Stan Razak remembers Gerald Lilly as one of the first people he knew as a young boy.
"I knew Gerald quite well; he knew me longer than I knew him," Razak said. "My dad started school (at Kansas Wesleyan) in 1952, and we lived out in Mentor where all the Lillys lived so I've really known Gerald my whole life."
Their relationship deepened through their association as devoted fans and longtime contributors to the university. Lilly was a fixture at all things KWU as was Razak until his sons then grandsons started competing in middle and high school athletics. Even then he remained a frequent face in the stands, press box and at the scorer's table.
Lilly passed away in 2016 after 68 years as an ardent Coyote supporter. In recognition of his devotion KWU established the Gerald Lilly Award. Fittingly, Razak and his wife Kathy are the 2025 recipients.
The Razaks met while attending Wesleyan in the early 1970s. Stan played basketball, tennis and competed in track while Kathy earned a degree in English education.
"It really touches my heart because I've known Gerald for so long and we lived in 'Lillyville,'" Stan said of his time in Mentor with the Lillys. "One of his brothers lived right in our backyard, the other brother lived nearby so we've known the Lilly family forever.
"It's a big, big honor to get this. It feels like you've accomplished something even though I've just been doing what I enjoy doing - going to ballgames."
"It's an honor because the Lilly family has always been important," said Kathy who works with the KWU Auxiliary. "Gerald was a good friend of Stan's and so that's what makes it special."
Stan said he cannot remember when he became a Coyote fan.
"Supposedly, I went to my first basketball game down in Memorial Hall when I was less than three weeks old so basically, I've been a Coyote my entire life," he said.
After graduating from KWU in 1973 Stan went to work for the Solomon school district and taught sixth grade for more than 30 years. He was a longtime assistant varsity basketball coach at Solomon High School and resides in Solomon.
"My favorite coach to be," he said of his coaching role. "I didn't have to do the paperwork; I didn't have to make schedules; I didn't have to schedule the bus. I just showed up and I enjoyed that very much."
Razak kept the scorebook, ran the time clock and scoreboard and was the announcer for Solomon High basketball games after he left coaching and before retiring from teaching. He performs some of the same duties today at KWU.
"You have the best seat in the house," he said. "You're inside, you don't have to worry about the rain, and they feed you so it's always enjoyable ... except for basketball.
"Everybody thinks that sitting at that scorer's table is the best seat in the house but it's really not because you're so close to the action that you've got the officials in front of you, the coaches in front of you. We're constantly saying, 'who did that, could you see it?'"
Kathy, who hails from Tescott, coordinates the Auxiliary's popular survival kits given to students near the end of the fall semester as they prepare for and take their final exams.
She taught at Ellsworth and Abilene Middle Schools, worked for School Specialty, the district court in Abilene and spent 19 years with the USD Natural Resources Conservation Service before retiring in 2011.
"Wesleyan was an important part of my life because I met Stan, but I've also got some lifelong friends that you just can't beat," she said. "I think this small school and living in the dormitory and all that was what made it special."
Stan says KWU athletics has vastly improved through the years.
"I think it's just gotten better and better as far as the coaches," he said. "The athletes, of course, are much better than they were when I played here - I was a 6-foot big man - and the facilities have gotten a lot better.
"When I played basketball, we didn't even have a gym. We played our games at Sacred Heart (High School), and we practiced out at Schilling (Air Force Base). We just hoped we got back to the cafeteria in time before it closed so we could get supper."
Not surprisingly basketball is his favorite sport but "I enjoy any of them."
Much the same as Lilly who was in attendance regardless of which team was competing. And his fandom went well beyond KWU.
"It was Wesleyan and the surrounding high schools," Razak said. "It wasn't just Wesleyan, and it wasn't just (Salina) Central or (Salina) South, it was anybody. That was his life.