A coalition of former Kansas University swimmers has offered to launch a fund-raising campaign aimed at rescuing the men's swimming team.
"We think we can raise $100,000 by July," said Tom Bowser, co-captain of the 1968 men's swim team.
The offer also includes raising money for an endowment fund to cover half of the swimming team's $400,000-a-year budget.
Bowser, chief operating officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, and other coalition members met earlier this week with KU athletics director Bob Frederick and members of the swimming team's coaching staff.
"It was a very positive meeting," Bowser said. "They explained the economic problems they're up against, and we shared our thoughts on how the program could be saved."
Bowser said Frederick promised to discuss the offer with KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway.
Frederick and Hemenway were en route Thursday to the NCAA Midwest regional men's basketball tournament in San Antonio and could not be reached for comment.
"We have every belief our offer was welcomed and will be given serious consideration," Bowser said.
Earlier this month, Frederick announced plans to drop the men's swimming and tennis programs, starting with the 2001-2002 season. The move was necessary, he said, to ward off a projected $3.6 million shortfall in the athletic department's budget over the next five years.
Cutting the men's swimming and tennis programs is expected to save about $600,000 a year. About 50 student athletes and five coaches would be affected by the cuts.
Women's teams are not affected by the cuts.
Frederick said the decision to drop the programs was the most difficult he's made in his 14 years at KU.
The coalition's fund-raising offer applies only to the swimming team, but Bowser said the group is not opposed to expanding the proposed endowment to include sports programs that do not generate profits.
Though the coalition is "upbeat and optimistic," it does not want to build false hope among the swimming team's coaches and student athletes.
"The offer has been made, and it's being given serious consideration," Bowser said. "That's really all there is to say at this point."
Others in the coalition are swim-team alumni Mike Caldwell, Gordon Docking and Ron Neugent.
Neugent, a Wichita dentist, was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team.
Bowser's 1968 team was the first KU swim team to win a Big Eight championship.
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