Three members of Kansas Sports Hall of Fame class have ties to both KU & K-State
Three sports figures with ties to both Kansas and Kansas State will be inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday at Washburn University’s Memorial Union in Topeka.
They are: former KU football coach and K-State assistant coach Mark Mangino; former K-State basketball guard/KU and K-State assistant hoops coach Tim Jankovich and former K-State baseball player/KU baseball coach Bobby Randall.
• Jankovich, an all-state basketball player from Manhattan High School, was a three-year starter at KSU, playing for coach Jack Hartman from 1979-82. He was an assistant coach at KU from 2003-07 and at K-State from 1984-86.
“How lucky does a person have to be to get to experience those two things?” Jankovich told topsports.news, referring to playing at KSU and coaching at KU. “Growing up, I loved Kansas State with all my heart. I was fortunate to get to play there. At the time, Ahearn Field House had to be one of the two or three toughest places in America to play. But then, years later, to go to the rival school and get to coach in Allen Fieldhouse, one of the other toughest places in America to play … that’s beyond what you could hope for.
“This will sound like a political statement, but I was one of the few people I knew growing up who didn’t hate KU. When we played, I wanted to beat them, but I didn’t have that hatred that a lot of my friends had. It was incredible to get to coach there, part of arguably the greatest college basketball program in history. To be in both of those arenas was one of the great experiences of my life,” Jankovich added.
As a college head coach, Jankovich went 53-57 in four years at North Texas, 104-64 in five seasons at Illinois State and 125-64 in seven seasons at SMU. He went 50-14 in two seasons at Hutchinson Community College.
• Mangino actually is a member of the Hall Class of 2024 who is being recognized this year after being unable to attend his induction ceremony a year ago.
Mangino went 50-48 in eight seasons at KU (2002-09). He led KU to a 12-1 record and victory in the Orange Bowl in 2007. Overall his KU teams were 3-1 in bowl games. Mangino was an assistant at KSU from 1991-98.
‘I’m thankful for anything in life,” Mangino told ksnt.com. “When it comes to football, it’s a tough business but it’s a great business. I’m pleased that they (Hall of Fame officials) called me. When you work hard somewhere you always like that people appreciate your work. I’m happy about it. I’m excited about it.”
Of his tenure as KU coach Mangino said: “Of course everybody talks about the Orange Bowl season, which was a great season with great players and they did so many great things. But we had a lot of great players before we went to the Orange Bowl, guys that built the foundation so that those guys could play at the next level.”
• Randall, who was born in Norton, Kansas, but attended high school in Gove, Kansas, ranks second in career batting average at K-State (.390). The infielder played five years for the Minnesota Twins. He compiled a 166-213 coaching record in seven years at KU after compiling a 309-311 record in 11 years at Iowa State.
“It was an incredible blessing to me because I’m a Kansas kid,” Randall told topsports.news, referring to being hired to coach at KU after his stint at ISU. “Growing up in the state of Kansas has always meant a lot to me.
“Being able to play at one school and coach at the other meant a lot to me. To be able to come back to KU to coach in Kansas was a great experience. I did lose some K-State fans in the process, but I made some KU friends,” Randall added.
• Class of 2025 inductee, Bob Lutz, a Wichita Eagle sports columnist for more than 40 years, covered KU, Kansas State and Wichita State sports extensively as well as pro sports and high school sports in his distinguished writing career.
He also hosted a radio show with his son in Wichita for many years.
Lutz is executive director of the nationally-acclaimed League 42 youth baseball organization in Wichita. The league has been in existence 12 years, giving Wichita youths a chance to play affordable baseball during the summer.
“It’s difficult to wrap my head around how and why Bob has so much pull in Wichita, mostly because I don’t possess the ‘influencer’ gene. I wonder what it is that got people on board when he fought so hard for Wichita to build a downtown arena about 15 years ago. I wonder how he got so many people behind the idea of League 42, which started as almost a thought experiment before growing into the 600-child behemoth it has become,” wrote Lutz’s son, Jeff, at kwch.com.
“I wonder how he can say the right thing to so many people to raise millions of dollars for his nonprofit baseball league. I am in awe that there are literally buildings that would not exist and futures for hundreds of children that wouldn’t be so secure without him. The results of what was created through League 42 and the effects it had on the kids who participated in it will play out long after both he and I are gone. And at 70, he might be slowing down a bit and pulling back a tad. Then again, he might not be. His is a life based on deciding what he wants to do, then doing it.”
Here’s a look at the other inductees. ...
• Former KU track sprinter Clifford Wiley, a 13-time NCAA All-American, won the 400 meters at the 1981 Athletes World Cup in Rome and at the 1983 Pan American Games in Venezuela. As a member of KU’s track team, Wiley was a three-time NCAA champion. He was a 1980 U.S. Olympic sprint team member.
“I feel a great honor to be included with this group of inductees and to be recognized in this way,” Wiley told topsports.news. “Sometimes your legacy is defined by the people around you. To go in with this group is very special. … The vast majority of my success came while breathing Kansas air. I’ve always felt at home here. I’ve had a certain comfort factor here.”
• Laverne Smith, a football and track standout at Wichita Southeast, is the fifth leading rusher in KU history (3,285 yards). His 21 rushing touchdowns rank seventh in school history. He played at KU from 1973 to ’76, earning all-Big Eight first-team honors in 1974 and second-team mention in 1975 and 1976. Smith also played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In track, he was a Big Eight 100 and 440-relay champion. His school record time in the 100 (10.07 in 1976) still stands.
Hall of Famer Bob Lutz wrote this of Smith: “The Jayhawks were an exciting football team during most of Laverne Smith’s time in Lawrence. That was particularly true in 1975 and 1976, when KU managed a 13-10 overall record in the rugged Big Eight that included a legendary 23-3 upset over second-ranked Oklahoma in 1975. The Jayhawks were quarterbacked by Ransom’s Nolan Cromwell, who went on to have a long and great NFL career with the Los Angeles Rams, and Smith was joined in the backfield by Derby’s Billy Campfield, who played with the Philadelphia Eagles. Unfortunately, Smith’s NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers was cut short because of a broken leg.
“Laverne Smith also was the Big Eight 100-yard dash champion in 1976 with a time of 10.29 and was a member of the Jayhawks’ 440-yard relay team that won conference title with a time of 39.2. That relay team included Waddell Smith, a receiver on KU’s football team from 1974-76. As is evident, it was a KU team loaded with speed and Smith was the fastest,” Lutz added.
• Larry Brown, a former K-State football running back, played for the Washington Redskins from 1969-76. He was the NFL’s MVP in 1972 after leading the league in rushing (1,216 yards) despite missing two games with injuries.
He rushed for 100 yards or more 21 times and rushed for 100 yards or more in six games in 1970 and six games in 1972. He also scored four rushing touchdowns in one game against the Eagles on December 16, 1973. On October 29, 1972, he ran for 191 yards in a game against the New York Giants.
The four-time Pro Bowler also played at Dodge City Community College.
“It was the starting point. The beginning. And so I place a lot of importance in that,” Brown told wibw.com, referring to attending KSU.
• Representing Kansas State track and field, Deb Torneden was most outstanding performer at the 1984 Big Eight Conference Indoor. The middle distance/distance runner was a four-time All-American and eight-time Big Eight Conference champion. She set three Big Eight Indoor records and two Big Eight Outdoor records.
She set the world’s best time for 1,000 yards indoors with a time of 2:29.79.
She holds 23 Kansas road race age group records. She also was a four-time Olympic Trials Qualifier (1984, 1992, 1996 and 2000). Torneden told wibw.com she shares the hall honor with her husband, Fred, a four-time All-American at Fort Hays State.
“We’ve been running together for a long time, now we have new adventures together,” Torneden said.
• Kendric Maple was a state title winner in wrestling at Wichita Heights High School. He was an NCAA champion wrestler (2013) and three-time All-American at Oklahoma. He claimed the NCAA Championship at 141 pounds in 2013. With a career record of 127-25 (.836), Maple was sixth all-time in wins for the Sooners.
Maple was a three-time Academic All-Big 12 selection (2012, 2013, 2014). He also won the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and the Big 12 Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship.
Maple won the UWW Freestyle World Cup in 2018. Additionally, he was a three-time U.S. Freestyle Open finalist, having won in 2017 and 2022. He is currently associate head coach at Missouri.
Of coaching at MU, he told wibw.com: “We were searching for that right home ... the right mentors I’d be around, the right belief and the right culture. and that’s really what’s set at home. My family loves it here, we love the people we’re around,” Maple said.
• JC Louderback, a three-sport standout at Southwestern College, was the Arkansas City High School boys tennis coach for 36 years and longtime college football and basketball official. He coached the Arkansas City squad to three state championships, and 20 singles and doubles players to a combined 20 state championships.
This story was originally published August 1, 2025 at 1:49 PM.
