A Letter to Francis G. Welch From a Life Long Friend

Note by Genevieve Hargiss:

     Bill had always been eager to participate in honoring his friends, and a considerable part of his retirement time was devoted to this pleasure. The letter on this page was the centerfold in the football program on the day the stadium at Emporia State was christened "Welch Stadium."  In the afternoon of November 11, 1960, the stadium at Kansas State Teachers College was jammed with people. They were there for two reasons: to see a football game and to pay tribute to a man. While thumbing through their program booklet, they stopped on page eight to read these words in big, bold type : A Letter To Francis G. Welch From A Life Long Friend. The letter began

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. Upon graduation you entered the service in World War I. After the war you took a postgraduate course in agriculture at Kansas State College in Manhattan. Later you earned a master of science degree in physical education at the University of Wisconsin, but in the meantime you came back to Emporia Normal to teach vocational agriculture. You also coached the Roosevelt High School football team and it became one of the best high school teams in the State. In 1922 you were a fulltime coach and teacher in the college department of men's physical education, and by 1928 you were head of that department and Director of Athletics. In 1942 you were granted a leave of absence to serve with the Fifth Army in the Mediterranean theatre of operation. You came out of World War II a lieutenant colonel.
     You have had an illustrious career, Fran. Your football teams reigned supreme in the Central Conference for many years. Your track and field athletes became nationally known champions. You have been president of the Missouri Valley Association of the A. A. 13. and chairman of the National A. A. U. Track and Field Committee. You were selected for the Track and Field Hall of Fame by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and you were elected to the Chicago Tribune's Sports Trail Century Club for coaches whose teams have won 100 games or more. You were named field coach for the Women's 1960 Olympic Track and Field Team. You have had many other honors of this kind; these are only highlights. Most significant of all, however, is the philosophy that developed your fine department at K. S. T. C. This is a department of health, physical education, and recreation not primarily for a few outstanding athletes, but for all students. You have given your best efforts to helping them find all kinds of recreational interests and to acquire attitudes, as well as skills, which will be meaningful to them all of their lives.
     To those of us who know you, your achievements are not at all surprising. The qualities of determination, courage, and loyalty that were in the boy who put on an old blue jersey and gave his all, have been even more apparent in the man. You have doggedly fought for what you believed to be right. You have been flogged by those who tried, and failed, to use you in the grinding of their own axes. You still were not afraid of any of them. You did not hesitate to tell them so when you felt that it was necessary, and some were in high places. The result has been a tremendous contribution to the youth of Kansas and of the nation. Along the way you have amassed a wealth of friends who are loyal to you, as you have been to them.
     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