Naismith to join Kansas Hall of Fame

TOPEKA, Kan. — Superman, the inventor of basketball, 1970s rock band Kansas and the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment are among the 2013 class of inductees in the Kansas Hall of Fame.

Dr. James Naismith, who moved to Lawrence from Massachusetts in 1898, brought basketball to the University of Kansas and helped put the sport on the map. He and other inductees will be honored June 21 at a ceremony at Washburn University.

“Although he was not born in Kansas, he loved the state and the University of Kansas and he passed that love down throughout our family,” said Jim Naismith, his grandson, in a statement released by the university.

Naismith was born in Canada but became a U.S. citizen in 1925 in Lawrence.

Naismith is the only losing coach in Kansas basketball history and his original rules of basketball will soon be on permanent display at the university. He is buried in Lawrence and the Jayhawks play in Allen Fieldhouse on Naismith Drive.

Superman, the comic book superhero, is said to have arrived from Krypton and lived in Smallville, Kan., the son of Jonathan and Martha Kent. According to the Kansas Hall of Fame biography on Superman, the creator of the superhero chose Kansas as his place for growing up so that he would learn the values required for someone with super powers.

The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment was organized in 1862 by James Lane and was one of the first all-black regiments to fight in the Civil War. The first battle fought by the regiment was the Battle of Island Mound, Mo. In 2012, the state of Missouri dedicated a historical site honoring the soldiers’ service.

Kansas the band was formed in 1973 and has produced eight gold albums. The band is known for its signature hit, “Dust in the Wind,” which sold more than 1 million copies. The band’s self-titled album features the John Steuart Curry mural “Tragic Prelude” of abolitionist John Brown that is painted in the Kansas Statehouse.

Also to be inducted are Topeka psychiatrists Drs. C.L, Karl and Will Menninger, who founded a clinic in Topeka that pioneered the study of mental health. The clinic is now associated with the Baylor School of Medicine in Houston.