Bob Skahan, Kansas football legend 

By Bryce Martin 

 While patrolling centerfield for Columbus (Kan.) in American Legion Baseball for two years in the summers of '60 and '61, Bob Skahan would often come around the dugout to visit. He was slightly younger than myself, dated a Columbus cousin of mine, Diane Gust, and was one of the few high school kids I knew of during those days who lifted weights. He often wore t-shirts with the sleeves cut out, and it was obvious he lifted weights. Coaches and athletes in general did not think lifting weights was such a good idea. They felt it could cause muscle tears, and unwanted muscle (read: muscle bound). It did not seem to affect Skahan in a detrimental way. A good-natured kid, Skahan was an outstanding baseball player. He was an all-state quarterback in 1962 for Columbus and was given a scholarship to play the quarterback position for Kansas University at Lawrence. I still own a newspaper clipping that shows Skahan taking in a touchdown on a play that everyone thought would involve Gale Sayers as the ball carrier. The final score was Kansas 15, Oklahoma 14. 

It was the last play of the game and is on the top ten list of anyone's greatest college football finishes. 

At KU, Skahan was one the top Big-8 quarterback statistically.

Bob Skahan

It amazed me how Columbus could field such great youth teams, such as our American Legion baseball team, and not have all of their best athletes compete. Missing from the Legion team during my stay was John Cowley, a lefthanded farmboy who stifled a great Joplin High School team. Cowley threw double-digit strikeouts in defeating Joplin's highly regarded Gary Churchwell. It was a stinging and throughly administered defeat, something Joplin was not used to and amounted to a deep wound stuck in the overweening pride of the Lions. Cowley pitched for us some early on in 1960, but had too many competing farm duties and had to give it up. I'll always remember his introducing me to Absorbine Jr. to treat my throwing arm after games.

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