Crime throws KU club for a loop

Jugglers not grounded by theft

You have to wonder what the world is coming to when someone snatches the Kansas University Juggling Club’s unicycle.

“There’s nothing you can do,” said a resigned Justin Gramarye, the club’s founding president.

Thieves ransacked Gramarye’s Toyota Camry on a recent trip to the Flatland Juggling Festival in Omaha, Neb., taking off with the unicycle, a computer and four duffel bags full of balls, beanbags, torches, devil sticks, diabolos, cigar boxes and other juggling goods.

“I’d made some costumes for the show, some vests and bow ties,” juggler Bradley Barger said. “That’s gone. I had some juggling axes – a fan favorite. Those are gone.”

The juggling club is a small, tight-knit group dedicated to the art. Its members perform on campus, in schools and at other venues. The majority of their equipment is their own, amassed over years of hard work and practice.

Kansas University jugglers, from left, Bradley Barger, Lawrence, Tio Duemeier, Lawrence, and Daniel Hogan, Leawood, practice in South Park. Thieves stole the team's unicycle, a computer and four duffel bags full of balls, beanbags, torches, devil sticks, diabolos and other juggling goods during a recent trip to the Flatland Juggling Festival in Omaha, Neb. The jugglers practiced Tuesday.

The dollar value of the stolen goods is more than $1,000.

But the balls and torches and bags also had sentimental value. Some items were Christmas gifts. The bow ties that were taken were handmade by Barger.

“It was a bigger loss to us than a gain for the people who did it,” Barger said.

The theft occurred between about 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on a recent Sunday morning, while the jugglers were throwing boomerangs in an Omaha park.

The jugglers think someone drove up, broke into the Camry and transported all the goods into the other car.

Bradley Barger, left, and Tio Duermeier use some of their juggling equipment while practicing in South Park. During a recent trip to Nebraska, about ,000 worth of equipment was taken from members of the Kansas University Juggling Club.

Their guess is whoever took the equipment isn’t getting much out of the items.

“Juggling props probably don’t pawn well,” Barger said.

But could the stolen goods be in use?

“I can’t think they’re enjoying it,” juggler Daniel Hogan said. “The odds that this particular band of criminals are jugglers is fairly small.”

The team members called the police in Omaha and reported the crime. But they’re not optimistic. They think authorities are doing what they can considering it is a case with no leads.

“What can they do?” Hogan said. “You can’t put the crack squad on a juggling theft.”