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

Men’s Baseball (1:00 Class)

Eight years after Bowling Green Normal College was founded in 1910 a baseball program was started. Since then BG has had a long history of success in the sport starting with the team’s first championship in 1921. Current coach Danny Schmitz has been coaching at the University for 21 years and said BGSU baseball is very proud of its past.
“Well … we are very proud of the history that we have in regards to baseball. We’re proud of the University,” he said.

Schmitz said the team even took the opportunity to share in the Centennial Celebration last spring by playing a Centennial game against Kent State University. Kent is also celebrating it’s centennial.

“Kent wore their throwback grays and we wore the throwback white uniforms, so it was really neat. The players really enjoyed wearing the uniforms …It was fun, It really was,” he said.

Bowling Green State University players are proud of their university and still come back to watch games played today, even when they played back in the 70’s or even before. Some players such as Gary Haas, a Hall of Fame winner and Academic All American played in the 70’s and was a part of the 72’ MAC championship team still visits from time to time and fully supports how the current team is doing: “I think Dan is doing a good job, they have won the MAC three years in a row, not this year, but they won the division not the MAC, Dan does a good, a great job. The baseball team has a lot to look forward to in the coming years especially with a great coach and supportive alumni, the sky is the limit.

Members of this group include: Kyle Miklas, Kevin Murphy, and Becky Tener

Men’s Football (1:00 class)

The game of football is the most popular sport in the United States of America, and it could be argued that college football is the most popular level of the game. This is why we chose Bowling Green State Univesity Football for the Sport Centennial project, as well as all of our interests in this sport. Since last semester’s classes covered the complete history of the sport, we were asked to choose a specific time in history to cover. As a group we decided to research the most recent history of the program which can be dated from 1990-present. The reason we chose this time period is because of the amount of information that is available from these years. As we progressed through the project we found it difficult to contact former players who played at Bowling Green prior to 1990.

While researching football here at BGSU, we found out that there have been many firsts for the program from 1990 to present day. A few of the more interesting ones are: first bowl game win (1991), first and only visit by ESPN’s College Gameday (2003) (Below), and first Big Ten School to play at Doyt Perry Stadium when Minnesota visited BG in 2008. Some other interesting facts that we found were that since 1990 the BG Football team has participated in six bowl games (four wins), had eight All-Americans in the program, and had nine players drafted in the National Football League. These statistics show that BG has been successful in developing great teams, but also great players.

Although this past season was not as successful as recent years, the Bowling Green State University football program has experienced many other great campaigns. Even in the twenty years in which we have focused, the amount of success BG has obtained is quite remarkable for a Mid-American Conference school. We think it is reasonable to say that if the future of BG football is any representation of the past, we are in for many great seasons to come.

Group Members: Tina Byrd, Katie Brown, Andrew Downing

Womens Basketball (1:00 Class)

For the Sports Centennial Project, we were excited to learn about the rich history of Women’s Basketball at BGSU. In particular, we choose to research about this sport due to the recent success and energy it has brought to BGSU athletics: 6 consecutive MAC Championships, NCAA Tournament Appearances, and the highlight of the program, Advancement to the “Sweet 16” in 2007. During the research process, we were able to interview some key players that have been a part of recent success of this program such as: Tamika Nurse, Liz Honegger, and Kate Achter. They were able to give great insight as to what went on during crucial moments as a BGSU Basketball player, as well as reasons why they became so successful.

Kate Achter (Top) and Liz Honegger (Below) in action during 2007 season.

In addition to the recent success, it was also interesting to learn about the history since BGSU Women’s Baskebtall began. We were able to learn a great deal of information about the early days from first hand experience with Sue Hager, one of the first Women’s Basketball coaches at BG. She explained how style of play has changed as well as how the popularity has come a long way in the sport of Women’s Basketball at BGSU. Bowling Green Women’s Basketball started in 1919 as two literary societies playing against each other, which eventually transformed to a low budget intercollegiate sport in 1962.

Throughout its 40+ years in collegiate athletics, BGSU Women’s Basketball has gone through numerous changes in: the recruiting process, style of play, and fan support. Overall, we had a great experience researching on this sport at BGSU and enjoyed seeing how Women’s Basketball has transformed over the last 100 years into one of the top Mid-Major programs in the country!

1919 BGSU Wilsonian women’s basketball team

2010 MAC Tournament Champions!

Members of this Group include: Carrie Bagnoli, Khiry Kelly, and Kelsey Kohlman

Women’s Soccer (1:00 Class)

Though they’re only been around for 13 years, the women’s soccer team here at BGSU has already had some very successful seasons, and is primed to have continued success well into BGSU’s second century of existence. The women’s team has an all time varsity record of 117-130-26 for a winning percentage of .476; they are 60-66-16 in the MAC for a conference winning percentage of.479. They won the MAC regular season title in 2005 and have made nine MAC tournament appearances. They also have two MAC tournament titles and are an impressive 11-6-5 in the MAC tournament overall.

The Women's Soccer team is currently coached by Andy Richards (Above), a native of England, and in his ten seasons as head coach he has posted an overall record of 98-96-22. Our group chose to do our project on the women’s soccer team because even with the short history they have shown a lot of potential and have some stable leadership under Coach Richards. Even though they weren’t our first choice we get to witness the foundation of their program come together and we get to witness the start of something potentially very special. There have already been numerous star athletes come through the program and the team looks more and more promising by the year. Just in the past six years the women have won two MAC tournament titles and have made two NCAA tournament appearances. Even though they are 0-2 in the tournament, they have paved the way for future success by overcoming the program’s overall inexperience. The Falcons seem primed to make a run at dominance in the MAC and to have success for years to come.

Members of Group include: Kyle Hess, Khiry Hills, and David Ryan Mullholand

Women’s Softball (1:00 Class)

Bowling Green State University’s women’s softball team has been around campus for the past 31 years. Although researching the team has proved to be difficult in some aspects due to the lack of records of the team, it has been a very educating experience. Over the course of its history the team has had its share of success both as a team and individually. The team success includes finishing first in the Mid-American Conference in 1988 and 1993. They also were crowned MAC East champions in 2000 and in 2001.
Over the course of history of the Bowling Green State University Softball program there have also been some very impressive individual performances. This includes former Falcons pitcher Vicki Miwa (Above). Miwa is credited with being the first ever softball player to be inducted into the Bowling Green Hall of Fame. She was granted Hall of Fame status after an amazing career as a pitcher for the Falcons. Over her career she became very decorated in honors including second team all region in 1987, and was also a three time first team all MAC player spanning from 1986 until 1988. As one of the most effective pitchers in the history of Bowling Green Softball, Miwa held an astonishing 11 different records at one point in her career while at BGSU.

Throughout the years of BGSU’s softball career the team has had a total of seven different head coaches. Out of these coaches Leigh Ross (Below) had the best career so far. She has the best overall winning percentage out of any coach at .546 and also has had the best MAC winning percentage at .613.

Overall BGSU’s softball team has had its fair share of both ups and downs. Hopefully with some good recruiting and good team play the Falcons Softball team will be able to return to the success it had back under the days of Ross.

Members of this group include: Drew Chenevey, Ian Escher, Matt Konyesni, and Max Lamberson