Monday, February 17, 2003
For Al Lopes, Kansas University basketball truly is a matter of life and death.
Lopes, one of nearly 200 former KU lettermen introduced at halftime of Sunday's KU-Iowa State game, said that if not for Ted Owens, his former coach, he might very well be dead. Lopes, a 6-foot-5 native of Providence, R.I., played for the Jayhawks from 1964 to 66. Then in 1968, he joined the Army and became a paratrooper.
"I believe I am the only Kansas basketball player to have served in Vietnam," Lopes said. "I was there 11 months, 29 days, 6 hours. I used to know the seconds. The last 29 days I served deep in the jungle." Suffice it to say, Lopes did not want to be deep in the jungle risking his life.
"I had heard there was an unwritten rule that after eight months you could submit transfer papers and get out of the field," Lopes said. "I was stupid enough to believe that and I submitted my papers. The one (officer) in charge said, ‘Lopes, you are not going anywhere,' and tore the papers up."
Disappointed, Lopes continued to serve, and before Christmas of 1968, he sent cards to "everybody I could think of," including Owens. After he'd been serving 11 months, he was stationed near Saigon and was told to report to the commanding officer. "The colonel said, ‘Al come in.' I thought to myself, ‘Al?'"
The officer proceeded to tell him he had seen him play basketball in Allen Fieldhouse and that Owens had been his friend since boyhood. Owens, it turned out, had put in a good word for Lopes.
"That guy cut orders to get me out of the field my last 29 days of Vietnam. Those last 29 days were some of the worst days (of the war). Until today, I've never said thank you to coach Owens. I should thank the colonel, but I don't even remember his name."
Owens remembered. "His name was Jack Angel," Owens said. "He was an angel. I am telling you, the power of the Jayhawk can reach across the world," said Lopes, now a Lawrence attorney.