Women’s Soccer (11:30 Class)

Ok so our team name is formally known as Team Awesome. We decided to research the history behind women’s soccer here at Bowling Green State University. Myself included (Nate Dudzik), Shawn Weimer, and Brennan Tilow all really didn’t know what sport we wanted to do at first. However, Brennan knew some players on the women’s team and we decided to go with that. I played soccer before switching to basketball and Brennan has been around soccer as well so it wasn’t like we didn’t have any knowledge going into the project. Women’s soccer didn’t begin in BG until the late 1990’s, so we didn’t have that much history to present on. However, noting the 1999 gold medal for the U.S. Olympic team, women’s soccer has had a place in U.S. history. Our presentation will start in 1997 when it first began at BGSU, and end with our current team in 2010 and the direction that head coach Andy Richards is taking our women’s soccer program.

Since the program is fairly new, it wasn’t all that difficult to obtain certain facts. However, certain media guides didn’t include a lot of women’s soccer until the 00’ decade. We didn’t have that much difficulty finding people to do our interviews. I was able to contact the first and former head coach for BGSU’s women’s soccer (i.e., Tom Piccirillo, above), Brennan was able to interview one of the girls that he knows on the team, and Shawn was able to interview former goalkeeper Erika Flanders. The only thing that we really are having difficulty on is finding enough information to truly suffice what we want to present. Unlike other major sports here, there really aren’t that many sources that have the history of women’s soccer like football or basketball. Media guides have sadly been some of our best sources, besides the interviews.

Members of this Group include: Nate Dudzik, Brennan Tilow, and Shawn Weimer

BGSU Women’s Track and Field (11:30 TR Class)

In first hearing about the centennial project our History and Philosophy class would be conducting, our group thought the project seemed very difficult and almost impossible to complete. As time went on and we narrowed down what BGSU sport we wanted to look further into it became very clear on how truly interesting and fun this assignment could be. With two of our group members both having a background in running track and field (Jessica Grant, below) and cross country we decided upon the Bowling Green State University Women’s Track and Field team. We were lucky to have a good selection position in class even though Women’s Track and Field probably was not one of the most popular choices.

In gathering the abundant amount of information through research on the Women’s Track and Field team it was very difficult to find exact dates. But after digging enough and comparing sources we are confident that all our dates and findings are very accurate. As for the start of the Bowling Green State University’s Women’s Track and Field team, it is said they started in 1983. But 1983 just so happens to be the first year the women were affiliated with the NCAA. According to Dr. Parks 1965 was the official date the women started competing with outside competition with the likes of current MAC teams like Kent State and Ohio University. We conducted several interviews with past figures and current figures who have all been or are currently involved it Bowling Green athletics and the information gathered has been amazing to say the least. Such a rich history not only in just Bowling Green State University’s Women’s Track and Field, but in all the sports and events that have been a part of BGSU’s tradition.

Members of this group include: Mike Davis, Jessica Grant, Ryan Harrison, and Kyle Leedy

BGSU Women’s Volleyball History (11:30 Class)

Matthew Wulff is a member of the men’s volleyball club team at BGSU; that was one of the main reasons why we chose this sport to study. Another reason is the fact that the women’s sports are doing a lot better in recent years than the men’s sports. Volleyball has been getting a lot of publicity with the Olympics and college volleyball reaching out to people. The four of have shared a love for sports and enjoy attending games. We all are interested in the history of all BGSU sports. Some areas that we are going to be focusing on are from the 1970s to present. We will also be covering when BGSU won the MAC conference championship and went on to the NCAA tournament. We will also be talking about the history of the present coach of the team Denise Van De Walle (Below). The archives in the Jerome Library or utilizing media guides that were provided to us was an effective way to find information along with interviews.

Members of this group include: Matthew Pardee, Samuel Polzin, David Shelmon, and Matthew Wulff

Men’s Basketball (11:30 Class)

As we begin to wind down the centennial project we would like to share some of the information we found while researching the Men’s Basketball team and talk about the overall process. As a group we decided to choose to research the history of the men’s basketball team because we are all avid fans of the game and wanted to learn more about the history of the team at our school. The time periods we focused on ranged from the 1951 team to the more modern teams in men’s basketball history. A difficulty when trying to find information about the history about Bowling Green’s men’s basketball team was that the best years were in the late 1940’s to 1950’s. With the “glory” years being so long ago there weren’t as many media sources to find information about the individuals on these teams.

We were able to interview some very interesting and important individuals in the history of the men’s basketball program. Austin Hunt was able to interview Dr. Crystal “Boo” Ellis (Above Right, shown with Mac Otten) who played during the 1950’s. During that time we learned that Bowling Green was a division one powerhouse who played a schedule across the entire country. Christopher Binckley interviewed former assistant coach Jim Lessig who coached from 1966-68 before moving on to the Cleveland Cavaliers. We learned that Mr. Lessig’s most memorable moment was almost defeating Marquette University in our last NCAA tournament appearance. Mark Chipperfield was able to interview former head coach Jim Larranaga (Below) who coached from 1986-1997 before later leading George Mason to a final four appearance. We learned that during the time he coached the MAC conference as a whole had its greatest success in producing consistent NBA talent.

Members of this group include: Chris Binckley, Mark Chipperfield, and Austin Hunt

Men’s Golf (11:30 Class)

For the Sport Centennial Project our group researched the Men’s Golf program. We chose this sport partly because we had the last pick in the draft and our choices were very limited and also because two of our group members knew members of the team. Men’s Golf has a long history at BGSU, however there is not very much information about the teams throughout the years. The best resource we found was the BGSU Men’s Golf Media Guide from 2008-09 which was the most recent one printed. Some information could also be found in The Key however for many of the earlier years there is no mention of the team at all.

The program went into and out of existence several times in its early years. It began in 1930 and was first coached by Paul Landis. There was no team for the next four years but then it returned in 1935 and 1936. The team then disappeared once again, played a single season in 1941 under new coach Don Cunningham, disappeared again and then returned for good in 1947.

The Men’s Golf team has recorded five MAC Titles throughout its history. They won back-to-back championships in 1972 and 1973. Their other title seasons were 1956, 1978 and 1983. As MAC Tournament Champions the team competed in the NCAA Tournament in these years. The team’s best finish in the NCAA Tournament came in 1973 when they finished twenty-third.

There have been many notable golfers throughout the program’s history. Mike McCullough, John Spengler and Ken Walters (Below) have been inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Spengler (’82) was a letterman in both golf and football, serving as the team’s kicker. During his Junior year he was a First Team All-MAC selection in both sports. He was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989.

McCullough (’68), pictured below, has had more success in professional golf than any other Falcon. He turned pro in 1970 and joined the PGA Tour in 1972. He has played in over 400 events on the tour. He joined the Senior PGA Tour in 1996 and has recorded two wins on this circuit. He has earned over $6 million during his professional career. He was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990.

Members of this group include: Spencer Bechstein, Brett Perz, and Jeff Rowan

Men’s Ice Hockey (11:30 Class)

Greetings gang! Our group, which includes Brett Smith, Bryan McHenry, Pat Cola, and Tony Malfara, conducted a research project on the history of Bowling Green State University Ice Hockey. We decided to focus on the sport of Ice Hockey because the team holds a lot of history here at BGSU, we all have either played hockey or followed hockey at some point in our lives, and we wanted to learn more about the sport that has been played here at BGSU since 1963. It was in 1963 that the Men’s Ice Hockey program began as a club sport and it officially became a varsity sport in 1969. The first coach of the team was Jack Vivian. We found a lot of information on the BGSU Ice Hockey team, but there were some difficulties in conducting research along the way. Instead of obtaining info online, we took the challenge of looking through the archives and finding additional primary sources instead of just using the internet. We found out that interviewing a current player on the team was a lot easier than trying to get in touch with a former player who lives outside of Bowling Green. The BGSU Ice Hockey team plays in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). This Division I league is one of the most dominant, competitive leagues in the nation. Unfortunately, Bowling Green is not the team they once were. Since winning the National Championship back in 1984, the Ice Hockey team has had several below average seasons. We can only hope that they soon bounce back to the championship team they once were. Roll along!

Members of this group include: Pat Cola, Tony Malfara, Bryan McHenry, and Brett Smith

BGSU Women’s Tennis History (11:30 Class)

Hello everyone and welcome to our blog about the women’s tennis team here at BGSU. The three of us decided to explore and research the history of the women’s tennis team because it is a sport none of us have had much experience with and we wanted to try something new. We were able to interview the current head coach Penny Dean, current player and captain Christine Chiricosta, and former player Deidre Weekley as part of our research.

One of our biggest problems in doing this research was finding people available during the fall season to interview because everyone is very busy at this time of year. We were somewhat limited with time in the end to complete this process but we feel that the interviews went very well and gained an extensive amount of knowledge about the team. The other primary issue was that we had trouble finding when exactly the BGSU women’s tennis team started because there is a discrepancy between the media guide and other sources.

Our project will include the history of BGSU women’s tennis beginning in 1967 through the present time. We will also focus a great amount on the recent years of BGSU women’s tennis as there have been several records broken during this time period.

Members of this group include: Nick Juskewycz, Nick Edwards, and Brad Potts