Gridiron exclusive 9.3.03

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  Steve Palermo was a surprise speaker in a players’ meeting last week. Palermo, a former American League umpire, was paralyzed in 1991 when he was shot while coming to the rescue of robbery victims in Texas. Told he would never walk again, the strong-willed Palermo now walks with the aid of a cane made from a small baseball bat. He told the KU players that he had sent his wheelchair to the physician who told him he’d never walk again.

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  Early Friday evening before returning to Hadl Auditorium for a movie, the KU football team and coaches ate dinner at the Alvamar Country Club.

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  Early Friday evening, KU football team members filed across the parking lot and headed back to the buses after eating dinner at the Alvamar Country Club with the coaching staff.

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  On the Friday before the Northwestern game, KU players gathered in Hadl Auditorium to watch a movie, "Basic" with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, before heading for bed.

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  Defensive lineman Chuck Jones rested on the dressing room floor, helmet on and chinstrap in place, with a towel over his head before the game.

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  The training room beneath Memorial Stadium was busy and quiet before the game when the players stood quietly in line waiting to have their ankles taped. KU athletic trainer Mark Cairns, left, was one of several despensing tape.

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  Before the offensive units left the locker room to go onto the field, safety Dan Coke (26) and quarterback Bill Whittemore knelt in prayer.

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  The KU football team and coaches kneeled and recited the Lord's Prayer before heading for the playing field in Memorial Stadium. Coach Mark Mangino is in the center.

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  In a pregame session a minute before taking the field for Kansas University’s football season opener against Northwestern, KU coach Mark Mangino points to a sign above the door and asks all the Jayhawks to touch it before leaving the locker room. The sign reads: “Every man a brick … together a wall.”

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  The Jayhawks comply on their way to taking the field.

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  When KU’s defensive players came off the field, assistant coach Dave Doeren went over some of Northwestern’s offensive sets that he had received from coaches watching the game from the press box.

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  KU assistant coach Dave Doeren jumps on assistant coach Clint Bowen’s back after the defensive unit scored a touchdown in the second half. After getting shut out in the second half, the Jayhawks tied Northwestern at 14, but ultimately fell, 28-20, Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

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  Graduate assistant Mitch Running yells encouragement toward the field after KU's defensive stopped a running play.

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  With time nearly gone and the rain still falling, Kansas QB Bill Whittemore talks with coaches Mark Mangino, left, and Pat Henderson, second from right.

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  After shaking hands with members of the Northwestern football team, KU players formed a line along the stands and shook hands with the fans who sat through four quarters of rain Saturday night.

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  Following the Northwestern game, Mark Mangino’s first stop out of the dressing room was an interview with David Lawrence of the Jayhawk Radio Network. His next stop was with another microphone and a press conference 30 feet away. Listening to the coach summarize Saturday’s game were, from left: KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway, KU media relations director Mitch Germann, Larry Keating, an assistant athletic director, and KU athletic director Lew Perkins.