By an accidental consequence from how the population was distributed there were no blacks at West Hi in the early years after it opened, and those of us there probably were less aware of racial issues than those elsewhere, but I believe it was '55 when the track teams pooled up to rent a bus for North and West teams to get to a meet. (I think it was in Emporia?)

On the way back to Wichita one of the North Hi sprinters (a hurdler whose name might have been McClintoch or something like that?) was complaining about pulling a muscle and said something about being cold, so I tossed him a blanket I had along.

He folded it up and handed it back when we got to Wichita, but as we were getting off the bus some smart-ass (I think he was one of the North Hi guys?) said something like "Ya better burn that."

It sort of puzzled me so I checked it out pretty carefully and informed him "Doesn't look to me like he crapped in it. It'll be okay."

It took me a couple of days to figure out he thought I should toss the blanket because it had been used by a black person.

I guess I just wasn't very aware of what was going on around town ... although I started to catch on a little better in the next couple of years. There were some pretty significant "events" there around that time.

John