Bob Karnes passes away
Originally published 04:28 p.m., July 13, 2007
Updated 05:45 p.m., July 13, 2007
Photo courtesy of Drake University.
Mesa, Ariz. — Former Drake athletic director Bob Karnes died early Thursday morning of cancer at the age of 81.
Karnes served as head track and field coach, athletic director and Drake Relays director.
Funeral services for Karnes will be July 20 at 11 a.m. at Velda Rose United Methodist Church, 5540 E. Main St., in Mesa, Ariz.
The Overbrook, Kan., native served as Drake's athletic director from 1968 until his retirement Aug. 31, 1986.
He was president of both the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the NCAA Cross County Coaches Association. He was inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987.
Karnes also was a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the NCAA Track and Field Rules Committee. He was named to the Iowa Track Coaches Hall of Fame in 1985.
Karnes was named head track and field coach, cross country coach and director of the Drake Relays on July 31, 1955, succeeding Tom Deckard.
Karnes' teams won 15 Missouri Valley Conference titles, more than any other Drake coach in any sport.
Drake won eight Missouri Valley Conference men's cross country titles (1958, 1960, 1962-64, 1966-68), five MVC men's outdoor track and field crowns (1963-65, 1968-69) and two MVC men's indoor track and field crowns (1968, 1969).
Under Karnes' tenure, Drake hosted the NCAA Track and Field Championships (1970), the National High School All-American Track and Field Championship meet (1972) and the NCAA Western Regional Wrestling tournament (1974).
The Drake men's basketball team played in three straight NCAA Tournaments, finishing third in the 1969 NCAA Final Four. Karnes initiated the Bulldog Club to provide financial assistance for Drake's student athletes, completed major renovations in both the Drake Fieldhouse and Drake Stadium and merged the Drake men's and women's athletic departments.
Karnes is the second former Drake Relays director to die this year. His successor, Bob Ehrhart, died in January.
Karnes was one of the top distance runners in the University of Kansas history. He won more Big Eight Conference track titles, 13, than any man in that school's history and was captain of five teams.
Karnes was a two-time NCAA All-American in track and field and his 13 league crowns topped the records of the legendary Glenn Cunnignham, Jim Ryan and Wes Santee.
He also was a two-time winner of the Henry Schulte Trophy as the Big Eight Conference Outstanding Track and Field athlete.
Karnes graduated from Kansas with a bachelors' degree in 1950 and Drake with a master's of science degree in 1967. After service in the U.S. Navy during World War II from 1943-46, he joined the naval reserve and was a retired Captain.
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