Mike McKee, ’61
Fall 1958 – Cross Country On my first day at East High in 1958, I signed up for the cross-country team. Four weeks into the season, I qualified to suit up and run on the varsity team at an out-of-town meet. Early the next morning, I showed up at the team rendezvous and, feeling very out of place, climbed into that station wagon headed for Kansas City. There was a huge social gap between the reigning state championship juniors and seniors and the lowly sophomores.
The varsity team included Archie San Romani Jr., son of the 1936 Olympic medalist. Archie had run a 4:17 mile the previous spring, attracting a lot of news media attention, and he was viewed as the putative first high school, sub-four-minute miler. He was a nice, well–mannered kid who handled the pressure well. Like all great runners, he had a relaxed, efficient stride combined with a devastating ability to suddenly accelerate. Another team member, Bob Holgerson followed right after Archie. He had a magnificent physique and a capacity for work which amazed even Coach Timmons. Holgerson was a championship swimmer from the Wichita Swim Club, which Timmons managed in the summer. These swimmers then ran cross country in the fall and track in the spring for conditioning. Many of them, like Holgerson, turned out to be good runners.
Junior Bob Ware, an immigrant from rural Arkansas, was a natural athlete who went out for swimming and made the team despite lacking experience in the sport. He then did the same in track and cross country. John Deardorff was Bob’s best friend; he too had made the swim team without benefit of a Wichita Swim Club background and was also a standout runner.
The other sophomore on the team, Carl Hodges, had recently moved from Oklahoma. Carl burst out from the pack mid-season, as I had done, only he p
roved to be much faster. A complete unknown of vague Native American ancestry, he ran in leather moccasins until Timmons forbade it and provided him with training shoes. He ran with a unique, stiff, upright posture combined with a short, choppy stride.
Above: Coach Bob Timmons with Carl Hodges and Bob Ware
The meet in Kansas City was a shock. There were hills. The upstate teams were strong, and the field was huge. I remember only a blur of jerseys and a lot of pain. Running a hill was like climbing up a rope that never ended. The ride home gave us time for reappraisal and planning for the state meet in five weeks.
The stadium steps at Wichita University provided a venue for hill workouts. John Deardorff sometimes drove us in his 1920’s jalopy to WU for training sessions. We analyzed the opposition and worked out strategies for the state meet. The team became stronger, and best of all, Carl Hodges developed into the runner who would give us the needed depth to make the difference. Our team won the state championship meet. 
Juniors Bob Kinzy and Larry Bryan welcomed me to the team and were good friends over the next two years. Like me, they were ordinary south Wichita fellows just trying to get along. The great runner from south Wichita, Jim Ryun, remained four years in the future on his way to running the mile in under four minutes. (Left, Bob Kinzy; Below right, Larry Bryan)
Fall 1959 I remember a glorious fall and cross-country season in 1959. In those days late 
September brought a snap to the air not seen now until November. The team was John Deardorff, Bob Ware and his brother Dave, Carl Hodges, Larry Bryan, Bob Kinzy, Charles Briscoe, Eric Knorr and me. We were a well-balanced team, and we won all of our meets until the Emporia Invitational. There, we came up against a strong team from Haskell Institute in Lawrence, KS, and 
lost badly. We redoubled our training. Timmons’ policy was to keep his distance runners training year-round to maintain a base, anticipating an ever harder in-season regimen. The only time he tapered off was for the state meet; hence, we usually competed tired. (Left, Eric Knorr)
The Haskell Institute was beginning a transition in 1959. As a remnant of an imperial past, the school for what we called “Indian” students was soon to undergo re-examination. Nonetheless, Haskell had long been part of the Kansas athletic scene, and the guys from Haskell commanded a special respect. They were tough in a unique way that only a harsh environment and poverty can produce. Wichita and its suburbs did not have its equal. In short, man for man, they were probably better than we were.
Timmons always tried to assess the situation and come up with a tactical plan to maximize our impact on a given competition. The state championship meet course opened with a hairpin turn about 300-400 yards out. His plan was to sprint to the hairpin, take command of the race and try to hold Haskell off for the rest of the race. At the hairpin, they were to see a wall of East High blue.
The week before the race we had light workouts. The night before the race, the team had a chili supper at Bob Kinzy’s house. The next morning we arrived early, jogged the course, and reviewed our strategy. At the starting line, all seven of us went to a sprinter’s crouch. The Haskell runners looked puzzled, since that is not the typical start for X-C contests. There was a false start, and we were called back to starting positions. This time both teams went into a sprinters position.
The gun sounded again, and we were off. At 400 yards we held the first seven positions. We were committed to the plan. As the Haskell runners moved up, our job was to answer their challenge, hold them off as long as possible and then warn the man ahead. As number four man, I was especially busy. It was a hard, fast race, but we held them off and won East’s third consecutive state cross country championship.
1959 State Championship Cross-Country Team: Dave Ware ’62, Larry Bryan ’60, Bob Ware ’60, Charles Briscoe ’60, Carl Hodges ’61, Mike McKee ’61, Bob Kinzy ’60, Eric Knorr ’60, John Deardorff, ’60.
Spring 1960 – Track Team One difficulty with the spring outdoor track season is finding a favorable, wind-free weather environment that enables optimal performance. This is especially true in Kansas where the wind is a constant factor. In late April, 1959, the Wichita Invitational was held at the WSU stadium at night under the lights on a modern track. I was entered in the mile; conditions were perfect. I ran a fast-paced race off the shoulder of Bob Ware. In the last 400 yards we both accelerated and kept accelerating into an all-out sprint. My feet barely touched the track. I was flying. It was my fastest mile ever. After that race, I had severe pain in my left knee, probably over-use tendonitis. My season was over. The East High Track team, however, went on to win another state championship.
In 1960, a group of exceptional distance runners graduated from East. Larry Bryan went to West Point and served two tours in Vietnam. Bob Kinzy studied forestry at UCLA, but wound up working for IBM in Green Bay, WI. Bob Ware and John Deardorff went to the University of Arkansas on athletic scholarships. Bob returned to WSU, but soon left for Colorado and a storied career as a skier and ski patrol hero. John settled in Wichita and ran a successful ski rental shop. Carl Hodges transferred to Emporia for family reasons despite Coach Timmons’ efforts to retain him, and he repeatedly beat his East High competition senior year. Coach 
Timmons continued at East for a few years, rebuilding these teams, until moving on to Kansas University for a long and notable career.
Significant ink has been expended on Bob Timmons, but in a word, he had charisma. In his presence you could not take your eyes off him. Like all great coaches, Bob Timmons endeavored to plumb the depths of youthful strength to elicit great performance. He believed that this could be done with innovative, robust training, and development of character. Like the good Marine officer he had been in World War II, he demonstrated care for his athletes without being familiar. Bob Timmons had an eye for talent and the skills to build individuals’ strength and character as well as building teammates, leaders, and champions.
Many thanks to Mike McKee for permitting excerpts from his “Small Histories” to be used for this story.
Mike retired from a cardiology career in 2010 and lives in Pennsylvania.
At right: Mike McKee and friend hanging out in the arcade leading to the East High gym.
It is really nice to read about several classmates in this story. I remember the name Archie San Romani because he coached my Brother, Ronald Stearman, in track. I was in grade school when my brother was in high school, but I remember attending track events at WU. I also remember how dedicated the track teams were for practice. It is a great sport.