1989 National Championship Celebration

[WuShock16]

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article3390096.html

Did anyone attend the festivities open to the public? I was curious to know how well-attended it was.

Also, it was interesting to read that Brent was not invited to the event. Any of you Gene fans want to try justifying that one? Regardless of Gene's rough ending, that is totally ridiculous for him to not invite Brent. Brent was no small part of that championship, so there is no logical reason to exclude him from this celebration. I am starting to wonder if Gene will ever be a living member of the Shocker Sports Hall of Fame, whether by his choice or by the hall of fame nominating committee.

[WSUBB00]

The event was wonderful although IMO sparsely attended-maybe 50 die hard fans other than players family members. Bryant Winslow was not at the event although he may have attended Gene's celebration. Mike Wentworth was at the stadium on Saturday but his flight home left early Sunday morning and he was not in attendance. The players were very accommodating at signing autographs and seemed to enjoy the event as much as the public. The showing of the championship game brought back many memories for me from 1988 and 1989. Gene was in a good mood and was thankful so many players were able to attend the events of Saturday and Sunday. I did leave about 3:30 so others may have a different perspective. A big THANK YOU to whoever was the driving force in putting the event together. It was a FUN event. The 1 negative was the PA system/acoustics on the upper level which needs to be vastly improved for future such events--it was extremely difficult to hear Shane Dennis asking players questions or the players comments.

[SHOCKvalue]

GS still has a house here? Thought he lost the Hawthorne place in the divorce. No matter, I was just under the impression he had moved out of the area.

[shock49]

16,you have no idea what happened between gene and brent at the time of the firing."LIGHTEN UP"

[WuShock16]

16,you have no idea what happened between gene and brent at the time of the firing."LIGHTEN UP"

You are absolutely right. I don't know what happened. That said, Brent was still a very important part of the national championship team. He most certainly should have been invited to this event.

[OregonShocker]

Depends on who did the inviting...doesn't sound like an "official" event, and since Gene was the host, maybe he said, "Not at my house." If so, ok. From the article, there is some bitterness between the two, regardless of the past "good times." Hey, you don't invite your ex-wife to your family reunion party at your house.

[Kung Wu]

Do we know he wasn't invited, or are we just assuming that because he didn't attend (which could be for countless reasons)? Unless we know that he wasn't invited, why start a rumor?

[WstateU]

Do we know he wasn't invited, or are we just assuming that because he didn't attend (which could be for countless reasons)? Unless we know that he wasn't invited, why start a rumor?

"Pitching coach Brent Kemnitz said he was not invited to the weekend’s activities, a result of the tension between he and Stephenson. Kemnitz, who worked alongside Stephenson for 35 seasons, kept his job after Stephenson was fired and they have not talked since that time. Many players sought out Kemnitz on their own over the weekend."

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article3390096.html#storylink=cpy

[Kung Wu]

"Pitching coach Brent Kemnitz said he was not invited to the weekend’s activities, a result of the tension between he and Stephenson. Kemnitz, who worked alongside Stephenson for 35 seasons, kept his job after Stephenson was fired and they have not talked since that time. Many players sought out Kemnitz on their own over the weekend."

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article3390096.html#storylink=cpy

Sheesh. Nice.

[Dave Stalwart]

16,you have no idea what happened between gene and brent at the time of the firing."LIGHTEN UP"

64 posts since 2005? Are you another one of those alter-egos or just someone who reads the board but doesn't like to post? I'm always curious about the long-timers who never post. If I were a regular, but I didn't want to stir up trouble with another regular, I would probably make an alter-ego. Sometimes I think about going with DJ06Shoxter or El Shocker DJ06. I would don the name like Clark Kent's glasses.
Anyway, I would be really interested to hear what happened between them. If it's too sensitive to post here, I suppose you could private message me if you don't mind. This thread makes it look like there is pretty bad blood there. Having someone in the know is nice. It's one of the things I love about shockernet.

[SB Shock]

64 posts since 2005? Are you another one of those alter-egos or just someone who reads the board but doesn't like to post? I'm always curious about the long-timers who never post. If I were a regular, but I didn't want to stir up trouble with another regular, I would probably make an alter-ego. Sometimes I think about going with DJ06Shoxter or El Shocker DJ06. I would don the name like Clark Kent's glasses.
Anyway, I would be really interested to hear what happened between them. If it's too sensitive to post here, I suppose you could private message me if you don't mind. This thread makes it look like there is pretty bad blood there. Having someone in the know is nice. It's one of the things I love about shockernet.

Not in the know - but it was pretty clear that there was a Coup D'état and Gene and JT felt he screwed them over. And let's face it, Brent was probably the key cog for them to find another job.

[shoxlax]

Clampdip knows the real story, but he's too busy trying to fit into his 1966 Willie Mays jersey to respond.

Maybe Pogo can rattle his cage?

[MaverickJets]

Confused

I'm a little confused. The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame hosted the event on Sunday. Wichita State Athletics was one of the sponsors so how on earth was Kemnitz NOT invited. Maybe he was not invited to events outside the Sunday celebration but to say he was not included on Sunday has got to be false. That should be a question the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. I don't believe Gene Stephenson told Brent he could not attend an event sponsored by Kemnitz' employer.

The event was great. We need to remember the guys and celebrate their accomplishment.

[Dave Stalwart]

This is probably one of those moments where we need to just blame Sexton and call it a day.

[1972Shocker]

Sully's write up stated that the event was hosted by Gene and sponsored by the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. WSU was a presenting sponsor and the athletic department presented coaches, players and others associated with the team a commemorative matted team photo taken in 1989.

Sounds like the public reception was the culmination of a weekend reunion. Any other activities would have been by invitation. However, if it was a public reception presumably Brent could have shown up to that function if he wanted to. However, if the relationship between Gene and Brent has soured to the extent it appears to then it was probably best that Brent stayed away, invited or not as unfortunate and distasteful as that seems.

I have no idea how all this went down but it certainly doesn't seem like there is much interest among the various parties for a reconciliation anytime in the foreseeable future. Under normal circumstance it seems to me that this would have been a function primarily supported and sponsored by WSU on campus and with a much bigger buzz than it received. Both Gene and the team deserved that. How many people showed up for this reception outside of Family and Friends?

So now what to do about the induction of Gene into the Shocker Sports Hall of Fame where he clearly belongs. Normally, I would see no reason for waiting but would Gene show up or even acknowledge it? I guess he doesn't have to. Kind of a mess for sure.