KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Excitement for Saturday's University of Kansas-Texas Christian University football game is buzzing, especially with ESPN's College GameDay set to broadcast live from Lawrence for the first time in program history.
With a win, the Jayhawks would move to 6-0 on the season.
But there's an added layer of excitement for any fan of the sport: the National Championship trophy will be on display in Lawrence this weekend.
It's an extra special trip for the man in charge of the trophy, Ray Mallouk, who grew up in Prairie Village and graduated from KU in 1995.
"I always hoped we'd come to Lawrence, maybe in '08 or '09, we were close to coming to Lawrence," Mallouk said. "But I'm ecstatic to be here, as a KU grad, to bring it back here."
For the last two decades, Mallouk's job has been to travel around the country, shepherding the trophy to college campuses, photo shoots and fan events.
"We'll do over 120 trophy events during the year — that's a lot of miles, a lot of fans, a lot of interaction with the public," Mallouk said. "I love doing it, it never gets old. I never take it for granted, going into these unique college football atmospheres. It's always special, and I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Mallouk said he learned that the trophy would come to Lawrence after the Jayhawks defeated Iowa State on Oct. 1. He'd been hoping for that assignment for some time.
"We work with ESPN and the College Football Playoff to give our recommendations on where we think it should go," Mallouk said. "So we've been kind of feeding them Lawrence for the last couple of weeks, and the can kept getting kicked down the road. But this was clear, so we were ecstatic when they told us."
The trophy actually arrived in the KC area before Mallouk did. He ships the trophy via FedEx because, in its carrying case, it's too heavy to take on an airplane.
For this trip, he shipped it to his brother's house.
"My brother is texting me, JP is his son, he's like, 'JP can't believe the trophy is here,'" Mallouk said. "I said, 'Well, when I fly in, I'll take it out and we'll take a picture with it.' And my brother is like, 'Um...,' and I was like, 'You already took it out, didn't you.'"
Thankfully, Mallouk said he trusted his brother, and his nephew, to take care of it before he arrived.
Fans in Lawrence will have two chances to take free photos with the trophy on Friday, Oct. 7. Mallouk and the trophy will be at the Walmart at 3300 Iowa Street from 12-2 p.m. and the Walmart at 550 Congressional Drive from 3-5 p.m.
