Dwight Allen Frame

D. Allen Frame 1934-2025

Al Frame passed away peacefully at home on July 22, surrounded by his wife and five children.

D. Allen (Al) Frame was born July 9, 1934, in Letts, Iowa, the youngest of three sons of H. Dayle Frame, Sr., and Alice (Petersen) Frame.

Al grew up with two older brothers, D. William (Bill) Frame and H. Dayle (Dutch) Frame. Both parents were teachers, and the family lived in many small towns in Iowa, including Letts, Vail, Brandon, Ainsworth, Triffan, and Linn Grove, as well as for two years in Seattle, WA. In 1951, the family moved from Linn Grove to Wichita, Kansas, where Al would plant his Kansas roots.

Al attended Wichita East High School, earning individual State Championship titles in Cross Country in 1951 and the One Mile run in 1952. He was awarded a Summerfield Scholarship upon graduation in 1952. Summerfield Scholarships are a full, academically based scholarship awarded to 10 Kansas high school graduates each year. He was inducted into the Wichita East High School Hall of Fame in 2009 for Cross Country/Track.

He began his college journey at the University of Kansas in 1952, taking advantage of the Summerfield Scholarship, and joined the legendary Coach Bill Easton's Cross-Country and Track and Field Teams. Having spent many of his early years attending different schools, it was at KU that he truly found a home and built strong friendships, including a lifelong one with Tom Rupp. The brotherhood and friendships they forged during their collegiate careers and still share today are unimaginable.

"We enjoy every minute we're with each other," Frame says. "As the years go by, the memories get better."

Freshmen were not allowed to compete in intercollegiate athletics during Frame's time, but they did have practice. His freshman year, he spent studying and, as he tells it, at practice doing everything to keep up with the team leaders; he figured the best way to get better was to emulate what the best runners were doing. Anyone who knows Al will attest to his stubborn streak, which served him well as a distance runner.

As a sophomore, he was eligible to compete, and boy, did he. The 1953 Cross-Country team won the NCAA Championship Title with future Olympian Wes Santee placing first and Al as the third Jayhawk to finish, placing 18th (Jayhawk teammates placing: Art Dalzell 14, Lloyde Koby 40, Dick Wilson 42, Tom Rupp 78). The following year, Al won the NCAA Individual Championship Title, with the team placing 4th (Jayhawk teammates placing: Jan Howell, 28; Lowell Janzen, 39; Tom Rupp, 40; Grant Cookson, 69). The Individual Championship earned him his first First Team All-American honors. On the track, he received additional All-American honors by placing in at the NCAA Championship Track meet: 3rd place in the 2-mile run in 1955 and 4th in the 10,000-meter run in 1956. He was the Captain of the Cross-Country and Track Teams during his senior year, concluding his Kansas Jayhawk career with three First Team All-American titles, one Individual and one Team National Championships in Cross-Country, eight Big 7 Conference Individual Championships, and eight Big 7 Conference Team Championships. He is also a member of the University of Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. And you can see a silhouette of him running enshrined on the KU Cross Country Course at Rim Rock Ranch.

A competitor on the track and cross-country courses, Al truly embodied the spirit of the Student-Athlete. An alumnus of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, he was an academically brilliant student, earning a degree in history and ranking in the top 5 of his class, receiving Phi Beta Kappa honors, and being elected Senior Class President. In an article for KU Athletics, Once a Jayhawk, Always a Jayhawk series, Frame said, "Academics are important to me. Being good academically is more important to me and my family than athletics."

With all of his success on the track and in the classroom, it was the summer of 1955 that would truly change his life. He was in Macksville, Kansas, over the summer working on the farm of Jayhawk teammate Jan Howell when he was set up on a blind date with Sally J. Wilson from nearby Kinsley. Sally was headed to KU that fall and was pretty enamored of the senior track star and 1956 Class President. They dated throughout the year, and Al graduated in 1956. He then volunteered for a two-year stint in the Army, where he also competed and was the Captain of the Army Track Team. Halfway through his Army commitment, on June 8, 1957, Sally and Al got married, hoping to be stationed in Germany for a year. The Germany dream was quickly put to rest when Al got orders to be stationed in Fort Riley, Kansas.

After the Army, Al returned to the University of Kansas, was awarded the Woodrow Wilson graduate scholarship, worked as a graduate assistant with the Track and Cross-Country teams, and attended Law School. He always says that one of the highlights of his time as a graduate assistant was being the coach that escorted his good friend Billy Mills to the NCAA National Cross Country Championships in 1960 where Billy placed 5th – Billy would go on to become the first American to win the Gold in the 10,000 meters at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, he would also go on to also place 14th in the Marathon that same Olympics (talk about stubborn!!). Personal highlights during this time included the birth of his first daughter, Alice Josena Frame (Sena Garven), and his second daughter, Ann Frame Hertzog, born two years later.

In 1962, he and Sally moved to Kinsley, where Al joined his father-in-law, Jerry Wilson, and became a partner in the Wilson & Frame Law firm. His two sons were born: Glenn Allen Frame in 1962 and Mark Raymond Frame in 1964.

A busy family life, work, and community endeavors marked the following years in Kinsley. His love of baseball led Al and his good friend, Ray Gaskill, to start a youth baseball league in the early 1960s. He was a member of the School Board and Rotary, and served as County Attorney, as well as on various other committees and organizations over the years. His love of Kinsley was showcased when he chaired the Centennial Celebration of Kinsley in 1973.

Being part of the community was important, but Al was always happiest when he was doing something with Sally and the kids. A great Dad, he was always there for his kids. He loved coaching, attending sporting events or recitals, building a fort in the backyard, or just hanging with the kids.

Some of the fondest memories are of the summer vacations the family would take. Annual trips to Indiana to visit family. Long road trips to the Northeast visiting historical sites, forts (all of which Al would provide historical context and stories, courtesy of his avid reading and history degree), and the coastline to search for agates. A road trip to the northwest to visit family and national parks – that trip, learning that when you are packing a tent, you should also pack the tent poles! But his favorite vacations were when the family vacations became backpacking trips. Before taking his family into the wilderness, he wanted to ensure he knew what he was doing, so he completed a 5-week NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership Survival) course in Wyoming. Then he took the family on their first backpacking trip to Lake Stewart in New Mexico in 1969 – everyone carried a backpack with something important, even four-year-old Mark was responsible for carrying the toilet paper. Then in Colorado, from Brush Creek, Walden Lake, Creede, Gunnison - Al loved Colorado, being in the mountains, camping along the stream, the fresh air, his family, getting up early in the morning to make coffee for Sally, getting breakfast started, exploring the different areas, having an adventure and telling stories in the tent at night. And most importantly, eating macaroni and cheese and spam due to his total lack of fishing expertise. Then finishing the trips with a visit to the Mahliks in Littleton, Colorado for a well needed showers, great food and relaxing with good friends.

As the kids got older and went off to the University of Kansas, good Jayhawks all, Al was always there, supporting and encouraging them. Having his kids receive an education and become productive, happy, and independent adults was always his highest priority.

In 1983, Al and Sally decided to add to the family, and Lisa Marchelle Frame became their fifth child. Lisa quickly became one of the kids and was encouraged to pursue academics, ultimately earning her degree in education.

Al loved the outdoors and enjoyed rural Kansas. In 1974, Al and Sally moved the family from "the city," four miles Northeast of town, to "The Farm." Al loved living on the farm. He had worked as a farmhand in college and had started buying and working cattle with two friends, Jerry Anderson and Bill Scott, in the early 1970s – their brand was Bar3 (This was also a time when his kids learned some new words as he worked the cattle!). He enjoyed his law practice and continued to work at it up into his late 70s, alongside his new law partner, his son Mark, who joined the practice in 1995. However, living on the farm, having some crop land, and working the cattle made him truly happy.

As Al semi-retired, he and Sally enjoyed watching their kids and grandchildren thrive. They would travel far and wide to watch them compete in sporting events. And they really enjoyed visiting or traveling with their kids. Their many adventures included: visiting Ann and Lisa in Los Angeles; visiting Sena in Italy, Monterey, CA, North Carolina, and El Paso; traveling with Mark and Glenn and their families to Copper Canyon in Mexico; also visiting Glenn in Colorado and Washington, and then traveling with him to the Northeast, Portugal and Spain, and Costa Rica, as well as embarking on a bike-n-barge trip in Belgium and Amsterdam.

Al is a loving husband, a wonderful father, a genuine friend, and teammate. A world-class athlete and scholar, but also a man of integrity, compassion, and unwavering humility. As his brother, Dutch, once said, "Al is a man who lives without regrets because he always does what is the right thing to do, never betraying his conscience and never being selfish." With numerous personal accomplishments, he consistently regarded his family and children as his greatest achievements.

Al is survived by his wife of 68 years Sally Wilson Frame; his five children and 10 grandchildren: Sena (Bob) Garven (sons Jack & Mike), Ann Frame (Steven) Hertzog (son Sam), Glenn (Margaret) Frame (children Foster & Nina), Mark (Beth) Frame (children Nathan, Conner, Ross, Scout & Josena), and Lisa Frame; and eight great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his extraordinary life will be planned at a future date.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the:

• Kinsley Public Library FroundationTax deductible contributions can be mailed to the Kinsley Library Foundation, 208 E. 8th St., Kinsley, KS 67547. For more information, call 620-659-3341 or email: director@kinsleylibrary.infoor Edwards County Healthcare Foundation (email edwardscountyhealthcare@gmail.com).