Washburn Hall of Fame - Bob Hentzen
Bob Hentzen
Topeka Capital-Journal 1958-99
Meritorious Service Honoree
Inducted 2003-04
Former Topeka Capital Journal-Sports Editor Bob Hentzen worked for the paper from 1958 to 1999 and was inducted into the Washburn Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003-04 as a meritorious service honoree. Hentzen passed away on March 17, 2000.
After starting work in January 1958 at The Topeka Daily Capital and Topeka State Journal, Hentzen racked up awards and respect across the country. A native of Seward, Nebraska, Hentzen graduated from the University of Oklahoma. He worked at the Tulsa World, Daily Oklahoman and the Oklahoma City Times before coming to Topeka. Hentzen officially retired from The Topeka Capital-Journal on March 1, 1996, but continued to write a weekly column up until November 1999.
His final column was about the Washburn Ichabods. He was voted Kansas sports writer of the year 15 times by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Hentzen was president of both the United States Basketball Writers Association of America and the Football Writers Association. In 1990, he was inducted into the USBWA Hall of Fame, and in 1996 he received the Curt Gowdy Media Award presented by the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1993, he received the Bert McGrane Award presented by the Football Writers Association of America.
Hentzen was also very vocal for the NCAA Division II schools in the state to play the University of Kansas. Kansas has rotated an in-state Division II team into its schedule every season since 1992-93, when it began the practice after criticism from Hentzen. He wrote after KU flogged Central Missouri, that if the Jayhawks were going to pay big bucks to a Division II school for a home game, the money ought to stay within the state lines.
