Dwight Howard knows a thing or two about sports history. HOWARD recalled one afternoon in 1974, when he was working for the University of Kansas as a librarian in Lawrence. He and his brother Vernon took his car to get it worked on by a local mechanic. THE OTHER story, unknown to most locals, is of Col. Bruce, a racehorse that was run several times at Iola’s Riverside Park in the early 20th century — back when the park had a track open for such equestrian events — on part of the ground that holds the football field today.
No, not the Dwight Howard currently starring for the Houston rockets in the NBA.
Iola’s Dwight Howard.
Now 94, Howard fully admits his short-term memory isn’t what it once was.
But ask him about sports and two items quickly stand out.
Howard shared a few memories while taking in an Iola Middle School football game recently. (He remains an avid supporter of all things Iola — or the Jayhawks, Royals and Chiefs for that matter — and takes in games when he can.)
Without a ride they decided to walk back to campus. A car idled up to them and the driver asked if they wanted a ride.
The driver: legendary KU basketball coach Forrest C. “Phog” Allen.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Howard said.
Howard and his brother talked with the former KU coach while they traveled back to campus.
Howard’s brother had taken a class from Allen.
Vernon asked the retired coach if he remembered him.
“He said he did, but I’m not so sure,” Howard recalled.
A couple of weeks after the ride with Allen back to campus, Vernon and Dwight went to visit him at his home in Lawrence.
Their timing was noteworthy. Allen died a few weeks later in September 1974.
When Col. Bruce died, track officials were unsure of what to do with the animal.
They eventually buried him somewhere under the old race track on the Riverside Park grounds.
“He’s not under the football field,” Howard said. “But he’s somewhere around here.”
Howard earned his master’s degree from the University of Kansas, where he was a librarian and taught western civilization.
