When Jeff Jacobsen retired in 2020 after decades as the athletic department photographer for the University of Kansas, he found himself looking for one more challenge. So he decided to visit every county in the state to document sports.
Four years later, the Heart and Soul of Kansas Sports project is nearly complete.
Only eight out of Kansas' 105 counties remain to be photographed. Among the activities documented: a cyclist's attempt at the hour record at the Lawrence Grass Velodrome, the Pratt Community College's rodeo team, and plenty of high school prep sports.
To Jacobsen, sports are a unifier, an activity that brings people together across differences in contentious times when people often can't agree. And featuring Kansas, a state he says is often overlooked, is special too.
"So many people in the state, I believe, feel that they're forgotten," Jacobsen told KCUR's Up To Date. "Newspapers aren't as prevalent. Television doesn't cover the sports as much as they used to, in a sense, and when somebody shows up and seems to care and wants to do document this, they just roll out everything they possibly can. And it's been a thrill to to meet everyone I've met."
Once he's finished the photography portion, Jacobsen plans to compile the images he's taken, along with video interview, into a larger multimedia documentary that he'll tour around the state.
Photos from the Heart and Soul of Kansas Sports project are available to view here.
- Jeff Jacobsen, photographer
