Julie Carole Hadl

Julie Carole Hadl

March 9, 1945—May 6, 2026

Julie Carole Hadl- Carole to those who loved her- was born on March 9, 1945, in Lawrence, Kansas to Jess Willard and Judy M. Hadl. She died on Wednesday May 6,2026 at Pioneer Ridge. She was preceded in death by her parents and by her brother, John Willard Hadl.

Carole was a lifelong Lawrencian and a proud graduate of Lawrence High School, Class of 1963, where she formed a circle of friendships that would last the rest of her life. She and three of those friends—-Judy Tudor, Marian Allen and Carol Eller— shared an apartment when they went on to the University of Kansas. After college this close group of friends continued to gather every Memorial Day weekend for decades.

Football was already in the family. Carole’s older brother John was an All-America quarterback at Kansas before a long NFL career, and during his years with the San Diego Chargers, Carole made annual journeys west to join John and his wife, Charneil, in California. She took great joy in helping to care for her nephew, John Hadl ll, and her niece, Jackie, during those years, and she remained an integral part of their families for the rest of her life. Carole was always grateful that her brother’s illustrious career gave her so many occasions to travel and to meet so many remarkable people in the sports world.

In December of 1965, Carole agreed to temporarily answer the phones at the University of Kansas football office while the regular secretary was out sick. The regular secretary never came back! Carole never left! Forty-five years later she was still working for KU Football!

Hired by head coach Jack Mitchell, Carole ended up working under ten different head coaches—from Mitchell to Mangino—and saw the program through one-win seasons, ten bowl trips, and everything in between. She learned the game on the job, sitting in the bleachers at football practices, picking up the rhythms of a football program and absorbing the vocabulary (some of it colorful) from all the staff and players around her. Her position took her on the road with the team to games across the country, including Hawaii.

But the part of the job that mattered most was never the schedules or the phones. It was the chairs in her office. For most of her tenure, the players had no lounge of their own, and Carole’s office had about eight chairs—so that’s where everybody congregated. She heard everything: a death in the family, a new girlfriend, whatever an eighteen-year-old had going on that day. As former player David Lawrence once put it, “ She was a big sister, mother, and friend to hundreds and hundreds of Kansas football players, and her secret was simply that she listened. She didn’t take sides. She was never judgmental.”

When players came back to Lawrence—five years out, twenty years out, forty years out— a stop by Carole’s office was non-negotiable. She remembered them. She wanted to know how they were doing and how their kids were doing. Across forty-five years inside one football program, the football was the setting. The people were the point.

Carole retired on June 1, 2010, not entirely on her own terms. She had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease the week of the previous year’s Missouri game, but she met it the way she met everything else—with humor and without complaint. Carole enjoyed her retirement and was able to live independently for many years much to the credit of her young cousin Isaiah Hastings, who was attending the University of Kansas at the time. Isaiah was steadfast in his care and love for Carole. The two were a great pair.

It was hard to tell whether the Jayhawks or Mickey Mouse held the number-one spot in her heart. An avid Mouseketeer since the 1950’s, Carole’s love for all things Disney was lifelong. She made innumerable trips to Disneyland with her cousin, Edie Heinrich Peterson, and later with Edie’s daughter, Amy Hastings and Amy’s husband David. The entire Hastings family brought enormous joy to Carole’s life and shared many beloved Holiday dinners with Carole.

In addition to those named above, Carole is survived by her neice, Jackie Hadl-Fromm (Bill), of Mission Hills, Kansas; her nephew John Hadl ll, of Santa Monica, California; Charneil and Mike Swenson, of Overland Park, Kansas; Linda Provo of Lawrence, Kansas; Carl and Debbie Heinrich of Highland, Kansas; Great Nieces, a Great Nephew, many cousins and many dear friends. She is also survived by a circle of close friends since their days at Lawrence High School: Marian Allen, Debby Allen, Carol Wohlford, Judy Denton, Jill Pilch and three who predeceased her: Carol Eller, Nancy Maloney Rich and Nancy Pat Sanders.

Carole was a much-loved, much admired woman who enriched countless lives both on and off the sports fields. She was deeply grateful for the support she received in her final years from her caregivers: Jaime Pennel, LaVonda Norcross, Rene LaRocque and Angela Evans;the staff at Pioneer Ridge, her doctor and her family—especially Jackie Hadl-Fromm, Linda Provo and Amy Hastings, whose love and dedication helped Carole navigate her final chapter.

No formal services are planned. Carole asks instead that friends and family give their support to the charity of their choice—and that they remember her at KU Football games.

One more time for Carole:

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

and

“Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU!”