BGSU Centennial Sport Blog: Men's Football and Women's Volleyball (1:00 Class)

When forming our group for the Sports Management 2010 Centennial Project, we selected football as our men’s team and volleyball as our women’s team. As students here at Bowling Green State University we were interested in knowing the history of Bowling Green Athletics over the past hundred years. The research process was not too arduous, because many of the rosters could be found in the school’s yearbooks and local archives. There were some issues with contacting former players for interviews. We could not find contact information for every player, and there were still others that required multiple channels to get in touch with them.

The football team began collegiate play in 1919 and has played continuously for ninety years. In their premiere season, led by Coach John Stitt (below), the team went 0-3.

Historically Bowling Green has had great success, posting an overall record of 490-328-52. There have been seventeen coaches in that time, including Doyt Perry (1955-1964, 77-11-5 record), Bob Gibson (1965-1967, 19-9-0 record), and Urban Meyer (below) (2001-2002, 17-6-0 record). Meyer is currently known as the head coach of the Florida Gators, where he won two national titles in 2006 and 2008.

The most successful coach was Perry, whose name is enshrined in the Falcons’ current stadium and is also an inductee of the College Football Hall of Fame. Bowling Green has also produced several outstanding players, such as Bernie Casey (Wide Receiver, 1958-1960), Bill Bradshaw (Quarterback, 1952-1954), and Vince Palko (Linebacker, 1990-1995), all of whom have entered the Bowling Green Hall of Fame. Over the years, the team has had some memorable moments, including three undefeated seasons, ten conference titles, eight college bowl games, and in 1959, their only national title. Recently, wide receiver Freddie Barnes entered the NCAA record books for most receptions in a single season and was a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award.

Finding information for the volleyball team seemed much easier than the football team. Part of this was because the team has not been in existence for as long. It started as a club sport in 1967 and became a varsity sport in 1976, where it has remained for thirty-three years. There have been only three coaches in that time: Pat Peterson (1976-1979, 58-41-3 record), Sandy Haines (1980-1982, 40-75-0 record), and most recently Denise Van De Walle (below) (1983-present, 500-342-0 record). Despite a young history, the team has a successful record of 598-458-3. They have earned three regular season conference titles, two East Division titles, and in 1991, they won the Mid-American Conference tournament, which granted them a berth in the NCAA tournament.

A few record-holders include Tammy Schiller (shown below with Coach Van De Walle) (most kills), Linda Popovich (most service aces), Lisa Mika (most total blocks), and Chelsey Meek (most digs). Tammy Schiller is also famous for playing at the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1991, earning a gold medal.