National Network for Equitable Library Service

Forrest C. ("Phog") Allen overcame the argument of James Naismith, inventor of the game, that basketball didn't need a coach. Allen served (for a while under Naismith) at the University of Kansas as coach from 1907 to 1909 and from 1919 to 1956, and as athletic director from 1919 to 1937 also heading the Physical Education Department for a time. Kansas City Star sportswriter Kerkhoff has written an evenhanded yet generally laudatory story of a highly controversial figure who spoke his mind even when his words spelled trouble for him. He attacked some of his faculty colleagues in the KU Medical School, who objected to having a department head with a degree in Osteopathy, carried on a running battle with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and stubbornly clung to his opinion, never heeded that the basket should be raised from 10 to 12 feet above the court.