From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 11, 1973:

Renowned actor, director, and playwright Jerome Kilty was visiting Kansas University this summer to participate in the second annual Shakespeare Festival, where he had been asked to direct “The Taming of the Shrew.” Kilty had appeared as Falstaff in the University Theatre’s opening performance of “Henry IV, Part I” eighteen years previously. According to an article today, the KU theater faculty had been so impressed by Kilty that they had asked him to leave behind the gnarled piece of wood that had served as his character’s cane. The so-called “Kilty Kane” award had been given each spring since then to one outstanding student in the department; for most of the time, the prop remained in its place of honor, a piece of blue velvet in the University Theatre office. Kilty, who was in the prime of his successful career, said that he was happy to revisit Mount Oread. “I enjoyed my stay here before, and I said then that I’d like to come back some day and do something,” he said in an interview, adding that he tried to spend six weeks of every year teaching and directing at a college or university. In addition to having appeared in 11 Broadway plays, Kilty had acted and directed in several national and international acting companies and had written seven plays.