K-Stater recalls meeting the legendary Dolly Parton during a trip with the men’s basketball team
By Tim Schrag '12
In 1970 several Wildcats had a chance encounter with country music icon and national treasure, Dolly Parton. Parton passed away on Aug. 25 at the age of 80.
On Dec. 14, 1970, Jack Hartman and the men’s basketball team traveled to Nashville to play Vanderbilt University. The ’Cats came away with an 81-74 win over the Commodores. While in Nashville the team accepted an invitation from Chet Atkins, then-vice president of RCA’s country division, to tour the RCA recording studio while artists were actively recording.
During the tour Dev Nelson ’49, K-State’s sports information director and “voice of the ’Cats,” noticed that a young upstart singer named Dolly Parton was in the studio working with Porter Wagoner and asked Atkins if he could watch their recording session. Atkins agreed to let Nelson and Larry Weigel ’68, ’69 sit in on the session, while the team continued the tour. Weigel played for the Wildcats before joining the K-State coaching staff.
“So Chet Atkins walks us down to the studio and we slip in, we're about 15 feet away and there's Dolly Parton and here's Porter Wagoner and they're cutting a record,” Weigel said. “And we just sat there in awe and Dev kept saying, ‘Boy, that Dolly is something.’”
Wagoner and Parton released 13 studio albums together at RCA Victor. They were likely recording songs for Two of a Kind released in 1971.
“I don't remember what she sang, but it was a country western song that they were recording, and we were in there for about 30 minutes,” Weigel said. “And that was quite a sensation.”
Weigel would go on to work for the KSU Foundation and later the K-State Alumni Association before working in financial planning. He said Nelson would often recall the memory of meeting Parton, affectionally saying she was ‘something.’ Nelson was inducted into the K-State Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. He passed away in 1993. The press level at Bill Snyder Family Stadium is named in his honor.
“We always got a kick out of his love for Dolly,” Weigel said.