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The man seated in front of him finished a sneezing fit and uttered a common gripe among area golfers this spring: "These stupid allergies won't let up."

Mike Strauss, recent hire of the Kansas University athletic department, responded: "I've never had a problem with allergies. I've been very fortunate."

So fortunate has Strauss been that he was diagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, a rare liver disease that left him with an easy decision.

"Your options are you get a transplant or you die," Strauss said, matter-of-factly.

Strauss, who came to KU from Utah State, opted for the former, though not until he needed it to survive.

As the result of receiving a liver transplant in 2001, Strauss became eligible for the U.S. Transplant Games, an Olympic Games of sorts held every other summer for organ-transplant recipients. Strauss is a two-time gold medalist (2004, 2006) in his age group in golf and plans to compete again in 2008.

In his job as the football sports-information director at Kansas, Strauss is in the business of arranging interviews for athletes, not giving them about himself. He was willing to make an exception because he is passionate about the topic of organ donation.

Strauss said he was diagnosed in 1986 at the age of 20.

"Basically, they told me I had five years to live," Strauss said. "The disease progressed very slowly for me."

In 1994, Strauss said he grew ill, but began to feel better after receiving a blood transfusion in 1995. In 1996, he was notified by phone that a liver was available for him. He turned down the offer.

"I told them to give it to somebody else who was sicker," he said.

Five years after that, he became ill, was unable to travel to some Utah State road football games and turned yellow from jaundice. He received the gift of life for the second time on Dec. 12, 2001, when a donated organ was transplanted into his body. He spent 12 days in the hospital, including three days in intensive care.

"Everything's been great since then," Strauss said.

With his health and his golf game.

The U.S. Transplant Games were started by the National Kidney Foundation in 1990.

Photo by Richard Gwin

Kansas University football sports-information director Mike Strauss is a two-time gold medalist in his age group in golf at the U.S. Transplant Games. He had a liver transplant in 2001.

"They were created to demonstrate the success of transplantation and to call attention to the need for more donors," said Dawn Townsend, program director for the Games. "With transplantation celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2004, it's pretty amazing how many people still think transplant recipients can't do much, aren't able bodies."

Juggling the responsibilities of a new job, making arrangements for his wife and two children to join him soon and searching for a new home for the family haven't left Strauss with much time to spend on the golf course. Even so, in his first round at Alvamar Country Club, a course with tricky greens and target golf that requires local knowledge, Strauss managed to get around in 43-39-82.

Some golfers of his caliber grow impatient when joined by high-handicap hackers. Not Strauss. He was able to witness something not many ever do. During that round, he was able to see his colleague, KU sports information director Chris Theisen, get drilled by a golf ball in flight after the third member of the group blasted out of the sand trap in front of the 10th green.

That certainly wasn't Strauss' most amazing experience on a golf course. That came in his first day of golf at the Transplant Games.

"I played with a guy who had a double transplant," Strauss said. "Declared dead twice."

Once, Townsend said, a family of an organ donor attended the event and witnessed a presentation honoring the top athlete. It wasn't until later that the family learned he was the recipient of their loved one's organ.

Strauss received his liver from a woman, 53, who died of a brain aneurysm.

"She was cooking dinner at home and in mid-sentence she fell over and died," Strauss said.

He said he has become close with his donor's son and daughter.

"We get along great with their families and spend a lot of time together," Strauss said. "It's a special bond. It's been good for them to see that even though their mother died, something good came out of it. They donated her organs to four different people, so they saved four people's lives."

Maybe more than four, given that Strauss has become such an effective advocate for organ donation.

Photo by Richard Gwin

Mike Strauss, a new Kansas University athletic department staffer, had a liver transplant in 2001. Since then, he has won two age-group gold medals in golf in the U.S. Transplant Games.

"There are 17 people a day who die waiting for transplants," Strauss said. "You don't need your organs when you die, so donate them. My donor gave life to four different people who wouldn't be here. If you're an organ donor, you're a hero. You save lives is what you do. No sense burying your organs when people can use them. I'm just thankful for my family, for my kids, that I'm around still, thanks to the generosity of my organ donor. It's a second chance at life. It's pretty special, and everyone can do it. All you have to do is sign up, go to Web sites, say you want to be a donor."

Strauss was in his element and on a roll.

"Every major religion is behind it," he said. "It's a great thing to do. It made me close with another family and saved my life. I'm here because of that. There is no need for 17 people to die every day. The supply is there. We just need to provide it."

Strauss won his second gold medal on Father's Day of 2006 and promptly presented the medal to his father.

"He documented all the blood tests over the years so that when I got sick I was able to go to the doctors and show them my blood tests," Strauss said. "That was extremely helpful for the doctors. He was also able to save a little money to help me pay for it. I would haven't been there if not for him."

Talking up organ donation is his most personal passion, but not his only one. Golf ranks up there, too, as well as a keen interest in college athletics. Making the transition to golf in Kansas from Utah hasn't been without its mysteries, Strauss said.

"I can't hit it as far because of the lack of altitude," he said. "The golf ball flies a lot farther in Utah at 4,700 feet. I can't judge distances here. It's been a real challenge."

Strauss hasn't played in the snow in Kansas yet, though he did in Utah on a day he proved his passion for the game.

"It was the middle of December, and that night was the office holiday party for the athletic department," Strauss remembered. "The marketing director and I went out to play and got nine holes in. He left, and I kept playing. I played 10 and 11 and it started to snow a little bit. I cut across and started to play 17 and then 18, which was straight north, right into the snow. It kept snowing and snowing. The front of me was covered in snow and the back was completely dry. I got up to the 18th green and putted my ball. It looked like the cartoons. The ball just kept getting bigger and bigger, snowballing as it got closer to the hole. That was my first golf experience in Utah."

The wild winds of Kansas aren't about to stop this living, breathing, driving, chipping, putting human billboard of a promoter for organ donation from experiencing the surplus of quality golf in Lawrence.