Men’s Hockey (1:00 Class)

Men’s Hockey at Bowling Green State University is a relatively young sport compared to football and basketball; the ice hockey program first began at BGSU in 1969. However, the program has had as much or more success than any other sport at Bowling Green State University. While researching we found it very easy to find information on Men’s Ice Hockey by using media guides, articles, and yearbooks. These resources helped us to find that in the program's short time here it has had a total of seven coaches since the hire of Coach Chris Bergeron (Top Left) last April. Some other important coaches from the program are Jack Vivian who was the first Ice Hockey coach at Bowling Green. Ron Mason (Top Right) and Jerry York (Below ) have also had a major effect on the program by posting high numbers of wins and winning championships.



The Program has struggled as of late and has had a different coach each of the last three seasons. The program's overall winning percent is .539 with a record of 776-645-92. Ice Hockey has also won 9 conference championships--2 in the MCHA and 7 in the CCHA, and one National championship. In 1984 Bowling Green played Minnesota-Duluth for the national championship and came out victorious with a score of 5-4.



Along with winning an NCAA title and 9 conference titles, Bowling Green also has a number of alumni that played or are currently playing in the NHL. A few notable players that excelled at BGSU are Rob Blake (1988), Nelson Emerson (1986), George McPhee (1978), Brian Holzinger (1991), Ken Morrow (1976) and Dan Sexton who attended BGSU in 2007 and 2008, then entered the NHL and currently plays for the Anaheim Ducks. Ken Morrow, and Mark Wells were two individuals who played for Bowling Green and in the 1980 Olympic games. These two players were a part of the United States greatest upset often referred to as “The Miracle on Ice”. The Miracle on Ice is when the United States hockey team defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union team in dramatic fashion, advancing on to the final game where they then defeated Finland. Players such as Emerson, McPhee, and Holzinger have all had their numbers retired at BGSU.

While working on this project we have enjoyed researching the different aspects of BGSU’s Ice Hockey program’s history and hope to share our knowledge with all BGSU fans.

Members of this group include: Billy McDonough, John O'Shea, and Bobby Shea.

BGSU Men's Soccer (1:00 Class)

When assigned the BGSU Centennial Sports Project, our group instantly knew what sport we wanted to cover. Men’s Soccer was our sport of interest particularly because one of our group members, Mike Greco, not only had an offer to play for this team, but also knew two of the former players as his old soccer trainers. As we began our research, one of our biggest struggles was finding time to go to the Center for Archival Collections since it closes at 5:00 pm every day except Monday and is closed on the weekends. However, once we were able to get there, we were engulfed by plenty of helpful research.

Since the Men’s Soccer team was started in 1965, it can still be considered a fairly “young program” which made information easily accessible and fairly accurate. This being said, we had an easy time conducting research. We were also very fortunate to already know and have contact with two former players, Nicolas Kolliniatis and Fred Degand (Below Left). Mike Greco and Willie Patacsil were able to conduct great interviews with them without any delay of response allowing for us to be more informed on a player’s perspective. Luckily, our third interviewee and first head coach of the Men’s Soccer team, Mickey Cochrane (Below Right), is still active at BGSU in the athletic archives. Jessica Ferguson had the opportunity to meet with and interview Mickey in the archives and also got an incredible interview. We were incredibly fortunate to have access to all of them and very grateful that they were willing to help us.


With these interviews, the research, and the dedication of our group members, we learned an immense amount about the history of the Men’s Soccer teams and program. We also appreciate all the work Dr. Spencer did to prepare us for this project and the help along the way. That being said, this project was very enlightening about the history of all the athletic programs at Bowling Green State University! Roll Along!

Members of this group include: Jessica Ferguson, Mike Greco, and Willie Patacsil.

Item Of The Week - 1961 Mercy Bowl Pennant

We hope you all enjoyed our first installment of Item Of The Week earlier this week. We are pleased to bring you a second installment today. Today we bring you a commemorative pennant from the 1961 Mercy Bowl. The Mercy Bowl was started to honor the memory of the Cal Poly football players who died in a plane crash on their way home from a football game against the University of Toledo. The Falcons would go on to drop the game 36-6 against the Fresno State Bulldogs but more than 33 thousand fans showed up to raise money in memory of the fallen Cal Poly football players.

BGSU's Roger Reynolds hurdles a Fresno State defender during the 1961 Mercy Bowl. Reynolds finished second in receiving yards as he recorded 2 catches for 50 yards during the game.

BGSU Men's Football History (11:30 Class)

Hello all! Team Falcon is proud to present the history of Bowling Green State University football. Football was an easy selection for all of us because three of us (L-R (Below): Dwayne Woods, Caleb Watkins, and Jairus Campbell) play football here at BGSU. Having three of us on the football team here at BG gave us access to more resources that a non-athletic student here at BG would have. The four of us all share a common bond in our passion and love of the game of football and we are all interested in the history of Bowling Green football. We will start our presentation of Bowling Green’s football history in the late 1950’s when the Falcons won the Collegiate Championship. We will conclude our presentation of Bowling Green’s football history with an overview of the recent years of Bowling Green football and a look into what the future may hold.

As for the research that was required for this assignment, the only issues we had were trying to find information about Bowling Green’s football program online. We found that the most effective, yet tedious, way of researching information about Bowling Green’s football history was either going to the archives in the Jerome Library or utilizing media guides that were provided to us. As for interview, none of us had any issues. The three of us that are on the football team have access to a handful of coaches and former players that were very helpful to us. And the last member of our group, who is not on the football team, was able to come in contact with a former Falcon who was on the 1959 Collegiate Championship team.

Members of this group include: Jairus Campbell, Dev Kumar, Caleb Watkins, Dwayne Woods

Item Of The Week - 1940s BGSU Football Jersey

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and you are gearing up for Christmas. We are pleased to present our second installment of the Item Of The Week. In celebration of the completion of the 2010-11 BGSU football season this week were are featuring a 1940s BGSU Football jersey. Those who attended the second Centennial Celebration in October got a chance to see this jersey first hand.

For those of you who follow our blog and happen to be Cleveland Browns fans you may notice that this uniform looks similar to the past and current Browns uniforms. As it has been reported in the past the Browns liked the color design so much they adopted it for themselves. According to Mickey Paul Brown liked the look so much he decided to take it back to Cleveland for the Browns.

Mickey was able to share a couple of good stories that go along with this uniform as well. When the Browns were founded in the 1940s they held their annual training camp at BGSU. For several weeks each summer Browns players and Falcon players shared the same field as each team prepared for their upcoming season. This continued for six years (1946-51) before they moved training camp closer to Cleveland.

Mickey also shared a story with us about the Falcons loosing some of their uniforms while traveling. Luckily the teams equipment manager was able to make a call to the Browns equipment manager and have several uniforms sent to BG for the players to wear.

Item Of The Week - Leslie Dawley Autographed Soccer Ball

As we conclude our work for the semester of the course of the next several weeks we have decided to post pictures of some of the items we have come across during our work and provide some of the back story behind the item. Look for at least one item, if not more, a week. If anyone has any requests for pictures please let us know and we will work to find the item and post a picture as well as the story behind it. A big thank you to Mickey for taking time to give us the history behind each of these items.

Leslie Dawley autographed soccer ball

During the 2002 Mid American Conference Soccer Tournament BGSU freshman women's soccer player Leslie Dawley passed away during play due to an asthma attack. Prior to the game Dawley signed this ball. The BGSU archives keeps this ball in memory of Leslie. Dawley had played well during her freshman campaign recording six assists in just eight games. Lawley broke the BGSU record for consecutive games with an assist when she recorded her fifth assist in as many games on October 25, 2002 against Western Michigan. Lawley had become a clutch player for the Falcons as four of her six assists for the season set up game winning goals for the Falcons. We decided to take this first item of the week post to honor the memory of Leslie.

1961-62 BGSU Women's Field Hockey

Thanks to Nancy L. Haines, 1962 graduate of BGSU, for sending the following photo from the 1961 or 1962 BGSU Women's Field Hockey Team. Below are names that Nancy could remember for members of that team.

Front row (L-R): Donna Eubanks, Liz Embree, Karen Nelson

Back row (L-R): Bev Faulk, Nancy Maneely (sure of that one), Carol Lenz, Don't know, Don't know, Liz Bacso.

If anyone has further information about anyone who played on this team, please email us at: bgsusport@gmail.com