Annual Fun Run honors two people that left the world too soon

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - This year, an annual Fun Run honored two people who died unexpectedly in a December car crash. One was a Washburn University professor who made a difference to students and marathon runners.

The Sunflower Striders Running Club held its 17th annual “Labor Your Legs Fun Run and Walk” on Monday, Sept. 1, a free three-mile run around the Washburn University campus.

This year, the club decided to hold the Fun Run to honor the late Professor Dave Provorse and his wife, Marcia.

Dave was a professor of psychology at Washburn for nearly 34 years.

• He taught six different graduate courses
• Oversaw three clinical practicums
• Accounted for nearly one-third of the master’s program curriculum
• Chaired over 60 master’s theses
• Earned the Washburn Ned Fleming Teaching Award in 2010
• Served as chair of Washburn’s Psychology Department

And, taught a marathon training class there for more than 20 years through Washburn’s Kinesiology Department. In that time, he helped almost 500 students achieve the goal of finishing a marathon.

As well as supervising graduate students conducting Mental Skills for Performance Enhancement groups for the women’s soccer, softball, and basketball teams, and the men’s and women’s track and field and tennis teams.

The Provorses’ daughter, Amanda Strassburg, was at the Fun Run.

“To put my parents into words, I would say this [referring to the event] is my parents,” said Strassburg. “The people that are here this morning are my parents, just their legacy, and their lives were built on connection and a love for the outdoors and physical fitness, and they were always going somewhere and doing something, and bringing people together in a way that memorializes them is just incredible.”

“What I miss most about my parents is the impact that they had on my children’s lives. They were the heart and soul of our family, and like I said, they brought us together. They kept us together, and my children were their pride and joy, and what I miss most is having them around for my family.“

While the event was free, donations made from the event will go towards the purchase of a memorial statue to be placed on Shunga Trail in honor of the Provorses.

The remainder will go towards the Provorse Educational Fund that provides scholarships to students earning a master’s degree in Washburn’s Department of Psychology. Donations can be made at the Fun Run’s website.

About the Sunflower Striders Running Club

The Sunflower Striders Running Club put on the event in partnership with the Washburn University Foundation & Alumni Association and the Washburn University College of Arts & Sciences.

Club President Paul Wagner says when the club first started, they had about 50 people, and it has grown slightly with about 250 attending Monday’s Fun Run.

“Come out. Put one foot in front of the other one,” said Wagner. “That’s where we all started, and we have group runs every day of the week now, and so if you can run with somebody. We have our mission: no one left behind. And it’s better in a group, and so, you know, we’ll find somebody that’s at your pace, and if you improve, you can move up in the pace. So, we have everything from walking to ‘we have real stallions’ who can run, but we, you know, just try it.”