It has been 60 years since Harding athletics programs were reinstated in 1957 after being discontinued for 20 years. Chancellor Emeritus Dr. Clifton L. Ganus played a vital role in that endeavor \u2014 shaping Harding University into the institution it is today. <\/p>\n
Dr. Ganus died Sept. 9, leaving many members of the Harding community to reflect on the impact he made on the University, specifically athletics. <\/p>\n
Scott Goode, assistant athletic director for sports, spoke fondly and passionately about Harding athletics and Dr. Ganus, a man crucial to their success. <\/p>\n
According to a research report submitted by Donald Gordon Scoles in 1970, Harding football was terminated in 1931, during the peak of the Depression. By 1939 it was too expensive to continue any athletics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was either serve the 25 kids who were participating in athletics, or use that same money to take care of everybody on campus,\u201d Goode said. <\/p>\n
The report by Scoles said that in 1951, M.E. Berryhill and others began talking about bringing back intercollegiate athletics. <\/p>\n
\u201cM.E. Berryhill started the discussion of possibly bringing it back,\u201d Goode said. \u201cNothing was done until 1957, when Dr. Ganus was the vice president. As soon as chatter started about \u2018Hey, maybe we could get this thing back up and running,\u2019 he and Dean Joe Pryor got together with Berryhill. Really those three guys were the ones that spearheaded the re-emergence of Harding sports.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a 2014 interview with Ken Bissell, senior advancement officer, Dr. Ganus spoke in detail about the reinstatement of Harding sports. <\/p>\n
\u201cJoe Pryor, Pinky Berryhill and I were the three who pushed for getting intercollegiate sports back,\u201d Dr. Ganus said. \u201cWe kept bugging Dr. Benson, I guess, so he asked us to serve as the committee to work in that area . . . football came in the fall of \u201959. But we had to start from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goode said football did not return until 1959 because the search to find the right coach was crucial to the committee. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not hard to recruit a coach to come here to coach now, because we are usually successful. We have great [students], we have great facilities,\u201d Goode said. \u201c[In 1959] we had none of that except great [students] . . . so when Carl Allison, former running back at the University of Oklahoma, said yes to coaching here, they were shocked and wanted to get the program revamped as quickly as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hiring Allison was key to the program\u2019s revamp, because his name was well known and attractive to prospective players. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were trying to find a member of the Church of Christ who had experience and knew football and played football, who would be a good coach for us at Harding with our philosophy and attitude and spiritual values and so on,\u201d Dr. Ganus said. \u201cSomebody came up with Carl Allison.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goode recalled Ganus\u2019 skill for promoting Harding and football, two things Dr. Ganus loved.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Ganus, one of his many talents was the ability to go somewhere in the world, tell somebody about Harding, and get them to come here,\u201d Goode said. \u201cI\u2019m sure he put his best face forward to get Carl Allison to come.\u201d <\/p>\n
The report showed that the program rebuild was slow and steady \u2014 coming from nothing and trying to be competitive \u2014 but Harding football eventually became a well-established and important piece of the Harding identity, in large part thanks to Dr. Ganus. <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt super blessed when I got this job in 1999, meeting Dr. Ganus and finding out that the most important person that\u2019s ever been on this campus \u2014 in terms of keeping Harding alive and afloat \u2014 loved sports,\u201d Goode said. \u201cHe would come in my office even at 90+ years, sit in the corner chair, and we would go through every sport \u2014 athletes, statistics and expected outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one got to experience Dr. Ganus\u2019 love for Harding sports quite like his family. His son Dr. Clifton L. Ganus III (Cliff), professor of music at Harding, spoke of his father\u2019s commitment to Harding sports that was evident to all. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe went to everything,\u201d Cliff Ganus said. \u201cHe would fly or drive six or seven hours. [His commitment] was just visible to everybody \u2026 I enjoyed going with him but didn\u2019t get to go to games as often as he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cliff Ganus said Harding was his father\u2019s ultimate passion.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved this campus and the people here,\u201d Cliff Ganus said. \u201cThough he had played almost every sport \u2026 he loved football. He coached football, and he was undefeated in Charleston. He has always loved football. I think it\u2019s always been a special passion for him \u2014 so when he found out that Harding was reinstating other athletic programs but didn\u2019t have a football team, he felt that we ought to have one. It\u2019s part of what a school does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goode echoed the sentiment that Dr. Ganus had a special place in his heart for Harding football. Goode said a lot of football players\u2019 best memories at Harding were made when Dr. Ganus came to talk to them after games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that he would do that would mean so much to players was, after the game he would come up to them, already know their name, know where they were from, and he would make a personal connection to them \u2014 rejoicing with them in the victories and hurting with them in the losses,\u201d Goode said. \u201cDr. Ganus was 100% genuine. He poured his heart into Harding athletics.\u201d <\/p>\n
Junior linebacker Dylan Hendricks said he was always impressed by how personable Dr. Ganus was with each player. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe would be at all the sporting events, rain or shine,\u201d Hendricks said. \u201cHe cared about us. He would know our names, know our hometowns, our stats, all of that. You could tell that he cared a lot about us as football players and as people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cliff Ganus said that in his father\u2019s last four months of life, he gathered all the coaches of every sport into his living room where he was lying in bed. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe visited with them for about an hour and a half,\u201d Cliff Ganus said. \u201cThe idea that we are building men and not football players was crucial to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
From 1959 to 2019, Dr. Ganus left an indelible mark on the University and Harding football, one that is sure to endure for many years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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