SE: Former Wildcat AD, 2018 HOF Inductee Max Urick Maintains Strong Connection to K-State ‘Family’
Sep 03, 2018 | Sports Extra, Athletics
By Corbin McGuire
Max Urick has been mulling over what he wants to say at the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony on September 27 since he found out he was part of the nine-person class.
The former K-State athletic director (1993-2001) thinks he only gets five minutes to speak. He knows that's not long enough.
"Not nearly long enough," Urick corrected.
So, what will be the theme of his speech? How will he compress a nine-year period, when he oversaw vast success at K-State Athletics, into five minutes?
"It's about family," Urick said. "That is unique here."
Like many K-State fans, Urick gets goosebumps watching the football team come out of the tunnel and onto the field before a game — one player carrying the wooden family block, teammates locked arm in arm.
"It sends a message that it's about more than just them," he said. "All of a sudden I start to feel that. They start moving back and forth, and I start smiling and moving back and forth because I know what they're feeling. I know they want to be together, they find strength in each other."
Urick then transitioned into sharing a powerful example of what the K-State family means to him.
It starts on June 11, 2008, the day an EF4 tornado ripped through Manhattan. K-State's campus incurred millions of dollars' worth of damage. Businesses were destroyed. Forty-plus homes were leveled, including many around Urick's. His, luckily, was not, but debris and uprooted oak trees covered his yard, driveway and roof.
The next day, one neighbor brought a chainsaw over and cleared Urick's driveway. The day after that, Urick took in a scene that still brings tears to his eyes.
"Other people in the neighborhood came, were cleaning up — people I didn't know. I go inside and (my wife) Lynn is working on sorting clothes, shaking glass out of clothes with other friends. I go out in front again and I look out there and I see Bill Snyder," Urick said, pausing mid-sentence. "I get a bit emotional here."
After a few seconds, he continued.
"Our house is on a hillside with some trees. It's wooded, and (Snyder is) pulling limbs up and dragging them down to the street," Urick said. "About 20 feet on the other side of him is Shannon Snyder. She's doing the same thing. I see members of the volleyball team are there."
Then, Urick said, a woman who worked in K-State's ticket office pulled up with a chainsaw. He walked around to the back of his house and there was Jon Wefald, Kansas State University's president at the time.
At this point, Urick remembered having to sit down.
"I sat on the back steps, what was left of them… that was my family. That's why that little sign is one of my favorites," Urick said, his voicing giving out. "That's what's unique here, the feeling of family. The people in the parking lot. The people all over. This is home for me."
K-State became home to Urick in 1993. When he was hired, he described the athletic department as "one of the bright shiny stars on the horizon."
Urick said he remembers that quote. And he remembers why he said it.
After a coaching career that included stops at the United States Military Academy, Ohio State, Denison University and Duke, Urick transitioned to administration at Iowa State. He worked at Iowa State for 19 years, including as its athletic director from 1983-1993.
In his last few years leading the Cyclones, he started to notice a change in K-State's football program.
"Kansas State, at the time, was a win on everyone's schedule. That's just what it was. The facilities were marginal. They were fighting like crazy to gain respectability," Urick, inducted into the NACDA Hall of Fame in 2017, said. "My last several years at Iowa State, Kansas State changed. When they would come and play, it was a different Kansas State, and that's because of Bill Snyder. They came to Ames, Iowa, and they were dogfights. They were really hard-fought games. Kansas State was not like that (before). They would give up. They would stop playing hard. Those last few teams did not.
"All those suspected feelings I had were validated and that's why we were able to keep that star going. That's what caused me to think of that. It was rising in the sky."
The success of the football program — 11-straight bowl games, including eight during Urick's tenure — jettisoned the possibilities within the athletic department. Its budget expanded significantly. Facilities were upgraded. Fundraising and ticket sales, Urick said, became more "sophisticated" and "aggressive."
Additionally, Urick made gender-equity issues a high priority and made significant strides in accomplishing the objectives of Title IX while at K-State. Most notably, he oversaw the addition of women's rowing to the department, starting with the 1996-97 season.
"The values of amateur sport are not gender specific, nor are they sport specific. The values I'm talking about are the values of learning the importance of hard work, teamwork, of setting goals, of being persistent, playing by the rules, dealing with adversity, dealing with success, understanding the importance of working hard at relationships with others," he said. "If those are good values and they can be taught through sports, then they can be taught through many sports and they can be taught to both men and women."
Urick played football at Ohio Wesleyan, getting into coaching afterward. He said both experiences served him well in his eventual move to administration.
"It enabled me to keep the student-athlete as the bullseye of the target," Urick said, a phrase he reinforced by having leather drink coasters made with a target on them.
On this target, the bullseye represents the student-athlete. The second ring is the university students and the community. The third is alumni and friends of the university. The fourth is the general public.
"You have to keep your eye on the bullseye of the target. The rest of it is more than noise but don't let it be a distraction and let it limit what you can do for the student-athletes," he said. "That's why the bullseye helped me keep my feet on the ground when things were really good and keep me off the ground when things were really bad. It's the bullseye approach that keeps us moving forward and keeps us going the same direction, hopefully."
Since Urick retired in 2001, he's consistently maintained a strong connection with K-State.
Each spring for many years, he's been part of a group in Arizona to host the K-State women's golf team during one of its tournaments.
"That is one of the most enjoyable things we do," Urick said. "The women come out there and we get our purple on and we stay right where that golf course is. We have a couple meals that we share with them. We yell, 'Go Cats!' and their head pops around, they (give you the thumbs up) and they pick up the step a little bit. It's a great connection that I just stumbled into it. But, again, it was so easy to stumble into it because of the family feeling."
On last year's trip, as some of the golfers asked Urick questions about his background, they discovered another one of the ways he stays connected to K-State. For the past few years, he's taken a class at K-State. Geography has been one of his favorite subjects. Even more, they figured out he was in the same geography class as K-State women's golfer Niamh McSherry.
"Everyone got a really big kick out of that," Urick said. "It's really uplifting to be around the students. It's energizing and it's something I plan to do again this fall."
Urick has also served on the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame committee for many years. This time around, however, he was recovering from hip surgery and, therefore, was not as engaged as in the process as usual.
Consequently, Urick thought Kenny Lannou, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Communications and K-State Athletics Hall of Fame Chairperson, misspoke when he told Urick he was in this year's class.
"I was pretty speechless when he said that. It never seemed possible. I never internalized any of the successes I've been around. It's always the other people. Of course, in sports if you have success it's because of a lot of other people making that happen," he said. "It was quite uplifting, and I didn't have to look very far to find targets of my gratitude. They're all around me every day."
Max Urick has been mulling over what he wants to say at the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony on September 27 since he found out he was part of the nine-person class.
The former K-State athletic director (1993-2001) thinks he only gets five minutes to speak. He knows that's not long enough.
"Not nearly long enough," Urick corrected.
So, what will be the theme of his speech? How will he compress a nine-year period, when he oversaw vast success at K-State Athletics, into five minutes?
"It's about family," Urick said. "That is unique here."
Like many K-State fans, Urick gets goosebumps watching the football team come out of the tunnel and onto the field before a game — one player carrying the wooden family block, teammates locked arm in arm.
"It sends a message that it's about more than just them," he said. "All of a sudden I start to feel that. They start moving back and forth, and I start smiling and moving back and forth because I know what they're feeling. I know they want to be together, they find strength in each other."
Urick then transitioned into sharing a powerful example of what the K-State family means to him.
It starts on June 11, 2008, the day an EF4 tornado ripped through Manhattan. K-State's campus incurred millions of dollars' worth of damage. Businesses were destroyed. Forty-plus homes were leveled, including many around Urick's. His, luckily, was not, but debris and uprooted oak trees covered his yard, driveway and roof.
The next day, one neighbor brought a chainsaw over and cleared Urick's driveway. The day after that, Urick took in a scene that still brings tears to his eyes.
"Other people in the neighborhood came, were cleaning up — people I didn't know. I go inside and (my wife) Lynn is working on sorting clothes, shaking glass out of clothes with other friends. I go out in front again and I look out there and I see Bill Snyder," Urick said, pausing mid-sentence. "I get a bit emotional here."
After a few seconds, he continued.
"Our house is on a hillside with some trees. It's wooded, and (Snyder is) pulling limbs up and dragging them down to the street," Urick said. "About 20 feet on the other side of him is Shannon Snyder. She's doing the same thing. I see members of the volleyball team are there."
Then, Urick said, a woman who worked in K-State's ticket office pulled up with a chainsaw. He walked around to the back of his house and there was Jon Wefald, Kansas State University's president at the time.
At this point, Urick remembered having to sit down.
"I sat on the back steps, what was left of them… that was my family. That's why that little sign is one of my favorites," Urick said, his voicing giving out. "That's what's unique here, the feeling of family. The people in the parking lot. The people all over. This is home for me."
K-State became home to Urick in 1993. When he was hired, he described the athletic department as "one of the bright shiny stars on the horizon."
Urick said he remembers that quote. And he remembers why he said it.
After a coaching career that included stops at the United States Military Academy, Ohio State, Denison University and Duke, Urick transitioned to administration at Iowa State. He worked at Iowa State for 19 years, including as its athletic director from 1983-1993.
In his last few years leading the Cyclones, he started to notice a change in K-State's football program.
"Kansas State, at the time, was a win on everyone's schedule. That's just what it was. The facilities were marginal. They were fighting like crazy to gain respectability," Urick, inducted into the NACDA Hall of Fame in 2017, said. "My last several years at Iowa State, Kansas State changed. When they would come and play, it was a different Kansas State, and that's because of Bill Snyder. They came to Ames, Iowa, and they were dogfights. They were really hard-fought games. Kansas State was not like that (before). They would give up. They would stop playing hard. Those last few teams did not.
"All those suspected feelings I had were validated and that's why we were able to keep that star going. That's what caused me to think of that. It was rising in the sky."
The success of the football program — 11-straight bowl games, including eight during Urick's tenure — jettisoned the possibilities within the athletic department. Its budget expanded significantly. Facilities were upgraded. Fundraising and ticket sales, Urick said, became more "sophisticated" and "aggressive."
Additionally, Urick made gender-equity issues a high priority and made significant strides in accomplishing the objectives of Title IX while at K-State. Most notably, he oversaw the addition of women's rowing to the department, starting with the 1996-97 season.
"The values of amateur sport are not gender specific, nor are they sport specific. The values I'm talking about are the values of learning the importance of hard work, teamwork, of setting goals, of being persistent, playing by the rules, dealing with adversity, dealing with success, understanding the importance of working hard at relationships with others," he said. "If those are good values and they can be taught through sports, then they can be taught through many sports and they can be taught to both men and women."
Urick played football at Ohio Wesleyan, getting into coaching afterward. He said both experiences served him well in his eventual move to administration.
"It enabled me to keep the student-athlete as the bullseye of the target," Urick said, a phrase he reinforced by having leather drink coasters made with a target on them.
On this target, the bullseye represents the student-athlete. The second ring is the university students and the community. The third is alumni and friends of the university. The fourth is the general public.
"You have to keep your eye on the bullseye of the target. The rest of it is more than noise but don't let it be a distraction and let it limit what you can do for the student-athletes," he said. "That's why the bullseye helped me keep my feet on the ground when things were really good and keep me off the ground when things were really bad. It's the bullseye approach that keeps us moving forward and keeps us going the same direction, hopefully."
Since Urick retired in 2001, he's consistently maintained a strong connection with K-State.
Each spring for many years, he's been part of a group in Arizona to host the K-State women's golf team during one of its tournaments.
"That is one of the most enjoyable things we do," Urick said. "The women come out there and we get our purple on and we stay right where that golf course is. We have a couple meals that we share with them. We yell, 'Go Cats!' and their head pops around, they (give you the thumbs up) and they pick up the step a little bit. It's a great connection that I just stumbled into it. But, again, it was so easy to stumble into it because of the family feeling."
On last year's trip, as some of the golfers asked Urick questions about his background, they discovered another one of the ways he stays connected to K-State. For the past few years, he's taken a class at K-State. Geography has been one of his favorite subjects. Even more, they figured out he was in the same geography class as K-State women's golfer Niamh McSherry.
"Everyone got a really big kick out of that," Urick said. "It's really uplifting to be around the students. It's energizing and it's something I plan to do again this fall."
Urick has also served on the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame committee for many years. This time around, however, he was recovering from hip surgery and, therefore, was not as engaged as in the process as usual.
Consequently, Urick thought Kenny Lannou, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Communications and K-State Athletics Hall of Fame Chairperson, misspoke when he told Urick he was in this year's class.
"I was pretty speechless when he said that. It never seemed possible. I never internalized any of the successes I've been around. It's always the other people. Of course, in sports if you have success it's because of a lot of other people making that happen," he said. "It was quite uplifting, and I didn't have to look very far to find targets of my gratitude. They're all around me every day."
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