The pictures above left show the first professor to arrive on campus at California Lutheran College before it opened its doors, Dr. James Kallas, with his wife, Darlean, as they looked having returned from a missionary calling in West Africa just before arriving on campus. The first chair of the Religion Department and a highly respected backfield coach and Team Chaplain to so many alumni football players from the years 1961 when they first began gathering until 1978 when he was called upon for new responsibilities. He played a key role in the formation of the athletic programs and the hiring of Coach Robert Shoup, Cal Lutheran’s first Head Football Coach.
Jim Kallas and his many contributions to Cal Lutheran, its character, its religious values planted and the traditions of excellence in scholarship and athletics established during his tenure in the early years, are and will always be a very important and valued part of our heritage at California Lutheran University.
What an extraordinary life he has had. A veteran of the U.S. Navy at age 14, he attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota with a major in Mathematics and was a Phi Beta Kappa key winner. He was a 12-time letter winner in college sports, lettering in Track, Football and Baseball each year for four years. How good of an athlete was he? His legendary speed in track first established his nickname, “the Galloping Greek”. In 1948 he established the St. Olaf record in the 100-yard dash at 9.8 seconds and also won the State Championship in the 220 yard dash at 22 seconds flat.
It was, nevertheless, in football that the legendary speed of Jim Kallas and his nickname, the “Galloping Greek” found its most fertile ground. The Archive Librarian at St. Olaf College has provided article after article from local papers in the late 1940s explaining how the primary goal of St. Olaf competitors was: Stop Kallas! Here are just a few of the actual quotations from the Manitou Monitor, the Northfield News and other local newspapers:
“Jim Kallas, alias the ‘Galloping Greek,’ and his flying legs provided a 99-yard run that was the margin of victory for the St. Olaf Lions in their 6-0 win over Luther College Saturday night. The slippery conditions on the field slowed up the fast-moving machine of St. Olaf, but after a back and forth struggle and a series of punts by both sides, the “Lutes” punted to Hal Bergeson of St. Olaf who was then immediately downed on the one-yard line. Before Coach Ade Christiansen could send a punter into the game, the Oles lined up and Kallas rolled around the Norse left end, passed the twenty and was on his way to the historic and record-breaking touchdown run.”
“The term ‘Galloping Greek” has been a vital part of every football story written of St. Olaf games in the last four years and in those four years Jim Kallas has rarely let speed pass him by. Jim has spent four years at St. Olaf on the top of activities, scholarships, athletics and popularity. He has by hard work cultivated a keen mind and work ethic that portends of great possibilities. You will rarely find the “Greek” without his familiar smile and well placed remarks. Men such as this that have risen to great heights on the field of play have applied lessons learned from glorious triumphs and disheartening defeats to reach new heights in lives of service to those around them.”
“Heros galore exist in the glory days of the St. Olaf and Carlton College rivalry. One such hero in the annals of St. Olaf history is Jim Kallas, a fleet-footed running back who brought thousands to their feet by sprinting 78 yards for a fourth quarter touchdown in 1949. The electrifying sprint came late in the game and provided the Oles with a hard-earned 13-7 victory.”
The final article section relates to another hard fought game between St. Olaf and its principal rival, Carlton College, but with this newspaper writer’s description of Jim Kallas’ 76 yard run from scrimmage on this particular Saturday, we include an actual video of the “Galloping Greek”, our own Jim Kallas, supplied by the St. Olaf Archive:
“Then the perfect play happened, the play that everyone dreams about but seldom
sees. A big hole was opened in the Carlton line; a black streak went through it and
scampered 76 yards for a touchdown. Jim, “the Galloping Greek,” Kallas was the
ball-carrier. Once he was in the Carlton secondary he turned on his fabled speed and
pulled away from two Maize and Blue Carlton pursuers.”
TO SEE THE GALLOPING GREEK
IN A 76 YARD RUN IN 1948
Although a fierce competitor in college who was invited into professional football by the Chicago Cardinals and eventually ended up playing for George Hallas of the Chicago Bears, the interest of Jim Kallas in the Christian gospel and higher scholarship led him to Luther Seminary and both the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Durham in England as both a Fulbright and Rockefeller scholar. After his tenure at Cal Lutheran, he served as President of Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, work for which he was also knighted by the Queen of Denmark.
Jim Kallas is a scholar, theologian and author of many books on subjects as diverse as the life of the Apostle Paul, the Book of Revelation, Miracles in the Synoptic Gospels, and An Introduction to Christian Thought for Lay People.
Jim Kallas is a Board Member of the 5th Quarter Football Club, is now retired and lives in University Village in Thousand Oaks with his wife, Darlean.
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