JAMES A. BAUSCH
1906 - 1974
Charter Inductee - 1961

Considered by many to be the greatest all-around athlete in Kansas history, James Aloysius Bausch was an Olympic Decathlon champion, winner of the Sullivan Award, and an inductee into both the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. He set the world record in the decathlon with 8,462 points in the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, earning titles of "King of the Olympics" and "Greatest Athlete in the World." Bausch won four of the ten events in the grueling two-day event, posting top marks in the shot (50'-3"), discus (146'-3"), javelin (203'-3"), and pole vault (13'-2"). Following his decathlon victory, Bausch was awarded the 1932 Sullivan Award - given each year to the outstanding amateur athlete in America. "Jarrin' Jim" Bausch was a standout athlete at Garden Plain (KS) High School, Wichita Cathedral High (later Kapaun Mt. Carmel) and Wichita State University before transferring to the University of Kansas in 1929. He was twice named to the All-America football team and was the first Kansas Jayhawk player to participate in the East-West Shrine game. All-Big-Six running back in '29 and '30. Lettered in football, basketball, and track at Kansas. His brother, Pete, starred for the Chicago Bears of the NFL. Charter inductee to the College Football Hall of Fame in1954, Inducted - U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1979, and the KU Athletics Hall of Fame. Born March 28, 1906 - Garden Plain, KS. Died July 9, 1974 - Hot Springs, AR. Graduated Wichita (KS) Cathedral H.S., 1927; Kansas University, 1932.