{"id":40752,"date":"2025-10-14T14:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T19:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/?p=40752"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:09:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T19:09:13","slug":"razaks-to-receive-lilly-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Memorial Hall is downtown, where Access TV is located. KWU played its games there before moving to Sacred Heart then Muir Gym<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Stan Razak \u201973 remembers Gerald Lilly as one of the first people he knew.<\/p>\n

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 \u201970, are the 2025 recipients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Gerald quite well; he knew me longer than I knew him,\u201d Razak said. \u201cWe lived out in Mentor, where all the Lillys lived, so I really knew Gerald my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s table.<\/p>\n

The Razaks met while attending Wesleyan in 1970. Stan played basketball, tennis and competed in track, while Kathy earned a degree in English Education.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really touches my heart because I\u2019ve known Gerald for so long and we lived in \u2018Lillyville,\u2019\u201d Stan said of his time in Mentor. \u201cOne of his brothers lived almost right in our backyard, the other brother lived nearby, so we\u2019ve known the Lilly family forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big, big honor to get this. It feels like you\u2019ve accomplished something, even though I\u2019ve just been doing what I enjoy doing \u2013 going to ballgames.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor because the Lilly family has always been important,\u201d said Kathy, who works with the KWU Auxiliary. \u201cGerald was a good friend of Stan\u2019s, and so that\u2019s what makes it special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stan can\u2019t remember when he became a Coyote fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupposedly, I went to my first basketball game in Memorial Hall when I was less than three weeks old, so basically, I\u2019ve been a Coyote my entire life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After graduating from KWU in 1973, Stan taught sixth grade in the Solomon School District for more than 30 years. He was a longtime assistant varsity basketball coach at Solomon High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite coach to be,\u201d he said of his assistant coaching role. \u201cI didn\u2019t have to do the paperwork; I didn\u2019t have to make schedules; I didn\u2019t have to schedule the bus. I just showed up, and I enjoyed that very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Razak kept the scorebook, ran the time clock and scoreboard, and announced Solomon High basketball games after he left coaching and before retiring from teaching. He performs some of the same duties today at KWU.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the best seat in the house,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re inside, you don\u2019t have to worry about the rain, and they feed you so it\u2019s always enjoyable \u2026 except for basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re so close to the action that you\u2019ve got the officials in front of you, the coaches in front of you. We\u2019re constantly saying, \u2018Who did that, could you see it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathy, who hails from Tescott, coordinates the Auxiliary\u2019s popular survival kits given to students near the end of the semesters as they prepare for final exams.<\/p>\n

She taught at Ellsworth and Abilene Middle schools, then worked for School Specialty and the district court in Abilene. She spent 19 years with the USD Natural Resources Conservation Service before retiring in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cWesleyan was an important part of my life because I met Stan. I\u2019ve also got some lifelong friends that you just can\u2019t beat,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Stan says KWU athletics has improved through the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just gotten better and better, as far as the coaches,\u201d he said. \u201cThe athletes, of course, are much better than they were when I played here \u2013 I was a 6-foot big man.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I played basketball, we didn\u2019t even have a gym. We played our games at Sacred Heart (High School), and we practiced at Schilling (Air Force Base). We just hoped we got back to the cafeteria in time before it closed so we could get supper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basketball is his favorite sport but, \u201cI enjoy any of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much the same as Lilly, who was in attendance regardless of which team was competing. And his fandom went beyond KWU.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Wesleyan and the surrounding high schools,\u201d Razak said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just Wesleyan, and it wasn\u2019t just (Salina) Central or (Salina) South, it was anybody. That was his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings seemed right in the world when Gerald was sitting at the game. If he wasn\u2019t there, something was wrong. You just expected him to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":40754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150,153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-athletics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRazaks to Receive Lilly Award - Kansas Wesleyan University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award - Kansas Wesleyan University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kansas Wesleyan University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-14T19:09:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-14T19:09:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Skylar Nelson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Skylar Nelson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/f8c614801459b64a34e9ae5b7ecb0e8c\"},\"headline\":\"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-14T19:09:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-14T19:09:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/\"},\"wordCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\",\"Athletics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/\",\"name\":\"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award - Kansas Wesleyan University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-14T19:09:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-14T19:09:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/\",\"name\":\"www.kwu.edu\",\"description\":\"Discover The Power of AND at Kansas Wesleyan University!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Kansas Wesleyan University\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2_KWU-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2_KWU-logo.jpg\",\"width\":1472,\"height\":510,\"caption\":\"Kansas Wesleyan University\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/f8c614801459b64a34e9ae5b7ecb0e8c\",\"name\":\"Skylar Nelson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bcc6e1f90abca807fd7bd85b841976f6f531deae5e62a60aac3f64d1a582864?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bcc6e1f90abca807fd7bd85b841976f6f531deae5e62a60aac3f64d1a582864?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Skylar Nelson\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award - Kansas Wesleyan University","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award - Kansas Wesleyan University","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/","og_site_name":"Kansas Wesleyan University","article_published_time":"2025-10-14T19:09:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-14T19:09:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Skylar Nelson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/"},"author":{"name":"Skylar Nelson","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/f8c614801459b64a34e9ae5b7ecb0e8c"},"headline":"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award","datePublished":"2025-10-14T19:09:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-14T19:09:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/"},"wordCount":5,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Alumni","Athletics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/","name":"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award - Kansas Wesleyan University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-14T19:09:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-14T19:09:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Razaks-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/razaks-to-receive-lilly-award\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Razaks to Receive Lilly Award"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/","name":"www.kwu.edu","description":"Discover The Power of AND at Kansas Wesleyan University!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization","name":"Kansas Wesleyan University","url":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2_KWU-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2_KWU-logo.jpg","width":1472,"height":510,"caption":"Kansas Wesleyan University"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/f8c614801459b64a34e9ae5b7ecb0e8c","name":"Skylar Nelson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bcc6e1f90abca807fd7bd85b841976f6f531deae5e62a60aac3f64d1a582864?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6bcc6e1f90abca807fd7bd85b841976f6f531deae5e62a60aac3f64d1a582864?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Skylar Nelson"}}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-01-30 12:20:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40752"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40758,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40752\/revisions\/40758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}