National politicians work in the spotlight, but their staffers toil behind the scenes, witnessing it all.
This was the case for former CEO and president of the K-State Alumni Association, Amy Button Renz, 69, of Manhattan, when she interned for Sen. Bob Dole in the summer of 1974. Button Renz said most of the job was scheduling and giving tours of the U.S. Capitol to visiting Kansans.
Her most memorable experience included sitting through former president Richard Nixon’s Watergate hearings. That was the moment she determined serving in that realm was not her dream.
Button Renz returned to Manhattan, where in 1976 at K-State she received a bachelor’s degree in political science. Growing up and observing her mother, Marian Sears Button, gave Button Renz a desire to hold office. Her mother held public office in Plainville and Newton, and she became Newton's first female mayor.
“At one point I really thought I might, you know, go into politics,” Button Renz said. "And after working there and watching everything, I decided I’m very interested in politics, but I decided that was not something I wanted to do. I didn’t run want to run for office, so I ended up getting my master’s in public administration, and the emphasis was personnel and management, which came in very handy for me in my career.”
Her career at the alumni association came when she met the director, Dean Hess, at a picnic during her time in Washington, D.C. Button Renz made it clear that she missed the Little Apple and thought about applying for a master’s degree back at K-State, which she earned in 1986. That’s when Hess told her to call him if the university accepted her.
“When I got accepted I called him and he goes, 'When you get to campus, come see me,’ so I set up an appointment, and an hour later I walked out with a job,” Button Renz said. “We had very limited student programming, so my job was a brand-new position, and my main function was to create additional student programming.”
In 1994, she became the first female CEO and president of an alumni association in the Big Eight, which is now the Big 12. She remembered the other alumni directors being supportive and inclusive.
Although Button Renz didn’t participate in athletics, she said she fit in because some CEOs and other former associates were athletes, and she grew up a sports fan by heritage. Her dad, Don Button, played basketball for the Wildcats from 1947 to 1949. Her grandfather also participated in athletics, making history in his time on campus. In a 1922 game at World War I Memorial Stadium against Washburn University, R.M. “Susie” Sears scored the first-ever touchdown on the home field.
Button Renz said she always loved K-State sports and feels that athletics affect communities in positive ways. She said sports are a sense of community and can lead to conversations.
“If the direction of the conversations were football or basketball, it was not a barrier in any way,” Button Renz said holding Kevin Haskin’s book about Wildcat football history. “My husband and I would jump to get the sports page first because sports can really be the window of your university if you live out of state. Academic success doesn’t necessarily always make the news, and sports can always be an instant thing to talk about.”
Wildcats wear uniforms of royal purple on the home football field, and occasionally the men’s basketball squad shows off two-toned jerseys with lavender accompanying the darker shade. However, for Button Renz, the color is more than a sight. It’s a representation of something bigger.
“We were doing a strategic plan many years ago and they brought in an outside consultant from another university who asked what our values are,” Button Renz said. “Someone said ‘purple’ and he goes, ‘Purple? That’s just a color.’ And I spoke up and said, ‘No, it’s so much more than a color; it’s who we are.’ The values represent loyalty. I think it represents teamwork and collaboration, but the biggest is loyalty.”
Jackie Hartman Borck, daughter of legendary basketball coach Jack Hartman, worked alongside Button Renz as the chairwoman of the alumni association’s board. Hartman said she’s earned the nickname “Mrs. K-State,” a name people have recently called Button Renz in the wake of her retirement and death of Ernie Barrett, who was known as “Mr. K-State.”
“Amy has just been a constant for so long that when people think of K-State, they think of her,” Hartman Borck said. “She’s never left. Presidents have come and gone, athletic directors have come and gone, professors have come and gone, but Amy is always there and always visible. She’s at every event whether it’s a sports game, an alumni event or an academic event.”
Hartman Borck remembered how personable Button Renz was on the job and admires her for being a welcoming and positive person.
“She is probably the most widely recognized person having to do with K-State across all disciplines, including sports,” Hartman Borck said. “There’s a lot of sports people who are widely recognized, but Amy is the most known across all groups of people, and I don’t think she gets enough credit.”
Button Renz retired this year after being a pioneer for women in alumni associations across the country. She said Manhattan has always felt like home because of people’s “friendliness” and her family’s rich tradition at the university.
Now she looks forward to spending more time with her family in Kansas City, watching sports and volunteering. Button Renz plans to serve her church’s Peace-Full food pantry. She will also continue helping the K-State Department of Political Science — the department that gave her her start — create an advisory council,
