A Night to Remember

The BGSU Sport Centennial Program was definitely a night to remember! Below are the speakers and Grad Students who made it a most memorable experience for all who attended. Our thanks to each of them for sharing their memories, time, and wisdom!

Above: Grad students who gave countless hours to make this event a success (Front Row, L-R)--Ryan Gasser, Bryan Gerber, Drew Hall, Gina Cipriano, Bryan Gasser, Bryan Post, Emily Yeatts.
Back Row: Our eminent speakers (L-R) Tom Colaner, Dr. Crystal Ellis, Mike Wilcox, Coach Denise Van De Walle, Prof. Sue Hager, Gary Haas, Jim Lessig (Moderator), and Nathen Eldridge (Grad Student).


Our guest speakers shared their profound stories about the people who have influenced them at BGSU and what it means to reflect on their experiences during this Centennial year.


L-R: Tom Colaner (member of BGSU Football Team that won the 1959 National Championship); Dr. Crystal ("Boo") Ellis (Captain, MVP, and MAC selection for BGSU Basketball Team, 1951-1953, 1955-1957); Mike Wilcox (3-time All-American--1973, 1974, 1975--and member of undefeated 1974 BGSU Lacrosse Team; Coach Denise Van De Walle ("Dean" of MAC Volleyball Coaches, who recently eclipsed 500 wins in 27th season at BGSU); Prof. Sue Hager (Coach of BGSU Women's Basketball Team, 1969-1976; first Women's Athletic Director; and Professor in HPER); Gary Haas (two-time MVP of 1971-1974 Men's Baseball Teams that won over 30 games in one season); and Jim Lessig (former member of Men's Basketball Team, 1957; Assistant Coach, Athletic Director; and Commissioner of the MAC).

See this article in the BG News featuring Q & A with Boo Ellis: http://bgnews.com/sports/ellis-impacts-bg-history/

Above: Dr. Erianne Weight, faculty member in the Sport Management, Recreation and Tourism Division (School of HMSLSL), played an integral role in organizing the event and working with Grad Students. She shares a moment with her daughter Aleah, undoubtedly our youngest visitor at the reception.

At the end of the evening, it had to end, but not before capturing this photo of two of BGSU's elite stars of the Men's Basketball teams of the 1940s and 1950s.

Above: Mac Otten, 1949 All-American, and Boo Ellis, who played with Mac's younger brother in the 1950s. One of the most touching moments of the evening was when Moderator Jim Lessig pointed out that Mac was in the audience and Boo acknowledged him by standing to applaud. The two met up at the end of the evening and were the last to leave Olscamp... well, almost the last:-)

My name is Nancy Spencer and I am also a faculty member in the Sport Management Division (School of HMSLS). It was my privilege to work with the undergraduate students, graduate students, and Dr. Weight. I just wanted to say one more Thank you to all those who helped to make this experience so memorable!

To the Speakers: We are so grateful that you were willing to sacrifice your time to come and share with us about your experiences at BGSU.

To Erianne: You don't know how you made my day when you innocently asked if you could help! Your expertise, input and friendship were invaluable. This would not have happened without you!!

To the Grad Students: You all worked so hard from the beginning of this project to the end. I wonder if Drew Hall and Nathen Eldridge could envision what this would end like when you agreed to Co-Chair the event back in December. And I am sure this project brought new meaning to the phrase "Variable Credit" to all of the grad students who wanted to get "hands-on" experience in putting together an event. It was a pleasure to work with all of you: Gina Cipriano, Nathen Eldridge, Bryan Gasser, Ryan Gasser, Bryan Gerber, Drew Hall, Bryan Post, and Emily Yeatts.

To the Undergrad Students in "History & Philosophy of Sport:" Thanks to all of you who contributed so much in terms of research--collecting rosters, articles, and photos, not to mention spending hours in the Archives at the Library, and interviewing former BGSU athletes. Your enthusiasm for this project made it all worthwhile!

I would be remiss if I did not thank the Archivists at the Library who were inundated with requests from students who worked on this project. Thank you for all your help, and next time, I promise to let you know about the assignment beforehand:-)

In addition, thanks to the BG Sports Information Directors who helped students make connections with former and current athletes and coaches: Hannah Archer, Mike Cihon, Ryan Gasser, Jason Knavel, and Dave Meyer.

To all the current and former BGSU athletes and others who agreed to be interviewed (in some cases, on multiple occasions), thanks for generously giving of your time as well. The students shared fascinating stories about speaking with you.

I would also be remiss if I did not thank Greg Christopher and the BGSU Athletic Department for coming on board from the beginning, and working with us to make the connection with Coaches and Athletes. We appreciated your support more than you know.

To Dr. Janet Parks and Ann Bowers, who have been writing a book, Forward Falcons, that documents the history of Women's Athletics (until 1982), we thank you also for your generosity in coming to our classes and sharing the resources from your research by making them available in the Library Archives. We are indebted to you for your many contributions.

To Mickey Cochrane, the achivist of the BGSU Athletics Archives, thank you so much for coming to our classes at the beginning of the semester--for sharing your stories and ideas for speakers, as well as opening the Athletic Archives to students (no more than 5 at a time) during Basketball games.

To Jane Myers, from the Falcon Club, and Peg Schaller from the Alumni Office for providing contact information for former athletes. There were a lot of interviews that would not have happened if not for your digging up and sharing contact information with us.

And finally, I want to thank Dr. Lynn Darby, Director of the School of HMSLS for her generous support of this program, both financial and otherwise. You were on board with us from the beginning and we appreciate that immensely. We also want to thank Dr. Roz Hammond, Dean of the College of Education and Human Development, for giving your support as well. We appreciate all that you have done to recognize our efforts. We wish you well in your retirement and will miss you!! Thanks also to Sara Zulch-Smith, whose insights and suggestions were invaluable as we began this project. Thanks also for helping to coordinate things with other events that were happening for the BGSU Centennial celebration.

If you were able to attend the Reception and/or the Panel Discussion, we would love to hear from you. Feel free to post your comments, stories, and photos on the blog. If you have information to add or correct (in case we do this project again:-), please feel free to email me at: nestennisprof@gmail.com

If you were unable to attend, we would still love to hear from you--if you have stories, or would like to contribute information for future reference. It is possible that we may have a display of the posters for the School of HMSLS Homecoming Symposium in the Fall, so stay tuned. (Did I just say that?:-)

Message from Dr. Janet Parks, Ann Bowers, and Addie Hostetler Muti

The women’s records that are on file in the BGSU University athletics department date back to 1973, the first year that BG was a regular member of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). As documented in our book, Forward Falcons: Women's Sports at BGSU, 1914-1982, women’s sports had flourished at BG for many, many years before 1973. So, an obvious question is, “What happened to the pre-1973 records?”

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is distressing. When the women’s and men’s intercollegiate athletics programs merged in 1976, the files containing the historical records of the women’s program were transferred to the athletics department. Most of the records dating from 1973 were retained in the official files, and the files of previous years were stored along with other athletics department documents under the bleachers of the football stadium. Sometime later, large quantities of water seeped into that storage area. Much to our dismay, all of the files were damaged beyond repair and had to be discarded. Consequently, the only available information about the pre-1973 years is in (a) the memories and scrapbooks of coaches and athletes who participated in women’s sport, (b) accounts published in the Key, (c) media guides, which appeared on the scene in the mid-1970s, and (d) articles published in the BG News and other news outlets.

In our book, we identified the starting dates of the intercollegiate teams as the first recorded year in which BG teams competed against other universities in single sport events (i.e., not play days or sports days). We included only those teams that existed prior to 1982. The starting/ending dates for those teams are as follows:

Basketball--1962-present

Cross Country--1976-present

Fencing--1945-1978

Field Hockey--1950-1982

Golf--1958-present

Gymnastics--1965-present

Lacrosse--1970-1981

Softball--1965-1972; sport dropped for lack of a coach; 1977-present

Splashers/Swimming and Diving--1948-present

Swan Club/Synchronized Swimming--1939-1978

Tennis--1951-present

Track and Field--1965-present

Volleyball--1965-present

Congratulations to Dr. Spencer's class on your hard work over the past semester! We are sure that you collected an enormous amount of information and gained valuable insight into the process of historical research! Good luck with your culminating event next Friday!

Janet Parks, Ann Bowers, and Addie Hostetler Muti

Women's Gymnastics and Men's Ice Hockey (11:30 Class)

This report on the BGSU Women’s Gymnastics Team is being done as part of the celebration of the BGSU centennial celebration going on around campus. We became interested in the women’s gymnastics team because we looked at the list and decided that the women’s gymnastics team was a BGSU team that was not well known and we were interested in the history of the team. The women’s gymnastics team started competition in 1974* here at Bowling Green. The gymnastics team has had three coaches over the 36 years that they have been in competition. The team's overall record is 217 wins 230 losses and 2 ties spanning the 36 year program history. The team has become more successful as the program becomes older. The 2002 season was one that the program can give credit to for their recent growth when the Falcon gymnast won the Mid American Conference regular season title under Coach Dan Connelly (see below). Connelly was very important in bringing the program to where it is today. The three time Mid American Conference coach of the year can be credited with recent success of the program including in 1999 when Marny Oestreng became the first woman at Bowling Green to capture a national title when she won the national title in floor exercise.

Marny Oestreng (below) is among BGSU's top performers in Gymnastics:

The historical research for the gymnastics team was a tough challenge to do. Since the program has not been widely publicized it was more difficult to find information on it. A lot of information has come from school yearbooks and finding information from people who participated with the gymnastics program. While the challenge has been rough along the way finding out information about a team that has been over shadowed here at BGSU was very gratifying and is something that hopefully generations after us will build on and help the gymnastics program continue to grow into a national power.

Ice Hockey at Bowling Green State University is filled with lots of memories and traditions. Our group was excited to research the hockey team especially since a few of us have played the game ourselves. The ice hockey program first began at BGSU in 1969. The program has had a total of seven coaches since the recent hire of Miami's former assistant coach Chris Bergeron (below).

Some other notable coaches are Jack Vivian, Jerry York, and Buddy Powers to name a few. Though the program has had some slow seasons recently, our overall record is still above .500 at 776-645-92.

One of the most memorable games for this sport was the NCAA Championship game on March 24, 1984 against Minnesota-Duluth. The game lasted over four hours and went to four overtime periods. Bowling Green fought hard and the 5-4 score went our way. Winning the NCAA title meant so much to the community that followed them all the way.

Along with our NCAA title, Bowling Green is proud to announce a long list of alumni that have and currently are playing in the National Hockey League. Notable players are Rob Blake (1988), Nelson Emerson (1985), Goalie Mike Liut (1976), and Ken Morrow (1976) to name only a few from the strong list of candidates. Ken Morrow (below), Rob Blake, and Mark Wells each represent BG in carrying a gold medal in the Olympics.


Our program currently holds four CCHA league titles as well. BG's "Ice House Gangs" of the late 1970's put the Falcons on the map as a national power and was a great representation of the past.

In a interview with Dennis Williams, past player, he mentioned that the best memory in his career was going to Miami in the playoffs his senior year in 2001 and beating the Redhawks. They advanced past Northern Michigan which put them in the Joe Louis Arena. The bus stopped there as they were downed by Michigan State losing 2-1. "It was a great run for our team," Williams said.

*Note: According to the research of Dr. Janet Parks and Ann Bowers, the Gymnastics team began to compete in 1965.

Members of this Group include: Alex Binger, Nate Doolin, Chris Jaeger, Nate Ralston, and Danielle Spatz.

Women's Volleyball and Men's Golf (11:30 Class)

When our group heard about the Centennial Project that was assigned, we really did not know what to expect. We all knew that Bowling Green State University was in its’ 100th year. The project sounded like a nice idea to celebrate this, but it also sounded very overwhelming and also a bit stressful. When draft day rolled along, our group received the last pick in the first round and the first pick in the second round. We decided to select Volleyball as our women’s sport and Men’s Golf as our men’s sport. We believed that these two sports were the least complicated of the remaining sports.

When it came time to find all the volleyball information, we found that there was a ton of information out there about the sport. We mostly found all of our information in yearbooks and the 2009 media guide that was available online. Our group found that varsity volleyball started at BGSU in 1976.* From 1976 through 2008, the volleyball team has put up a record of 560-429-3. An interesting fact that we found about the volleyball team is that there have only been three head coaches for women’s volleyball. The most distinguished is current coach, Denise Van De Walle. Coach Van De Walle (below) is the winningest coach in conference history and also ranks among the top 30 active coaches with over 500 wins.

Although the information for volleyball was pretty easily found, men’s golf was another story. Our group had a very hard time finding out all the information we needed on the sport. We went to the archives, looked at yearbooks, and also looked at the media guide. Men’s golf has been at Bowling Green State University since 1930; however, there has not always been a team every year. From 1930 to 1946, there was not a team during fifteen of those years. Garry Winger (below) is the current head coach of the golf team. Winger has had the head coach title since 1997.

One of the significant players we found was Mike McCullough (below). McCullough was a PGA Tour golfer and currently is on the Champions Tour.


*Note: While some available information suggests that Volleyball started in the 1970s, the evidence found by Dr. Janet Parks and Ann Bowers indicates that it began in 1965.

Members of this Group include: Garrett Brooks, Rob Hostetler, Alex McNeely, Brandon Mitchell, and Jarryd Nelson.

Men's Basketball and Women's Cross Country (1:00 Class)

The teams that our group decided to study and research were BGSU Men’s Basketball and BGSU Women’s Cross Country. Men’s Basketball, at any college, is a very popular sport that brings in revenue. Angel’s reason for wanting to study Men’s Basketball was his own interest in basketball. He has been playing basketball for about 10 years and his knowledge of the game made him interested in the history of BGSU. BGSU is not a school that is well-known for their sports, so being able to go through the archives gave us the opportunity to discover things that not many people know. We uncovered some very interesting individuals that helped put BGSU in the national spotlight during their time here. Also, Tony grew up around Bowling Green, Ohio and always went to BGSU basketball games with his family so he was very interested in doing basketball. Another reason we chose basketball was because one of our group members Dylan had a direct connection with BGSU basketball; his father played here. We know this project, from his eyes, gave him the opportunity to find out how good his dad was, who he had the privilege to play with, and how good the team was when he played.

As for the BGSU Women’s Cross Country team, it is a sport that does not receive much exposure at all. This team was probably the team that gave us the most difficulty while researching because they did not receive the same amount of media exposure the basketball team did. It was difficult to find rosters online, so we had to go through about 30-35 yearbooks to compile full rosters for each team of women’s cross country. On the other hand, we did enjoy researching this team because it did teach us something about a sport that is generally overlooked. Also, one of our group members Tony was in cross country when he was in high school.

In terms of research, some of the information was easily accessible but on the contrary, other information was very difficult to find. We spent countless hours in the 5th floor of the library, going through boxes that hold some amazing items. We went through a box that held the original basketball scorebooks from 1918, and in perfect condition. We went through many key yearbooks to find rosters or records that we couldn’t find anywhere else. Also conducting interviews, for some members in our group, was not as simple as expected. Finding someone to interview was not very difficult because of the many resources we have here, but actually finding a time that worked for both parties was probably the most difficult part of the interview process. Overall, this assignment has exposed us to information that not many students have had the opportunity to view. It was also an introduction to researching historical content and something that possibly, in the future, we will be using again.

Members of this Group include: Tony Fritsch, Angel Gonzalez, Mandeep Grewal, Dylan Hefflinger, and Kelli Marvel.

Women's Basketball and Men's Cross Country (1:00 Class)

Our group studied Women’s Basketball and Men’s Cross Country at Bowling Green State University. We were interested in studying women’s basketball at BGSU because two of our group members are currently a part of the team, Tracy Pontius (below, #5) and Jessica Tamerlano (also below). In addition, with all the past and recent success of the team, it provided a chance for the two current team members to learn the history about the team that they are a part of. Overall, choosing to study the women’s basketball was a very sensible choice.


Even though the women’s team did not officially become a part of BGSU athletics until mid 1970’s after the passage of Title IX, women’s basketball has been a part of Bowling Green as early as 1918. (S. Hager, personal communication, March 26, 2010). Initially, women’s basketball started with literary societies sponsoring two teams: the “Emersonians,” and the “Wilsonians.” However, the team was discontinued in the 1930’s and resumed again in 1952 by Dorothy Luedke.

Throughout the women’s basketball history, there have been a tremendous number of great coaches such as Fran Voll, and current coach Curt Miller (see below). Miller has won six straight MAC Championships in a row for BG and has play in the post season for four year, with two NCAA appearances.

Great BGSU Basketball Coaches (L-R): Curt Miller, Sue Hager, Nora Liu, and Fran Voll.

In addition to the coaches, there were some great athletes. One of the most memorable teams was the 2006 “Sweet Sixteen” team headed by Curt Miller. Some of the team members included Kate Achter (below), Ali Mann, Liz Honneger, and Carin Horne.

Ali Mann (below) gets fired up! Liz Honegger takes one of her famous "threes" (below).

Carin Horne (above) played an integral role on BGSU's most successful team ever.

On the other hand, the men’s cross country team at BGSU was assigned to us since we had the first team selection choice. Though one of our group members is a former runner, the remaining members learned many different things about this sport and previous team that they would never have came across otherwise. So even though our group didn’t necessarily pick this team, it was a very good team to research with a lot of interesting history.

The Men’s Cross Country team started in 1927 and usually consisted of 5 - 7 players. Now the teams are a bit bigger and range from 7 - 17 members. After cross country began at BGSU, it didn’t really break through until 1960 when Coach Mel Brodt took over.

Coach Mel Brodt (below) can be considered the most successful coach for the men’s team considering he coached for the longest, 24 years (1960 - 1972). In addition, his success will greatly be remembered as BG has named a home invitational meet to honor his legacy (The Mel Brodt Invitational). During his coaching period one of the most memorable events happened between the years 1969-1972. During this period, the team had a four-year run of finishing among the top 10 at the Nationals. In addition, well known athletes include Sid Sink and Dave Wottle, who was also an Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1972 Olympic games.

Now, men’s cross country at BG is coached by Cami Wells (below), who happens to be the first woman to ever coach the team. Current runners include Jason Salyer (below), Christopher Moody, and Jesse Smuda. In addition, Wells coaches the women’s cross country and women’s track team at BGSU.

Jason Salyer (below), is the team's only freshman.

Overall, BGSU has had tremendous success with both the Women’s Basketball and Men’s Cross Country teams. The challenge of taking on the role of historical researchers was both challenging and beneficial. In the end, it only increased our knowledge of the sport history here at Bowling Green State University and will help us with any profession in the future.

Members of this Group include: Lucas Kraus, Tracy Pontius, Marcus Rodriguez, Dominique Simmons, and Jessica Tamerlano.

Men's Basketball and Women's Tennis (11:30 Class)

We think it is safe to say when choosing our teams (men’s basketball, women’s tennis) for our Sport Management’s Centennial Project, we didn’t know much about either. When we picked our teams, our five-member group wanted to make sure we at least picked one sport with relatively easy access to records. This is why we chose basketball. And we decided on tennis because the other class did not choose this sport, so we wanted to do something different. But after doing hours of research, compiling names of players and coaches and browsing through various archived material such as The BG News, Key Yearbooks and media guides, this project has really enhanced our views on how to appreciate these sports.

For basketball, we found that the team had 15 COACHES. Harold Anderson (below), was the University’s most prolific and successful men’s basketball coach. He had a career spanning 21 years in which he won 362 games, three Mid-American Conference championships, appeared in six NIT Tournaments and three NCAA Tournaments.

Crystal “Boo” Ellis (below), BGSU’s first African-American basketball player, said Anderson was more than a coach. He said Anderson wanted his players to get an education first, and then play basketball.

Coach Anderson aspired for all of his players, such as Don and Mel Otten, Nate Thurmond (below) and Charlie Share to be the best men possible.The 1940s through the 1960s were BGSU’s “glory days.”


With the two sports our group is doing, women’s tennis has experienced a little more success than men’s basketball in the recent past.

Janet Parks (below), head tennis coach from 1967-1976, was instrumental in not only sustaining the program on campus, but being able to give females an opportunity to play tennis. Parks coached during the era of Title IX, or the implementation of equal opportunity for men and women collegiate athletics on all college campuses. Because of Parks helping the program, superstars of today have the chance to play.

Christine Chiricosta (below) one of the most successful women’s tennis players in the University’s history, said one of her greatest moments was winning Division 1 Ohio State/doubles championship title in 2007 with her sister.

Katie Grubb (below) is a freshman and is the team’s No. 6 singles player and No. 3 doubles players. She could become the next great tennis player.

We think this project will be so valuable for years to come for future students doing research. Even though this assignment is collecting names, conducting an interview and writing a paper, no other collection has been brought together by this. We think it goes without saying, but we are making history and providing a worthwhile community service for future BGSU students to research and enjoy.

Members of this group are: Lance Eddy, Michael Fox, Amanda Meade, Andy Ouriel, and Iris Wright II.