer on family members and
friends, to celebrate, to mark
time, to pause from the stresses
Michael J. Zogry
of everyday life, and even at times
to reflect. Celebration, dejection,
and commemoration—these all have been part of the
experience at one time or another, though not every time in
every place. It is in these arenas that one realizes how athletic
endeavors at times can reveal the best and the worst about
human behavior, sometimes simultaneously. In this age of
digital proliferation, considering how much time people spend
in cyberspace, the factor of giving a community of people a
reason to join together physically in one space remains as
significant as ever.
But what might be most important about Hometown Teams
is that it allows local communities to retell their own stories,
to each other and to visitors. The exhibits provide a window
to these communities. Their stories are constitutive of where
they’ve been, who they are, and what they aspire to be.
If you want to learn about local Kansas sports history in an
engaging and entertaining way, be sure to mark your calendar
for the dates the Hometown Teams Smithsonian exhibition is
closest to you, or make a road trip of it. Don’t forget to visit
the nineteen partner sites that are creating related exhibits as
well. You won’t be disappointed.
Visit www.kansashumanities.org for a full
schedule of Hometown Teams events
Let the Games Begin!
T
KHC Mission
he Kansas Humanities is pleased to present Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America,
a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition and statewide activities exploring way sports
build and unite communities. Experience Hometown Teams in a community near you through
November 2015.
Smithsonian Exhibition
The Hometown Teams Smithsonian exhibition is on display in six Kansas communities through
November 2015:
Ellinwood
Goodland
Greensburg
Atchison
Perry
Humboldt
Ellinwood School & Community Library............. January 31 – March 15
High Plains Museum.......................................... March 21 – May 3
Kiowa County Historical Museum...................... May 9 – June 21
Atchison County Historical Society.................... June 27 – August 9
Highland Community College, Perry Center...... August 15 – September 27
Humboldt City Hall............................................. October 3 – November 15
Hometown Teams Partner Sites
The 19 Hometown Teams partner sites explore more stories of sports and community through local
exhibitions and public programs. The Hometown Teams Partner Sites are: Blue Rapids Historical
Society; Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum, Chanute; Chase County Historical Society,
Cottonwood Falls; Eudora Community Museum; Glasco Community Foundation; Great Bend
Public Library; Ellis County Historical Society, Hays; Independence Historical Museum & Art Center;
Hodgeman County Economic Development, Jetmore; El Centro, Inc., Kansas City; Linn County
Library District #2, La Cygne; Fort Larned Old Guard; Watkins Community Museum of History,
Lawrence; Rice County Historical Society, Lyons; Bethel College, North Newton; Wild West Historical
Foundation, Oakley; Vernon Filley Art Museum, Pratt; Wamego Public Library; and Kansas Sports
Hall of Fame, Wichita. Note: the Smithsonian exhibition is not on display at the partner sites.
For event details, including exhibition titles, dates, and locations, visit KHC’s Calendar of Events at
www.kansashumanities.org/events-calendar.php
The Kansas Humanities Council sponsors Hometown Teams in Kansas in partnership with the
Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street, a one-of-a-kind cultural project that serves small
towns and residents of rural America. Statewide support for Hometown Teams comes from the
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation. Additional support provided by the Golden Belt
Community Foundation, Hall Commercial Printing, and the Friends of the Humanities’ Hometown
Teams Pep Club.
The Kansas Humanities
Council connects
communities with history,
traditions, and ideas to
strengthen civic life.
B oa r d o f
Directors
Tony Brown, Baldwin City
LeAnn D. Clark, Hesston
Cheryl Hofstetter Duffy, Hays
Lon Frahm, Colby
Ellen Hansen, Emporia
Brandon Hines, Burlington
Susan Lynn, Iola
Gene Merry, Burlington
Leonard Ortiz, Lawrence
Aaron Otto, Roeland Park
David Procter, Manhattan
William Ramsey, Leawood
Sam Sackett, Wichita
Linda K. Smith, Salina
Scott Smith, Ozawkie
Jan Stevens, Dodge City
Lisa Stubbs, Topeka
David Vail, Manhattan
David Waxse, Kansas City
s ta f f
Julie L. Mulvihill
Executive Director
Virginia Crai
Office Manager
Ruth Madell
Budget Director
Scharla Paryzek
Communications Assistant
Blue
Rapids
24
Goodland
Glasco
70
Oakley
283
83
Hays
Larned
Jetmore
56
54
Wamego
70
77
135
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Perry
Kansas City
Lawrence
Eudora
Murl Riedel
Director of Grants
35
35
Cottonwood
Falls
Wichita
Leslie Von Holten
Director of Programs
La Cygne
75
F o l low K H C
54
35
Smithsonian
Exhibition Host
Tracy Quillin
Associate Director
335
Lyons
Great Ellinwood
North
Bend
50
Newton
Greensburg Pratt
Atchison
Chanute
Humboldt
Independence
Partner Site
K a n s a s H u m a n i t i e s C o u n c i l • w w w. k a n s a s h u m a n i t i e s . o r g • W i n t e r 2 0 1 5
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Healthy Hometowns
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation Supports Hometown Teams
T
he Kansas Humanities Council presents the Hometown
Teams: How Sports Shape America statewide initiative in
2015 thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Blue Cross and
Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation.
Using the popular topic of sports and engaging local and
national exhibitions as a gateway, Blue Cross and Blue Shield
of Kansas Foundation’s support of Hometown Teams promotes
healthy behaviors through activities at the six Smithsonian
exhibition locations and participating partner sites, including:
•
•
•
•
Minute for Movement fitness stations in the
Smithsonian exhibition
Fitness DVDs at the Smithsonian host and Hometown
Teams partner sites
Pedometer distribution and Walking Scorecards at
Smithsonian host sites and Hometown Teams partner
sites
Walking initiatives in Smithsonian host and Hometown
Teams partner communities. KHC is tracking the
number of steps walked with the hopes of “walking”
the Hometown Teams exhibition back to Washington,
D.C.
“By bringing ‘Hometown Teams’ to our state, the Kansas
Humanities Council is providing Kansans with a wonderful
opportunity to both experience a quality Smithsonian exhibit
while considering how they might improve their own health,
along with that of the community in which they live, by
increasing their physical activity,” said Marlou Wegener, chief
operating officer of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation.
“The Foundation is proud
to fund this wonderful
initiative and commends
the Kansas Humanities
Council for its vision to
bring ‘Hometown Teams’
to Kansas.”
Julie Mulvihill, executive
director of the Kansas
Humanities Council, said
the “Hometown Teams”
initiative offers something
for Kansans of all ages.
“The Kansas Humanities
Council is delighted to
partner with the host
and partner sites for
the ‘Hometown Teams’
“Minute for Movement” panels
project,” Mulvihill said. are featured through the
“We are grateful to the Blue
Smithsonian exhibition.
Cross and Blue Shield of
Kansas Foundation for
supporting exhibition enhancements and activities to promote
healthy behaviors to community members of all ages.”
For more information about Hometown Teams: How Sports
Shape America, visit www.kansashumanities.org.
Healthy Selfies
I
#healthyselfie
t’s widely known that April 1st is April Fool’s Day, but did you know that it’s also
the National Day of Walking? It’s no joke that walking for even 30 minutes a day
yields significant health benefits for men and women. Join KHC on April 1st by
participating in the National Day of Walking and taking a Healthy Selfie of yourself
on your walk, your walking shoes, the view from your walk, your walking buddy,
your pedometer, etc., to post on Instagram. It’s easy:
1. Follow KHC on Instagram at @kshumanities
2. Snap a Healthy Selfie and post it to Instagram. Be sure to include
#healthyselfie, #hometownteamsks, and @kshumanities in the caption.
3. KHC will share your Healthy Selfie on our Instagram feed:
www.instagram.com/kshumanities
4. Don’t have an Instagram account? No problem. Email your photo to
tracy@kansashumanities.org and KHC will post it for you.
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h u m a n i t i e s
If You Book Them, They Will Come
I
n 27 years as a KHC
Speakers Bureau
presenter, one of Fred
Krebs’ most popular
topics was “Root, Root,
Root for the Home Team,”
a presentation about town
team baseball. Wearing
Fred Krebs
a vintage baseball jersey
and ball cap, Fred spoke about the value of community
sports and how important they were to teaching teamwork
and fairplay. The presentation was retired upon Fred’s
passing in December 2012, but Fred’s belief in the power
of sports to build and unite communities lives on in the
Hometown Teams Speakers Bureau.
The Hometown Teams Speakers Bureau catalog features
an all-star lineup of humanities presentations and
discussions about sports. Topics include sports mascots,
the Kansas City Monarchs, Title IX, sports heroes in
American writing, sporting venues, and many more. Visit
www.kansashumanities.org to view the catalog and find
instructions on how to bring a Hometown Teams speaker
to your community. Contact Leslie Von Holten, director of
programs, with questions at leslie@kansashumanities.org
or (785) 357-0359.
Hometown Teams Speakers Bureau events are supported
by generous gifts from the Johnson County Community
College Foundation and the Rotary Club of Shawnee Mission
to honor the memory of Fred Krebs who taught at Johnson
County Community
College, was an active
member of Rotary, and a
lifelong advocate of the
humanities.
Ellinwood Cheers for Hometown Teams
O
ver 30 guided tours. Countless memories. Those
are just a few of the stats recorded by the Ellinwood
School and Community Library, kickoff hosts of the
Hometown Teams Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition.
Visitors of all ages came to the south central Kansas library
to see the national exhibition in person and reflect upon
the ways that sports participation and traditions bring
communities together.
Photo courtesy of Ellinwood School & Community Library
The local exhibitions about Ellinwood’s sports history
resonated with visitors. The highlights, according to
Hometown Teams project director Sharon Sturgis, included
an event honoring Ellinwood’s “Heroes on the Sidelines” for
their contributions and support of their hometown teams.
“Some individuals were recognized as ‘Superfans’ and
thanked for faithfully attending all sporting events, rain or
shine,” said Sturgis. “Groups of individuals were also saluted
for their efforts, such as the maintenance crews that prepare
and clean up the fields and gyms for all events, and the
ambulance crews that stand by at every ball game, prepared
to step in to help with injuries and illness. The event was
joyful, and moving at times as the community offered some
very overdue appreciation to many heroes.”
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K a n s a s H u m a n i t i e s C o u n c i l • w w w. k a n s a s h u m a n i t i e s . o r g • W i n t e r 2 0 1 5
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Following in Their Footsteps: Sports Rituals in Goodland
he rituals that surround athletics are almost as much a
part of sports as the games themselves.
It’s not just the athletes who take part in these rituals,
either. For many fans, it’s the rituals that go along with sports
that really define the experience of loving a team.
Goodland, Kansas, a town of about 4,500 people in the
northwest corner of the state, is no different.
Goodland loves its sports: the high school Cowboys
and Cowgirls compete in football, basketball, baseball,
softball, volleyball, wrestling, golf, cross country, track and
cheerleading. And the school and town are invested in
supporting their student athletes, creating and taking part in
rituals old and new.
“Ritual” can seem like a heavy word, but really, it’s just a way of
talking about actions that help create a sense of identity.
“Sports are a vital part of our community that bind people
together,” said Sami Philbrick, Goodland’s High Plains Museum
Hometown Teams project director. “Rituals are such a part of
our sports lives in Goodland that, when [you] think of sports…
you cannot not think about our rituals.”
Goodland’s sports rituals run the gamut from light-hearted to
serious, commonplace to unique. Some, like singing the school
song at games and burning the rival school’s mascot before
Homecoming, take place at schools across the country. Others
are more Goodland-specific.
The “Jumping Juniors” are just one example of a fun Goodland
ritual that helps create bonds among classmates. Every year,
girls in the junior class perform a choreographed dance at
Homecoming while wearing decorated pillowcases, knee
socks, sneakers and a borrowed letterman’s jacket tied around
their waists.
Some Goodland rituals affect the community in particular
meaningful ways. For several years, the Homecoming
Queen received a scholarship in memory of a former GHS
Homecoming Queen, Tanya Armstrong, who died of breast
cancer. These kinds of rituals are a way of showing community
values, Philbrick said, like supporting one another in good
times and bad.
Sports rituals are “a way of tying the past to the present and
show[ing] the aspects Goodland people think of as ‘ours’ will
remain,” Philbrick added.
Both the Hometown Teams traveling Smithsonian exhibition
and The Goal of Sports: How Goodland Comes Together
exhibition will be on display at the High Plains Museum
from March 21 to May 3. For more information, visit
www.highplainsmuseum.org or contact (785) 890-4595.
F
or more local stories of Hometown Teams,
read weekly posts on KHC’s Blog now through
November: www.kansashumanities.org/blog.
Hometown Teams trading cards are also available
at host and partner sites. Collect all 54! Be sure to
follow KHC on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to
keep up-to-date with Hometown Teams.
Photo Courtesy High Plains Museum.
The Goodland High School pep club’s uniforms have changed since this photo was taken in 1961, but their traditions live on in today’s fan rituals.
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h u m a n i t i e s
partner
sites
•
•
Partner Sites
kans as
Photo courtesy of Ellis Co. Historical Society
Hunting and Sport, Larned
U.S. Army officers stationed at Fort Larned in the 1860s saw
herds of buffalo stampeding across the plains and took up
hunting for recreation, often placing bets on who could kill the
most buffalo in a single day. This sketch, “Buffalo Hunting on the
Plains by Officers of the United States Army,” appeared in an
1867 Harper’s Weekly and shows the kind of hunting that took
place at Fort Larned. The Evolution of Hunting from Survival to
Marketing to Sport at Fort Larned exhibition will be on display
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h u m a n i t i e s
Photo courtesy of Fort Larned Old Guard
What’s In a (Team) Name, Lyons
Mexican-American fast-pitch softball flourished in the housing
communities that rose up around the local salt plants in Lyons.
In the 1950s, when longtime Lyons citizen Al Morales and some
other local men decided to form a team to play against fast-pitch
teams from other Kansas towns, they named themselves the
“B&W” – or the Brown and Whites – after their part-Mexican,
part-Anglo membership. The Rice County Hometown Teams
exhibition is on display at the Coronado Quivira Museum
in Lyons through July 31. For more information, visit www.
cqmuseum.org or call (620) 257-3941.
Photo courtesy of Rice Co. Historical Society
Polo on the Plains, Hays
The history of polo in Ellis County stretches all the way back
to the 1870s, when upper-class British landowners settled in
the area to become gentlemen farmers. The sport enjoyed
a renaissance in the 1920s, when wealthy businessmen and
ranchers interested in polo’s history in the area created the Fort
Hays Polo Club, where members played until the 1950s. Polo on
the Plains will be on display at the Ellis County Historical Society
Museum from March 21 to May 31. For more information, visit
www.elliscountyhistoricalmuseum.org or call (785) 628-2624.
Photo courtesy of Glasco Community Foundation
Team Spirit, Glasco
Anyone who grew up or had young
children in Glasco in the 1970s
would recognize Ross Kelly from
the many summer baseball teams
he coached to victory. But his
commitment to the spirit of athletic
competition didn’t end back then;
he still golfs, participates in the
Senior Olympics, and hosts an
annual summer “Kelly Camp” (a
week of games and activities) for his grandchildren. A Triple
Threat on the Diamond, Field, and Court is on exhibit March
21 to May 3 at the Glasco Community Foundation. For more
information visit www.glascokansas.org or call (785) 568-0120.
A Crop of Competitors, Oakley
Competitive cornhusking
has a long history in Kansas,
stretching back to the sport’s
heyday in the 1920s and ‘30s
when tens of thousands of
spectators flocked to contests
to watch cornhuskers in
action. Oakley led the charge
to revive the sport in the early 1970s, hosting the first year of
the now-annual Kansas State Corn Husking Contest, and still
sends competitors to the National Corn Husking Association
Championships. The Wild West Historical Foundation’s
Cornhusking: Harvesting the Spirit of Athletic Competition
exhibition is on display March 27 to May 3 at the Buffalo Bill
Cultural Center in Oakley. For more information, visit www.
buffalobilloakley.org or call (785) 671-1000.
K a n s a s H u m a n i t i e s C o u n c i l • w w w. k a n s a s h u m a n i t i e s . o r g • W i n t e r 2 0 1 5
Photo courtesy of Wild West Historical Foundation
H
March 31 to November 1 at the
Fort Larned National Historic Site. For more
information, visit www.nps.gov/fols/ or call (620) 285-6911.
ometown Teams partner
sites expand conversations about sports
and community through exhibitions highlighting Kansas’
hometown sports stories. Here are a few highlights:
Hometown Teams Made Me A Sports Fan
B
y any measure, Meredith Wiggins, KHC’s 2014 Hall
Center for the Humanities intern from the University of
Kansas, had an impressive summer. She wrote over 40
blog posts and created 54 trading cards. A native of Birmingham,
Alabama, and a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature at the
University of Kansas, Meredith quickly became an expert on
Kansas sports topics. Meredith shares how the Hometown
Teams project changed her view of sports.
When I interviewed for the Kansas Humanities Council’s summer
internship position, Executive Director Julie Mulvihill and
Associate Director Tracy Quillin informed me that the bulk of the
internship would be spent focusing on the Hometown Teams
project. This meant that I’d be spending my summer neck-deep
in Kansas sports history. Was I okay with that, they asked?
trading card initiative to share even more stories of local
community history through the lens of sports. Each host and
partner site was invited to submit up to three local sports heroes,
artifacts, or landmarks to feature on the trading cards.
“No problem!” I told them. “I’m a big sports fan!”
Full disclosure: This was a lie.
I wasn’t really a sports fan. I loved hockey, sure, but I was mostly
ambivalent to other sports. But I’ve always found that the more
you learn about a subject, the more interesting it becomes—and
my experience with KHC has borne that principle out.
My biggest internship duty was to write feature stories that
will be posted on the KHC blog about each of the host and
partner sites participating in the Hometown Teams exhibition.
KHC also asked me to identify and write about other Kansas
sports stories, ones that could help offer a fuller picture of how
sports have shaped the state and its people. Through weeks of
research and interviews, I put together 45 weeks’ worth of posts
about the richness and diversity of Kansas sports.
KHC also allowed me to help develop the Hometown Teams
K
And through all that research, I began to realize that I really
was a sports fan, plural—so much so that I, who read a book
throughout all nine innings of the only Major League Baseball
game I ever attended (sorry, Royals fans), found myself
enthusiastically spreading stories about the baseball history of
southeastern Kansas to my family back in Alabama.
Before my internship at KHC, baseball had been my least
favorite sport.
I believe that the humanities, at their core, are about the stories
we tell to make sense of our world. The value and interest in
those stories aren’t always immediately apparent, but with a little
digging, those qualities can be brought to light in a meaningful,
engaging way.
That’s what KHC does every day. I’m honored to have had the
chance to be a part of it.
Welcome Scharla and Kathryn
HC staff is pleased to
welcome a new part-time
staff member and a new
intern to our team. Scharla Paryzek
is KHC’s new communications
assistant. Scharla is a familiar face
having served as KHC’s Hall Center
for the Humanities intern in 2013
when she was a graduate student
and graduate teaching assistant at
Scharla Paryzek
the University of Kansas. She holds a
BA in History and Literature from the University of the Ozarks
and a MA in History and a graduate certificate in Women’s,
Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Kansas. A
native of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, Scharla lives in Lawrence with
her fiancé, Michael, and their dog, Sadie.
Kathryn Clark joined the Kansas
Humanities Council as an intern in
January 2015. Kathryn hails from
Shawnee, Kansas, and she is currently
a senior at Washburn University
in Topeka where she is pursuing a
bachelor’s degree in Mass Media-Public
Relations. To fulfill her Leadership minor,
she was introduced to the opportunity
of interning at KHC. After graduation,
Kathryn Clark
she is planning on going into non-profit
public relations. Kathyrn says she has thoroughly enjoyed
getting to know both the staff of KHC and all the projects KHC
has a hand in across the state. She is now a firm believer in the
importance of public humanities.
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h u m a n i t i e s
112 SW 6th Ave., Suite 210
Topeka KS 66603-3895
(785) 357-0359
(785) 357-1723 fax
info@kansashumanities.org
www.kansashumanities.org
Call for KHC Board Members
K
D eadline : A pril 1
PAID
Kansas City MO
Permit No. 523
of KHC in Kansas communities, consider a nomination to the
KHC Board of Directors.”
KHC is governed by a 22-member volunteer Board of
Directors. Nominations must be submitted in writing. Members
serve for a three-year term, with the possibility of renewal
for a second term. Individuals may nominate themselves or
others for board service. For more information, visit www.
kansashumanities.org or contact Julie Mulvihill, executive
director, at (785) 357-0359 or julie@kansashumanities.org.
Credit: Photo by Tom Parker
HC is currently seeking nominations of Kansans to fill
vacancies on its Board of Directors. “Kansas Humanities
Council board members are cultural leaders who value
the humanities – literature, history, philosophy – and their
ability to strengthen civic life,” said David Vail, chair of the
Membership committee. “If you are passionate about the
humanities and would like to promote and support the work
Nonprofit Org.
U.S. Postage
KHC Board Members Cheryl Hofstetter Duffy, Hays, and Tony Brown, Baldwin City.