1940s-1950s

Due to World War II, the summer and winter Olympics in 1940 and 1944 were cancelled. The Games resumed in 1948, but there were no athletes or coaches associated with KU at the games. 

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KU Athletes at the 1952 Olympics

Against the backdrop of the Korean War and the broader Cold War, the 1952 summer Olympics took place in Helsinki, Finland, between July 19th and August 3rd. Israel and the Soviet Union entered the Olympics for the first time in 1952 (although Russian teams had competed in 1900, 1908, and 1912). The Helsinki games also marked the return of German and Japanese teams to Olympic competition.

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Wes Santee, 1952

David Wesley “Wes” Santee (1932-2010) was a star performer on the University of Kansas track and field team between 1950 and 1954. Simultaneously, he was one of three collegiate milers who individually sought to become the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes.  

Santee qualified for the 1,500- and 5,000-meter events at the 1952 men’s track and field Olympic trials in Los Angeles, June 27-28. He planned to run in both and go to the Olympics in the event he ran best. Santee gained a spot on the Olympic team by placing second in the 5,000-meter trial. The next day, the Amateur Athletic Union scratched Santee from the 1,500-meter run even though it was his strongest event. The AAU ruled that he couldn’t effectively compete in two events at the Olympics.  

Following the trials, the Olympic team flew to New York City for a week of training and other events before flying to Helsinki on July 7th. During a three-quarter-mile exhibition race, Santee defeated the Olympic 1,500-meter qualifiers and set a new American record. In the 5,000-meters event at the Olympics, Santee finished thirteenth in his heat of fourteen runners and failed to make the finals.  

Santee’s hopes of competing in the 1956 Olympics evaporated when the AAU permanently banned him from amateur athletics after determining that he had taken excessive expense money. During his abbreviated career, Santee set the world outdoor 1,500 meter record (1954) and the world indoor mile record (1954 and 1955). Santee never broke the four-minute mile barrier. However, his career-best 4:00.5 (1955) set the American outdoor mile record, and he ran the mile under 4:10 a total of 22 times (counting relay carries).

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Men’s Basketball Players 

Three days after winning KU’s first NCAA national championship, the Jayhawks returned to the court for Olympic tryouts. They first played Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) champion; then LaSalle College (now LaSalle University), the NIT champion; and finally the Peoria (Illinois) Caterpillar-Diesels, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) champion. 

Practice sessions for the Jayhawks began in Lawrence on June 10. The entire Olympic team gathered in Hutchinson, Kansas, in late June and played a series of exhibition games that were part of a large, multifaceted fundraising effort. The squad arrived in Helsinki on July 8. 

At the Olympics, the U.S. men’s basketball team played – and won – seven games in seven days, July 25-31. After one day of rest, the squad faced Russia for the second time and won the championship by a score of 36-25. The United States 1952 Olympic Book provides an account of the final game:  

“Let it be said for Russia that they are not slow to learn, and to take advantage of every point. They tried to outscore us in the first game and came out a bad second. They saw Brazil slow us down and almost beat us. We knew what to expect and we were right. We presented Russia with an autographed basketball prior to the game, and that presentation represented the fastest action for the next forty minutes. From the opening whistle the Russians played the most irritating, tantalizing ball control game possible…It was not until the last six minutes of the game that we finally gained a six point advantage... It was our turn now to play ball control, and the Russians did not like it” (153).