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LAWRENCE -- Legendary University of Kansas football coach Don Fambrough will be honored as the grand marshal for this year's homecoming parade Saturday, a week before his 80th birthday.
Fambrough, who was the Jayhawks' head coach from 1971-74 and from 1979-82, also will be honored at a reception Friday evening. Students selected Fambrough for his years of service to KU and the Lawrence community, said Richard Johnson, dean of students.
This year, the annual KU homecoming parade is moving from Friday to Saturday, before the football game against Colorado. The parade will start at 10:30 a.m. at the Adams Alumni Center and proceed down Jayhawk Boulevard to the Chi Omega fountain. This year's parade will feature organizations from both KU and surrounding Lawrence-area communities.
A new homecoming event, a pep rally, will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at the south end of the Memorial Stadium parking lot. The rally will include an appearance by Coach Mark Mangino and members of the KU football team, as well as the spirit squad and the Crimson Girls.
For more information, visit www.homecoming.ku.edu. A list of homecoming events is below as well.
Biography: Don Fambrough
Of the eight bowl games KU has participated in, Don Fambrough has played or coached in five of them. As a player at KU, Fambrough earned All Big Six honors in 1946 and 1947. At the conclusion of the 1947 season he helped lead the team to the Orange Bowl. When the Lawrence Journal-World polled Jayhawk fans to select an all-time team to help commemorate college football's centennial year, Fambrough was a first-team choice at guard.
After graduating, he continued his association with KU football by serving as a graduate assistant on the Jayhawk coaching staff under J.V. Sikes. When Fambrough became head coach of the Jayhawks in 1971, he had served 19 years as an assistant coach under Sikes, Jack Mitchell and Pepper Rodgers.
In just his third season as head coach, he led the team to the 1973 Liberty Bowl. After the 1974 season he became assistant director of the Williams Fund, where he remained until accepting the reigns of the football program again in 1979. He coached the Jayhawks to the Hall of Fame Bowl in 1981, the same year he was voted the Associated Press Big Eight Coach of the Year.
Homecoming events:
Thursday, Oct. 10
Information Table: Wescoe Beach, all day
Pep Rally: 7-9 p.m., south end of Memorial Stadium parking lot. The rally will feature food, entertainment and an appearance by Coach Mark Mangino and members of the football team.
Friday, Oct. 11
Homecoming mural contest from noon to 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, at the Kansas Union. The murals will be hung off the west side of the Mississippi Street parking facility for the Homecoming football game.
Honoree reception for grand marshal Don Fambrough and Ex.C.E.L. finalists at 6 p.m at the Pi Beta Phi house, 1612 W. 15th St.
Jayhawk Spirit Sing at 7:50 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.
Saturday, Oct. 12
Homecoming parade begins at the Adams Alumni Center at 10:30 a.m. and ends at the Chi Omega Fountain.
KU-Colorado kickoff is at 1 p.m.
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