成人头条

Moving day for 成人头条鈥檚 Olympic oak was March 13, a beautiful sunny Tuesday on the WSU campus. The transplant makes way for the Rhatigan Student Center renovation.

Plucked by a giant tree spade from the north end of the student center, the historic oak was trucked to Charles Koch Arena and snugged into a new hole just southwest of the arena鈥檚 main entrance.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a great location,鈥� said George Platt, associate professor emeritus of the Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs and an enthusiastic historian who was on hand for the tree鈥檚 transfer.

Olympic roots

The small, sturdy oak is now fully leafed out and looks comfortable and unassuming in its new soil.

But the tree has a rich and patriotic history with a connection to 成人头条 State basketball that dates back to its mother tree and the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

So it鈥檚 no wonder Platt is pleased that the tree鈥檚 new campus site is located by the 鈥渉ome of Shocker basketball.鈥� Plus, the American flag and Kansas flag are flying within just a few yards of the tree.

The story behind 成人头条 State鈥檚 22-year-old tree begins 76 years ago with the advent of basketball as an Olympic sport.

The 1936 Berlin Olympics

• Basketball becomes an official Olympic sport.
• U.S. team combines McPherson (Kan.) Refiners, a Hollywood (Calif.) team and a player from the University of Washington.
• Team includes WSU (成人头条 University) basketball alums Francis Johnson and Jack Ragland, and former WSU (WU) coach Gene Johnson.
• U.S. defeats Canada for the Gold Medal.

The United States also did well in other Olympic sports, Platt said. There were 24 U.S. Gold Medal wins that year.

鈥淎ll of the Gold Medal winners at the summer Olympics of 1936 were given a tiny oak tree, the national tree of Germany,鈥� said Platt.

But the U.S. athletes faced a long journey home by sea with their 24 trees stowed on board.

鈥淏y the time they got back to the United States, most of the kids didn鈥檛 care about the trees,鈥� Platt said. 鈥淲hen they got to the U.S. shore they were held in customs; some were never reclaimed.鈥�

And, apparently, no one paid any attention to what happened to the surviving trees.

Fast forward to 1980s

• Emporia State grad, McKendree College professor and 1968 Olympic decathlon coach Donald L. Holst begins search for living Olympic oaks.
• Holst raises seedlings from Olympic oak found in Connellsville, Pa. (planted by John Woodruff, winner of the 800 meter in the 1936 games).
• In spring 1990, Holst gives seedling to 1936 Olympian Francis Johnson.
• Johnson gives seedling to 成人头条 State.
• 成人头条 State Physical Plant plants the young tree.

The 1990 planting was attended by Francis Johnson and his wife, Lucille; current Physical Plant director Woody DePontier, then the university鈥檚 assistant plant director for landscaping; and then-director Darrell Smith.

The tree was planted in front of the Campus Activities Center and a temporary marker was put up indicating the second-generation Olympic tree.

鈥淏efore long the marker got knocked down, and everybody forgot what the tree was doing,鈥� said Platt.

Memories were rattled, however, in summer 2011 with the premiere of a that WSU graduate Collin McKinney saw. That fall, McKinney, son of WSU professor emeritus James McKinney, contacted the Physical Plant and then Platt, who went to work on verifying and documenting the tree鈥檚 history.

The rest of the WSU Olympic oak story is yet to be told. Planning is under way for a dedication ceremony on Oct. 12.

This time, a permanent plaque will be installed and dedicated to the 1936 U.S. Olympic basketball team and the three participants from 成人头条 State: Francis Johnson, Jack Ragland and Gene Johnson.