Remember the Tan Man?

By Barry Baddock

Browsing through old press articles about Lawrence, I came across a reference to Mr John Schneider, alias the Tan Man. I wonder how many readers remember him.

When I was a British student at KU in the early 1970s, he was a Lawrence fixture, sunbathing for weeks on end (in Centennial Park, as I remember). It was rumoured he was in pursuit of the world’s best suntan, but I feel sure someone invented that. 

Across 50 years, I can still picture him, sitting cross-legged, his ancient skeletal bike beside him. He would gaze at passers-by and the traffic, smiling faintly, apparently at peace with God and the world.

In 2018, an enterprising Lawrence couple -- Celeste Gruhin and Marc Jasperson – tried to stir interest in the Tan Man’s coming 75^th birthday. I would be pleased to learn that he is among us still, two years later.

In my day and among my circle of (KU English Department) friends, he was better known as the Bike Nude. But this was hardly a fitting monicker, for John Schneider never went the full Monty.

It was easy, back then, to smile at the man and his eccentric life. But I remember the one occasion we met. Mr Schneider didn’t seem fazed at being introduced to a foreigner or coping with my strange accent. Courteous and kindly to a fault, he wished me a comfortable stay in Lawrence. I offered him a beer but he politely declined. Then, shaking hands with a smile and a slight bow, he turned and pushed his bike back to Centennial Park.

Since returning to Europe, I have often thought about John the Tan Man. Did he, in later years, come to regret his passive life or the passing of opportunities? Did he, perhaps, pay a price – in terms of skin cancer, say? Or poverty? Or loneliness?

Whatever the answers, it has always seemed to me that, with his tranquil calm, John Schneider had some kind of magic. For who is to say that our goals and grand strivings make our lives healthier or more sane than his? 

It was a privilege to meet John Schneider. A township is shaped and coloured by its ‘characters’. He was such a man. As long as I have my precious memories of Lawrence, Kansas, John the Tan Man​ will be part of them.