Even Bob Hope couldn’t pass up an easy joke about the Kansas University football team.

In Lawrence for an October 1982 performance at Allen Fieldhouse, the iconic comic was introduced at halftime of that day’s tilt at Memorial Stadium.

“I got here early enough to see your football game,” he said that evening, “and I want to offer my condolences.”

KU lost to Tulsa University, 20-15.

The comedian’s Parents Day performance, which drew 5,200 people, was one of three Lawrence-area appearances Hope made during a long career in vaudeville, Broadway, radio, television, movies, books and makeshift concert platforms in war zones.

He died late Sunday, two months after his 100th birthday.

Even back in 1982, at a mere 79 years old, Hope was joking about his age.

“We have a little group in North Hollywood that gets together,” he told the Lawrence crowd. “There’s George Burns and Lawrence Welk and me and a couple of old guys. We sit around and try to contact the living.”

Though it’s been decades, “Thanks for the memories” has personal meaning for those who remember the shows — and met Hope in Lawrence.

‘Good any time, anywhere’

“What a gentleman,” recalled Richard Konzem, now senior associate athletic director at KU. At the time, Konzem was a 23-year-old ticket manager. “You think about it, that was 20 years ago and he was almost 80.”

Konzem noted Hope could have retired by that age, but chose to keep performing. That was good for the KU athletics department, which was looking for something special.

“We were trying to spice things up,” Konzem said of the idea of booking Hope for the show. “I just thought it was wonderful, to have a part of that.”

Bob Hope jokes with reporters at a break in rehearsals during an Oct. 9, 1971, visit to Kansas University. Hope's 1971 trip was one of two he made to KU. Hope died Sunday, two months after his 100th birthday.

Hope’s first Lawrence visit was in 1971, also at Allen Fieldhouse.

After the 1971 performance, Dick Wintermote recalled Monday, he got to hobnob with the iconic comedian at a post-concert cocktail party.

“He was good any time, anywhere,” said Wintermote, who helped organize the performance as executive director of the KU Alumni Association. “He’s been famous for so long, appearing for audiences so long. It breaks your heart to know he died.”

The 1971 KU visit, which coincided with an Oct. 9 Homecoming football victory over Kansas State University, drew 12,561 fans to the fieldhouse. It also drew a handful of protesters who questioned Hope’s performances for Vietnam War troops.

Wintermote said both the Alumni Association and Student Union Activities earned “a little bit of money” from the event.

“(Hope) was super,” Wintermote said. “We had a good time.”

Baker connection

Though KU can claim two Hope visits over the years, Baker University in Baldwin went one step further and named an auditorium for him in response to a 1977 fund-raising visit. The Darby-Hope Theater in Parmenter Hall is named for Hope and former U.S. Sen. Harry Darby.

¢ Funny in film¢ Comedian amused troops from WWII to Persian Gulf

Hope came to Baker on March 28, 1977, to raise money for Baker scholarships. The visit was at the suggestion of a friend, Fred Bryson, who was an administrator at Southern Methodist University. Bryson had been working with Baker officials on developing the school’s master’s degree program in language arts.

Brenda Day, Baker’s archivist, said Hope toured Parmenter Hall that afternoon and performed for about 800 students in Rice Auditorium.

Even Hope realized it was an unlikely appearance.

“I never dreamed I’d be playing Baldwin, but here we are,” Hope said. “I’ve been in pictures, television and radio and worked my way up to Baldwin, Kansas.”

That night, Hope performed for about 7,000 people at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena.

Day said she doubted many people — even those at Baker — knew about the connection between the university and the famous comedian.

“He did some really cool things,” Day said. “To me, it’s like losing a whole generation. They’re an amazing generation, and it’s coming to an end so fast. They’re just dying right and left. To me, he embodies the whole USO experience.”