Popular Former KU Coach Will Return to Lawrence
Lawrence Daily Journal, 1966

     Bill Hargiss, one of the most personally popular athletic coaches Kansas University ever has had, is due to move back to Lawrence this summer from Topeka, where he has been making his home for a number of years.
    Hargiss' daughter, Genevieve, is an associate professor of music education at Kansas University and has been commuting from the family home in Topeka. The Hargiss family's new residence will be at 2503 Missouri St. here.
     Up to the time of his retirement several years ago, Hargiss had been executive secretary of the Kansas State Athletic Commission with headquarters in Topeka.
     As a coach at Emporia State Teachers in the 1920s, Hargiss built outstanding football and track teams. He was brought to KU as head coach in 1928 and from 1928 through 1931 fashioned a 17-15-2 record in football. Then he was replaced during the 1932 season here by Ad Lindsey, now a Lawrence lumberman.
     After leaving the football job at KU, Hargiss became head track coach and held that post from 1933 through 1943 when he was replaced by Ray Kanehl. Among the outstanding track performers under Hargiss at Kansas were middle-distance star Glenn Cunningham and decathlon man Clyde Coffman, both Olympic athletes in the 1930s.
     Hargiss rates with the outstanding personalities in KU sports history and was always in demand for speaking engagements and social occasions. In 1941 during the production of the Coronado Entrada here in KU Memorial Stadium, Hargiss was chosen to play the role of the explorer Coronado. The role called for the coach to ride horseback, and just a few days before the opening performance, Hargiss was thrown from his mount and received a broken leg.
     "They were able to save the horse but they almost had to shoot me," he joked later. Some frantic last-minute preparations were necessary to "get the show on the road."