Letter to Fran Welch re. 1914 football team and KSTC stadium dedication (November 1960)

My Dear Fran:

     It is with pleasure that I am looking forward, to the christening, in your, honor, of the stadium at K. S. T. C. This event will be a proper and fitting recognition of you who have served this institution as athletic coach and teacher for a period of time longer than the combined years of all the coaches preceding you. With this realization comes a flood of feelings of my own.
     I am remembering the Kansas State Normal School in September of the year 1914. The football squad was the largest in number and in size that had ever reported for practice. There was not enough equipment for all of the members, and certainly there was no uniform for one youngster who, although a burly sort of fellow, weighed only 135 pounds and was short in stature. The equipment man finally outfitted him with an old blue jersey that had been thrown away and a pair of pants, much too large, that came to his shoe tops. The coach knew nothing about him; in fact, he had not even heard of him.
     After two or more weeks of fundamentals came the first day of scrimmage. The assistant coaches were Henry Belding and Charles Phipps, both from the University of Illinois. Phipps was in charge of what was called the "scrub squad." There was no grass on the field and it was very hard from a recent rain. The boy in the blue jersey begged to get into the scrimmage. Without headgear, without pads, in long pants and a blue jersey with a long tail, he was in every play on defense. He tackled 190-pound halfbacks and 200-pound fullbacks to the extent that the only blue jersey on the field was conspicuous in defense control. At the conclusion of the scrimmage, the squad was ordered to run several laps around the track. The long pants and blue jersey were out in front all the way. A townsman by the name of Fred Priest, a great patron of Normal football who never missed a practice or a game, came over to the head coach and said, "Did you see that little runt in the blue jersey? Where the did he come from?" A hurried consultation with Phipps revealed that the boy was from Hartford, Kansas. He had just been graduated from Hartford High School and his name was Welch. As the squad came around the track, the head coach called the little player over. He came running up, his nose skinned, his hands bleeding, his hair a mass of muddy perspiration. The coach, chagrined and ashamed, could say only, "I wish you were 15 or 20 pounds heavier." The boy's plea came between gasps for breath: "Coach, I can get them. I'm not afraid of them." The next day a trip was made to the sporting goods department of the Haynes Hardware store where shoulder pads, headgear, shoes, and all the rest of the paraphernalia was purchased especially for Fran Welch.
     That is the end of the tale of the blue jersey, but only the beginning of the story of the man that is you, Fran. You not only made the playing squad, but you became our regular quarterback on the championship teams of 1914, 1915, 1916, and 1917.
     A great state school is honored in honoring you. Her fine athletic structure will henceforth bear the name of a great athlete, a great coach, a great teacher, a great friend.

Sincerely,
H. W. (Bill) Hargiss