KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Paul Shoulberg knew better than to try and call his dad whenever the University of Kansas men's basketball team was on television.
"He always watched it," Shoulberg told FOX Sports Kansas City on Friday when asked about his late father Don Shoulberg, a Lawrence, Kan., marriage/family therapist and KU basketball fan. "He was into it."
Don passed away Tuesday evening at Lawrence Memorial Hospital at the age of 76. But the elder Shoulberg had such reverence for the Jayhawks that the family went so far as to actually schedule a Friday visitation around the KU men’s hoops team.
At the end of his obituary, published in the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper, Shoulberg’s survivors noted that a prayer service would be slated for 5 p.m. local time Friday, "followed by a visitation until tipoff time for the K.U. basketball game (approx. 6:30 p.m.)."
The Jayhawks, the top seed in the South region of the NCAA Tournament, were slated to play fourth-seeded Michigan on Friday night at 6:37 p.m. Central time.
"We were trying to figure out, just basically, how and when (the visitation) should end," Paul said. "Dad would love this."
Don Shoulberg was a Jayhawk alum and former KU instructor who worked in Lawrence for most of the past four decades. And while he wasn’t a season-ticket holder, he had several friends who were, and found himself a frequent visitor to Allen Fieldhouse.
Paul said the family was "getting tons of feedback" on the visitation scheduling, "and it’s great, because my dad, obviously, was a huge KU fan, and he would get a huge kick out of this (attention).
"This is perfect. I guarantee you, he is laughing about this somewhere."
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com
