Don Fambrough

Presumably Missouri motorists would still be allowed, but Lawrence city commissioners will soon consider renaming a city street after former Kansas University football coach Don Fambrough.

Commissioners are expected in January to consider a proposal that would rename the stretch of 11th Street north of KU’s Memorial Stadium after Fambrough, who died in September.

“This really isn’t about his win-loss record or anything like that,” said City Commissioner Hugh Carter, who presented the idea. “This is more of a community thing and a chance for the community to say it remembers Don.”

Fambrough was twice head coach of the KU football program in the 1970s and 1980s and played for the Jayhawks in the 1940s. But he is known by many in the region for stoking the rivalry between KU and Missouri. Fambrough often addressed the KU football team before games with the Tigers, invoking battles between the two states leading up to the Civil War.

The city previously had considered naming a portion of Missouri Street after Fambrough, but that idea sputtered after some residents along the street expressed concern over having to undergo an address change.

Carter now is suggesting renaming the portion of 11th Street that runs from Mississippi Street to West Campus Road. City officials believe there are only a handful of properties that would require an address change.

Carter said he has had about 20 individuals approach him with the idea of naming a street after Fambrough. Carter said the city perhaps could more easily name a new street after Fambrough, but he thinks it would be more fitting to have a street near the football stadium.

University officials, Carter said, also are planning on naming a street that runs on university property for Fambrough. Carter said university officials told him they are planning to name the road that runs along the west edge of Memorial Stadium — currently unnamed but would be Maine Street extended — Fambrough Way.

But Carter said he thought naming an official city street after the coach would be appropriate, too.

“This really would be a chance for the community to do something,” Carter said.