Time To Start The Real Work

After a couple of weeks off while Mickey did some traveling to see his family in Texas we are back at work. Since the Homecoming Event has come and gone we shifted our focus towards cataloging the various items in the archives in Anderson Arena. We have spent several hours going through the contents of the athletic archives as well as the storage room on the second floor of Anderson Arena. Over the course of the last week we have been hard at work sorting through the various artifacts in the archives and logging.

During the course of our work we have found artifacts from some of BGSU’s greatest athletes. Additionally, we have found some artifacts that fans have created and submitted to Mickey as a way to remember the athletic programs at BG. Many of the artifacts that we have been working to catalog detail the athletic story of BGSU. From plans for athletic renovations to milestone artifacts we have found a great deal that paints the picture of the history of athletics at BGSU.

The following is a list of the artifacts we have cataloged to this point.

Mascots & Reagan

Mark Miller

Lacrosse monkey

Helms Foundation Nate Thurmond

Soccer (M) NCAA bid 1992

Sport’s collage

Trio of hockey players

Baseball warm-up jacket

Basketball dunk picture

NWOAA Tennis trophy 1929

1987 Volleyball team photo

Central Collegiate Conference Intermediate Team Trophy 1948’

Puerto Rico Holiday Classic 1996 men’ s basketball 3rd place

4i champion Joe Green inter-state champion 1968

25th anniversary hockey puck Feb 25 1967 - Feb 25 1992

Falcon Keychain

BGSU HPER athletic pin

1983-1984 Softball team photo

1964 Tony Trent baseball photo all-mid American conference first team

Official NCAA track and field guide 1957

Spalding official football guide 1938

1964 winter sports banquet Sam Cooper Nate Thurmond Harold Anderson

1988 MAC Softball championship team photo

1962 NCAA Swimming guide Gary Laprise

Program for eastern Michigan game cover 1986

Coach Mel Brodt picture on scooter 1960-1984

1919 Women’ s basketball photo

Bird Brain stuffed animal 1940s

Mid American Conference 21st annual championship guide 1967 Robert H. Whitacker on front

Golden Triangle invitational 2nd place team

Photo of BGSU athletic personnel no names/date

Volleyball beat Navy

Bowling Green v. Toledo 1969 basketball

Archives 1st floor

Eric White Football

Doyt’ s first staff 1955

Dave Wottle 1972 to Doyt

Old Natatorium

Shirley Spork opening of back 9 at Forrest Creason

1920 Men’ s basketball team

University field plans

Soccer celebration photo 1975

Ball State field hockey ball

Ladies lacrosse/field hockey kilt

Hockey stick

Lacrosse stick

Player pro cards

Bergen – HOF plaque Bob Zimpfer

1930 letter sweater

Falcon Club card collage

Suitcase with logo with items in it

1000 win basketball

MAC pennants

Staff pics – 1964

Promo buttons, ribbons, schedules

Team photos

Old trophies 1920s on

#9 quarterback jersey 1941

Support staff pic and AD pic

Mercy Bowl pic and pennant

Baby Freddie Helen Floyd puppet

Stoned t-shirt 1994

Moyticka photo collage

Ziggy Zoomba Gil Fox and t-shirt

NCAA basketball

1918 yearbook Emerson team

Painted Pig ball pic

Football pants garage

Pics named facilities coaches

Frieda head with lashes

8x10 card SBX sign when football/volleyball #1 in MAC soccer #3 in country

Box trophy cases and photos at home

Box trophy case box garage

Swan pic 1968

Telegram 1st NIT

Cheer sweater

Brass plaque of first four teams dropped

Game programs

Normals or pic of normals

1919 cheer

Dave Wottle cap and pic

Swan club boat and pic

Big photo collage – Sam B’ s (Kaufmans)

Purdue football

Palmo pic

Signed hockey sticker

Falcon Club 1st year

Game day pic

University Field pic

Relay Plate from trophy Sink Wottle Dan Forth

Football boots nail in cleats

Sharpies football

Varsity BG sweater

Cunningham collage

2 all sport collages

Leather (brown) BGSU shield

Lacrosse defensemen on a stick

Mark Miller

3 hockey players trio

All sport collage

Thurmond Helms Award

Reagan with Freddie & Frieda

Basketball dunk #23

NCAA 1992 soccer

Baseball jacket

Freddie Falcon club logo

gray travel jacket

1967 Field Hockey ball Dr. Sue Gavron

1995 Capn Crunch Gymnasitics invitational trophy fifth place

1991-1992 Gymnastics program

Charles Simpson 150th head coaching victory

1985 MAC gymnastics champs NCAA tournament

Old hockey skates

1971 stadium pic

1994 basketball MAC champs signed t-shirt

Golf club

Tennis racquet

Al Sawdy traction splint

Please keep checking back as we will update the list of artifacts that we find. We will also work to provide pictures as well.

Centennial Celebration Part Two

As we recap last Friday’s Centennial Athletic event at Anderson Arena let us start by thanking everyone that came out to the event to show their support and celebrate 100 years of athletics at BGSU. The members of this group that have been working for the past several weeks to prepare for the event and organize the athletic memorabilia are thrilled that so many people took time out of their busy Homecoming schedules to make time for this event. We hope that each of you enjoyed the event as much as we have enjoyed putting the event together. For those who were not able to attend we will recap the event for you and provide some pictures for you as well.

The event was attended by roughly 300 people who were lined up to enter as the doors to Anderson Arena opened at 5:00 p.m. Those who were able to attend enjoyed an evening filled with memories and a historical perspective of BGSU athletics. Those in attendance were able to enjoy the artifacts that we have spent the past several weeks working to assemble. In addition those in attendance viewed the Centennial poster’s that were put together for the Centennial Celebration last year. On a personal note, the members of this group find it very gratifying that these boards were used again. It is our hope that these boards can continue to be a source of historical context of BGSU athletics. On a special note the members of this group would like to thank Dr. Janet Parks for her help improving the poster boards for this year’s presentation.

As alumni made their way around the gym many of them stopped and took the time to thank our group for our work in putting together not only the event but the poster boards. For our group these words of gratitude are appreciated. However, each of us were honored to be a part of this event, to hear the stories that the alumni told, and to once again have the opportunity to share the rich athletic history of BGSU with the alumni and other guests in attendance.

The following pictures are all pictures of the various historical artifacts that were on display during the course of the event.

1994 Team Autographed Women’s Basketball MAC Champions Shirt

Men’s Basketball Trophy from a Puerto Rico Holliday Tournament

Sid Sink’s Olympic qualifier Track and Field warm up

Plaque commemorating the sports no longer played at BGSU

Herb Troyer’s football pants – Member of the original BGSU football team from 1919

Artifacts aside, the night was a great success as BGSU alumni were able to come together and celebrate 100 amazing years of athletic history at BGSU. As one guest said “Tonight is amazing, it is truly a unique chance to come back and really look at the history and take stock of the history that happened while we were here.” Alumni were also treated a special way of saying goodbye to the House That Roars, Anderson Arena, in this its final season.

BGSU athletic archivist Mickey Cochran called the evening a “great success.” We believe that those that were present on Friday night would have a hard time arguing that point. We would once again like to take a moment to thank those who came by the event.

Please continue to check back with our blog as we move forward in our work and begin to catalog the contents of the BGSU athletic archives and prepare for the move to the new athletic archive space in the Stroh Center. Coming in the next week we will have a full list of all of the memorabilia that has been cataloged as well as pictures, and plenty of Mickey’s stories to go along.