Basileos Basilion
William Lindsay White
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Editors Note: Occasionally the Gazette runs editorials from our archive. These are just for entertainment and to remind people of what life was like.
As population goes we are a small state, so it is not too often that a Kansan pokes his nose far above the national horizon. There will come an Eisenhower, of course, but after that, often a considerable wait.
Well the wait is over, for last week in Chicago John E. King was named president-elect of the National Association of Colleges for Teacher Education — the top honor in his professional field. No Kansan has ever been president of the American Bar or of the American Medical Association. Somewhere there is an Association of University Presidents, but no Chancellor of K.U. — at least within living memory — was ever picked as its head.
But Emporia has done it: one of our boys made it, a signal honor and richly deserved.
William Lindsay White
Feb. 16,1965
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
One of John King's great contributions to the college and the town was accessibilty for the physically disabled. Emporia State Teachers College as it was called in those days was one of the first colleges in the nation to promote accessibilty to handicaped students. Dr.King gave a talk at Olpe High School where the valedictorian was a polio victim. After Mr. King's speech to the kids, the parents said, "What about our child which was turned down at K.U. and K-State. This started the ball rolling and soon football players were carrying wheelchairs up and down stairs and soon an elevator was installed and this was a time of great expansion of buildings. I was in college at the time and 16 hours of credit cost 75 dollars. Dr. King knew how to cut through all the red tape and shift things around to make things work which probably wouldn't be politically correct today. The disability access attracted articles in the New York Times and an appointment by President John F. Kennedy to the first President's Commission to the Employment of the Handicaped. Where ever Dr.King went, his footprint was forever remembered and he changed the lives of "Forgotten Americans." His Godly goal was to aid and comfort the underdog. The enrollment went from 800 to nearly 7000 actual students on campus. He was a great Humanitarian. And as Paul Harvey would say-And now you know the rest of the story and this is K.B. Thomas Jr. round'n third and head'n home.
January 27, 2010 at 12:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
msw2003 (anonymous) says...
Good post dad!
January 27, 2010 at 8:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )