Making the effort

Photos by Elissa Monroe

Jerod Haase autographs a copy of his recently published book.

Former Jayhawk hoops star pays young med-center patients a visit

During a hectic statewide tour to promote his recently published book, “Floor Burns: Inside the Life of a Kansas Jayhawk, the story of the 1996-1997 KU basketball team,” for which he was a starting player and co-captain, Jerrod Haase recently took time to visit with hundreds of young fans at KU Children’s Center.

Haase stopped by the Children’s Center family room to chat with some of the hospitalized youngsters, who, in turn, presented to him a small Christmas stocking stuffed with candy.

Acknowledging that his young fans faced tremendous challenges, Haase praised them for their courage: “Things aren’t always good,” he said, noting Continued from Page 1he faced a particularly hard time his freshman year in California when his father died and he struggled on and off the court. “The hardest thing is to keep you head up. But at the same time, some many good things in life are good. As long as you learn from the bad times and keep positive, you will succeed.”

In addition to spending time with youngsters in the Family Center, Haase visited children in their hospital rooms. Throughout the afternoon, he posed for and signed pictures, talked about his basketball career and aspirations, and described how he and co-author Mark Horvath collaborated to wrote the basketball memoir. His final action: signing the KU Children’s Center Wall of Fame.