Tales From the Jayhawks Gridiron

by Mark Stallard

For more than a century, Kansas Jayhawks football has developed a lasting tradition of exciting and heart-stopping moments. KU has produced a variety of great football legends--coaches and players alike. From their beginning in 1890 to the present-day coaching regime of Mark Mangino, the Jayhawks have provided their fans with many thrilling wins. Some of college football's greatest players led the Jayhawks to many notable wins while gathering numerous honors for themselves, including Gale Sayers, John Riggins, Bobby Douglas, Dana Stubblefield, John Hadl, and Nolan Cromwell. In Tales from the Jayhawks's Gridiron, many former Kansas football stars share their firsthand accounts of playing for the University of Kansas. Those stories, plus tales from other great games and rivalries--the situations, anecdotes, and triumphs that have delighted KU football fans for decades--are highlighted throughout the book, capturing the tradition of Kansas football.

222 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

When he decided to be a writer, it was sports that pulled and pushed at Mark Stallard, and eventually, his writing. A native Kansan, Stallard was born in Topeka, but his father's nomadic, wandering blood kept the family on the move, and by the time he was seven, Stallard had lived in five different Kansas communities. Lessons learned--make friends easily, look back with a sense of loss, move forward.

After attending high school in Ralston, Nebraska, he returned to the Sunflower state to study Education and English at the University of Kansas. Stallard also studied journalism at Wichita State University, winning the school's top Journalism Merit Award for magazine writing. Stallard eventually covered sports for the Wichita Eagle, as well as writing for other magazines. In 1993, he received a Master of Liberal Arts from Baker University.

After writing and submitting proposals for several different book ideas, Stallard landed his first book deal almost by accident, and Kansas Royals Facts & Trivia was published--although just barely--in 1999. Since then, Stallard has written and published more than 10 other books, including Kansas City Chiefs Encyclopedia (third edition, August, 2013), AFL to Arrowhead, Wildcats to Powercats, Tales from the Jayhawks Gridiron, Then Landry Said to Staubach...., and Otis Taylor: Football from My Own Heart.

The third edition of Tales from the Jayhawks Locker Room was published in 2012 and received a high-praise, 5-star review on Amazon: "Great book! If you're a Jayhawks fan, I guarantee you'll enjoy this. Very well written and an easy read, I finished it in one day. Highly recommended."

SUPER CHIEFS and Legacy of Blue are Stallard's most recent books.