This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and former Kansas State University president Jon Wefald, who altered the downward spiral of the university while serving as its leader from 1986 to 2009. Wefald and his wife, Ruth Ann, now live on Bay Lake, which is about two hours north of Minneapolis. During Wefald's tenure in Manhattan, he lifted enrollment from around 16,000 to 24,000, he elevated the University's ability to fundraise and earn research funding, built a new library and art museum, but he also refused to give up on the school's tragically bad football program and hired one more coach: Bill Snyder. Without Jon Wefald, what we now know as Kansas State's reality would be dramatically different and the school certainly wouldn't be a member of the Big 12 Conference. Why? Well, aside from the fact that dropping football would have pushed K-State out of the Big Eight, it was in big part thanks to Wefald's vision that the Big 12, a combination of the Big Eight and four former Southwest Conference schools, became reality. In addition to all of that, Wefald and former United States Senator Pat Roberts were the driving forces behind Manhattan landing the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which is nearing completion due east of Bill Snyder Family Stadium on the edge of the Kansas State campus.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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