The Kansas Athletics Department agreed to participate in a parade through downtown Lawrence on Sunday, April 13 to honor the Kansas men’s basketball team — the 2008 NCAA National Champions.

The Athletics Department refused to participate in the parade earlier this week but changed its position last night.

The Athletics Department would not comment on anything regarding the issue.

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Kansas Basketball Championship Parade: 1988

People traveled hundreds of miles to attend the 1988 parade celebrating the NCAA men's basketball championship. The Athletics Department will participate in a downtown parade to honor this year's winning team at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

The parade will begin at 3 p.m. at 7th and Massachusetts streets and will proceed south to South Park, according to the Athletics Department’s Web site.

The Athletics Department will also hold a men’s basketball awards ceremony featuring coach Bill Self and the basketball team in Allen Fieldhouse at 6 p.m. Doors will open at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Jane Pennington, director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., said DLI would pay for all the costs of the parade.

“We’re thrilled that they decided to go ahead with it and we look forward to working with them,” she said.

Chris Burger, treasurer of Downtown Lawrence Inc., said DLI wanted to include the Kansas football team for winning the 2008 Orange Bowl, but Pennington said she thought that would be unlikely.

“I haven’t heard anything about the football team so I assume it will just be the basketball team,” she said.

Pennington said she anticipated a crowd of 40,000 people to show up in downtown Lawrence.

Lawrence celebrated the Jayhawks’ national championship in 1988 with a parade that traveled down Massachusetts Street.

Bob Schumm, who was mayor of Lawrence at the time, said he remembered the parade as if it were yesterday.

“It was the biggest downtown crowd I’d ever seen in my entire life up to that point,” he said. “People were in the streets getting autographs, hanging from trees and pretty much there were people at every conceivable place you could be.”

Schumm said the parade started at Seventh and Vermont streets, went east to Massachusetts Street, turned south to travel down Massachusetts Street and ended at the courthouse on 11th Street.

“When we turned right onto Mass, I was like ‘Oh my God, I’ve never seen this many people before,’” he said. “It took an hour to get from the Eldridge to the courthouse it was so packed.”

Schumm said he expected a lot more people to be at the parade than there were downtown the night the Jayhawks won the championship.

“The difference between the two nights is the celebration after the game was a spontaneous crowd, but because the parade is forecasted, we’ll see people coming from all over the country,” he said. “In 1988 we saw people from 500 to 1,000 miles away that came to see the parade. It’s a great opportunity for the city and the fans to celebrate and thank the basketball team.”

Becca Booth, communications director for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber would be happy to celebrate the Athletics Department’s achievements, but the chamber was waiting for direction from the University.

“From the chamber’s standpoint, we are thrilled by the amazing season and are so proud of our Jayhawks,” she said. “We would be happy to honor their achievements however the University feels best.”

— Edited by Katherine Loeck