RIP Bill Arnold

Bill Arnold, who won the National Debate Tournament for University of Kansas in 1954, died November 17, 2016. Interested readers can find his entire obituary here and here.

In addition to being a KU debate alum, Bill was also a long-time faculty member in the Sociology Department. When I was an undergraduate, I had at least one class that he taught and recall our having a friendly conversation in his office about debate. I was going to miss an exam because of tournament travel and he was quite understanding -- making only vague reference to his debate career. I did not know that he was an NDT champ until some time later.

Over the years, I talked to Bill at various Kansas debate reunions in Lawrence. I believe the most recent was in 2013, when at least one member of four out of five KU NDT championship teams posed with Dr. Parson for this photo:

Left-to-right, that's Bill Arnold (1954 champ), Robert C. (Robin) Rowland (1976), me (1983), Dr. Parson (the "Head Jayhawk"), Brett Bricker (2009), and Mark Gidley (1983).

No one from the 1970 team was in attendance. 

Parson coached the 1970, 1976, and 1983 championship teams. Current director of the program Scott Harris coached the 2009 team. Scott started college a year or two before I did, but we were contemporaries on the national debate circuit and debated against each other on a number of occasions when he was an undergraduate at Wayne State University. Kim Giffin coached the 1970 team. He was a professor at KU during my undergraduate years at Kansas though I did not take any of his courses. 

Looking Back

Parson Roast                       
Lawrence, KS

October 20, 2007

Remarks by Rodger A. Payne

When I describe my time at KU, I have occasionally told outsiders that "I am a made man in the Kansas debate mafia." Most of you are too, or you wouldn't be in this room tonight.

Don't worry, I'm not really going to compare Dr. Parson to that Joe Pesci character in "Goodfellas." No, he has behaved more like the Godfather. And I mean that in a good way, though it might not always sound like it.

Everyone here knows what they call the head of a mafia family, right?

Donn.

Consider the parallels between debate and the mafia before I get to my punch line:

There was almost no separation between our private life and our debate life.

We were together during late afternoon or evenings when other students were relaxing.

We traveled together on weekends.

We spent our holidays together on trips politely called the "east coast swing" or the "west coast swing." Obviously, we had a full time job. After finally leaving KU, I calculated that I spent maybe 50 or 60 hours per week working on debate.

We even spent summers working for the family – roughly at a nickel an hour, as Zac Grant once calculated.

Why did we do it?

It certainly wasn't for money or sex. We were mostly poor and the team was predominantly male. Across America, I represented KU in nearly 500 debates.

Only about a dozen involved a woman colleague. "Fifi" is not here tonight…

Again, why did we do it? Did they make us do it?

Though this family wasn't especially violent, keep in mind that the mafia generally succeeds by using intimidation. I still remember little Kevin Wilson explaining the thrill it gave him to write "Kansas" on the chalkboard before a round.

After a few years, we used to call this "rep." Who built that fear? Donn Parson.

I remember that Gidley used to quote from that Bill Murray movie "Stripes" when teaching high school kids in the camps:

WINGER: Fair??!! Who cares about fair??!! The world isn't fair! ... Is it fair that you were born like this?! No! They're not expecting somebody like you in there. ... You're different! You're weird! You're a mutant! You're a killer! You're a trained killer!

I never killed anybody, at least not physically, but I was forced to break Mark's ribs during our senior year. He might deny it, but Rhaesa can confirm it.

Anyway, back to my point -- the organization was obviously a hierarchical pyramid and we know who was on top:

Debaters were the regular foot soldiers of the organization. We ate bologna. Most of us didn't survive. My freshman year, there were nearly 25 first-year/novices on the team. At the time, I kind of wondered why there were so few seniors on the team. By the end of my days, only a handful of us were still around.

The grad students were captains. On tournaments, they called the shots – and controlled the cash (which they called "the budget"). They even decided where we slept and when we got up in the morning.

During my first three years in Lawrence, it was pretty clear Rowland considered himself the consigliore. Personally, I think it was Keeshan. Explain this: after spending practically his entire life living in Lawrence, Rowland was suddenly sent off to Texas before my senior year.I figured it went down this way for Parson: Why share the glory?

Or maybe Parson thought Rowland was too flashy, kind of like Christopher on the Sopranos. He's "family," but could not be trusted with the future of the organization.

The man at the top of this pyramid is the man we're honoring tonight:

The Donn's office was the mysterious (and somewhat frightening) epicenter of – well, let's just call it "the family." Who didn't quake when called to a meeting in that office? Who didn't live in fear of appearing on the shit list he used to post on his door?

Like Tony Soprano, Parson had all the perks of the American dream – a nice house, cars, kids, a wonderful wife. Did the foot soldiers or captains have these things? Of course not.

I don't want to make it sound like the life we led was all bad. We were often distracted by booze, and even more frequently comforted by lots of easy victories over other teams – especially others from the neighborhood (which we used to call district 3 for some reason).

In my case, the rewards were even bigger.

So, I raise my glass and offer a toast to Donn Parson, for I am truly grateful to be a lifelong "made man in the KU debate mafia." Coach, may you live a long, healthy and prosperous life and experience all its pleasures – family, friends, community and peace.

Rock chalk Jayhawk.

Gregg Walker, Mediators Beyond Borders

Mediators Beyond Borders on mediation to help address climate change:




And at a conference


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Video: Tuna talks about Debate to Teach Public Speaking

Thriller in Manila 2. Tuna Snider visits the Philippines:

 




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Ed's 1st degree black belt test

Ed was one of my coaches:

Video: Robin

In this video, Robin Rowland discusses his 2010 book, Reagan at Westminster: Foreshadowing the End of the Cold War (Texas A&M Press).


Here's a 1 minute sample of Rowland making fun of George Will:

 

Video: Kansas Debate at Wake Forest (2010)

Kansas alum Jason Badgett made this film, which clocks in at just under 11 minutes:

 

Most of the film focuses on the performance of a Kansas team, Sean Kennedy and Dylan Quigley, at the 2010 Wake Forest tournament. It includes some footage from rounds as well as interviews. Coach Scott Harris appears too.

RIP: Dr. Wil Linkugel

Wil Linkugel's obituary from the Lawrence Journal-World, May 11, 2012:

Memorial services for Wilmer Albert Linkugel, 83, Lawrence, KS, will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lawrence, KS. Burial will follow at Pioneer Cemetery. He died on Thursday, May 10, 2012 at his home. Wilmer was born on January 12, 1929 in Bremen, KS the son of Otto and Louise (Knabe) Linkugel. He attended Bethlehem Lutheran Church school thru eighth grade, graduated from Marysville High School in 1947, received his B.A. in 1953 and M.A. in 1954 from the University of Nebraska and his Ph.D. in 1960 from the University of Wisconsin. He taught for four years in a one-room country schoolhouse, two years from 1954-1956 at North Platte High School, in North Platte, NE, and then taught at the University of Kansas as an Speech & Communication Professor for 42 years from 1956 - 1999. He was a member of the Speech Communication Association and received two awards for excellence in teaching. A member of Central States Communication Association and was inaugural inductee to Central States Communication Association Hall of Fame and Kansas Speech Association and received the Outstanding College Speech Teacher Award. He was also a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church and University Student Center and was President of the congregation and served as Elder many times. He was married to Helen Motyka on June 21, 1958 in Utica, NY. She survives of the home. Other survivors include two daughters, LeAnn Linkugel Ward, Lawrence, Kristin Linkugel, Rio Rancho, New Mexico; one brother Harold Linkugel, Bremen, KS. The family will greet friends one hour prior to the service on Tuesday at the church. The family suggests memorials in his name to the KU Endowment Communication Studies Department and may be sent in care of the mortuary. Online condolences may be sent to www.warrenmcelwain.com.

The last time I recall seeing Dr. Linkugel was the final week of September, 1993.  Late that summer, George Brett announced that he was retiring from major league baseball. I immediately called the KC Royals ticket office and reserved 6 tickets for the last home stand. My wife and I took our then 6-week baby on her first plane flight and were met by Donn Parson, Wil Linkugel and Robin Rowland.In my memory, Brett had a hit and KC won, so I think it was the game on the 29th.

Linkugel was a huge fan of baseball and told me that night of his planned book about phenoms who had surprisingly short careers. In 1998, McFarland published  They Tasted Glory, which includes chapters about Tony Conigliaro, Mark Fidrych, Lyman Bostock, J.R. Richard, Steve Busby, and Thurman Munson, among others.

I'm going to find a copy soon.

E.C. Buehler on film

I found this video on youtube. Unfortunately, there's a lot of talking over the film, but Buehler speaks throughout, beginning around 1 minute into it. Somewhere after 7 minutes, a student specifically addresses a question to "Professor Buehler."