The Kansas City Athletic Club is an athletic club and gentlemen's club in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Notable members have included

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

and others.

Founding

The club was founded in 1887 by Arthur E. Stillwell as the Fairmount Cycling Club, a bicycling club in Fairmount Park in Kansas City. In 1893, the club changed its name to the Kansas City Athletic Club. In the early 20th century, it was nationally known for fielding championship

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

teams.

Amateur Basketball

Beginning in the early 1900s, the club's amateur basketball team, the Blue Diamonds, became a nationally known powerhouse, notably after defeating the Buffalo Germans in 1905 - the ''de facto'' national basketball champion who had won the championship at the

1904 World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

in its 1898-99 inaugural season and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

in its 1906-07 inaugural season. In the 1920s, at a time when universities, corporate sponsored teams, and private clubs all competed in the same bracket, the club played in six national championship games: *1921 - 1st, 42-36 (defeating Southwest Kansas College) *1922 - 2nd, 42-28 (losing to

Lowe and Campbell Athletic Goods Lowe and Campbell Athletic Goods was a sports equipment manufacturer and retailer based in Kansas City, Missouri until 1931 when it was acquired by Wilson Sporting Goods. In the 1920s, the company, which was based at 15th and Baltimore in Downtown ...

of Kansas City) *1923 - 1st, 31-18 (defeating Hillyard, Inc. Shine Alls) *1924 - 2nd, 30-26 (losing to

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

) *1926 - 2nd, 25-20 (losing to Hillyard) *1928 - 2nd, 25-23 (losing to Cook's Painter Boys)

Rise and Decline

In February 1917, the Kansas City Athletic Club planned to construct a new clubhouse in

Downtown Kansas City Downtown Kansas City is the central business district (CBD) of Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is between the Missouri River in the north, to 31st Street in the south; and from the Kansas–Missouri state line east ...

, but was experiencing serious difficulties in obtaining financing. In March 1917, the board proposed a merger with the

Kansas City Club The Kansas City Club, founded in 1882 and located in the Library District of Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, was the oldest gentlemen's club in Missouri. The club began admitting women members in 1975. Along with the River Club on nearby ...

. But after a joint board meeting of the two clubs, the Kansas City Club's board rejected the proposal. Instead, in 1923, the club acquired an unfinished, 22-story building at Eleventh Street and Baltimore Avenue in Downtown Kansas City. The club hired architect firm

Hoit, Price & Barnes Hoit, Price & Barnes was a prominent Kansas City architectural firm in the early 20th century. It designed several skyscrapers and mansions including three of the current ten tallest buildings in Kansas City; the Kansas City Power and Light Bui ...

, and completed the building.
/ref> In 1932, however, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the Continental Hotel Company took over the 22-story clubhouse, leaving only the six topmost floors devoted to the club itself. For a period in the 1960s, the hotel contained a branch of the

Playboy Club The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club R ...

. In 1982, the building was remodeled and renamed as the Mark Twain Tower, an office building. The club retained the rights to the top six floors. On February 29, 2016, the Mark Twain Tower was purchased by National Historic Property Developer Hudson Holdings. Located in Delray Beach, Florida, Hudson Holdings' mission is the acquisition, development and adaptive reuse of significant and large scale retail, residential, hotel and office properties. The company’s slate of mixed-use historic restoration and historic preservation projects, most notably in central, downtown and core business districts across the country comprises nearly 5 million square feet of space valued in excess more than $1.2 billion. Major historic renovation projects include: The Huntington Building, Mark Twain Tower, Republic Building, Railway Exchange, Starks Building, Textile Building, Gulfstream Hotel, and the Sundy House.

Notable club members

* Tusten Ackerman, early basketball star *

Forrest DeBernardi Forrest Sale "Red" DeBernardi (February 3, 1899 – April 29, 1970) was an American college basketball player in the 1920s. Standing 6 ft. 1 inches tall, DeBernardi was one of the best centers of his era, and played all five positions. ...

, early basketball star * John Kuck,

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

olympian *

Dutch Lonborg Arthur C. "Dutch" Lonborg (March 16, 1898 – January 31, 1985) was a basketball, American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. Basketball The Gardner, Illinois native coached for 23 years at McPherson Colleg ...

, prolific college basketball coach * Fay Moulton, Olympic sprinter, football player and coach, and lawyer * Joseph Reilly, college football player and coach and athletic director of the KCAC. * Lee Talbott, track & field athlete *

, 33rd President of the United States'' Truman'' by

David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States ...

- Simon & Schuster (June 14, 1993) *

Alfred Michael "Chief" Venne Alfred Michael Venne (1879–1971) was an Ojibwa (Chippewa) Native American. He was educated at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Pennsylvania. He later became an educator, athletic manager and coach, administrator and mentor to countless yo ...

, basketball coach and Indian activist * George Williams, early basketball star

References

External links