Ken Louis Continues the Push for Varsity Status

In the fall of 1986, Ken Louis arrived on Trinity’s campus as a freshman and immediately became involved with the distance running scene on campus. According to an article from the October 16, 1987 issue of The Trinitonian, he had come to Trinity with an understanding that there was a cross country team and the belief that he would be able to continue running competitively (Crow, 1987). In his freshman year, Louis met senior runner David Apel at the annual Turkey Trot (Louis, personal interview) and the two of them discussed the future possibilities for the Trinity Cross Country Club that David would leave behind at graduation. Louis wanted to keep the club team alive at the very least, but he too had set his sights on achieving the goal of an official varsity cross country team.

He had taken things a step further by meeting with Gene Norris, head of the Athletic Department, to discuss what needed to be done to get a university sponsored team. According to Louis, Norris did not seem to be too enthusiastic about the idea at first (Louis, personal interview). During their initial meeting in the winter of 1987, Norris had explained that a cross country team could not be sponsored that year because the budget had already been set and that there was a three year active requirement that must be maintained before a club team could be considered for varsity status (Crow, 1987). Ken Louis met with Norris for a second time later that year and garnered his support by organizing club meetings in the spring and showing that there was a lot of interest from other runners on campus. Louis had posted flyers around campus with his dorm room phone number to advertise the club and actively recruited first year students (Louis, personal interview). His continued efforts to communicate with Norris suggest that Ken Louis was determined to turn his goal into a reality.