Legacy Series 7: Athletic Archives Highlight The Storied History Of BGSU Athletics

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CLICK HERE for information about the Athletics Walk of Fame and History, featuring the Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum
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Legacy Series Part One - Legacy Weekend To Take Place In October
Legacy Series Part Two - Falcon Club Celebrating 50th Anniversary
Legacy Series Part Three - Hall Of Fame Celebrating 50th Anniversary
Legacy Series Part Four - Hall Of Fame Honors Rich History Of BGSU Athletics
Legacy Series Part Five - Legendary Coaches Make Their Mark
Legacy Series Part Six - BG Women Create Hall Of Fame Legacy

This is the seventh in a series of stories about the upcoming Falcon Athletics Legacy Weekend planned by the Bowling Green State University Athletics Department. BGSU Athletics will be recognizing the 50th anniversaries of both the Falcon Club and the Hall of Fame, while also promoting the BGSU Athletics Walk of Fame and History, featuring the Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum. As well, BGSU Athletics will recognize our Heritage sports -- those no longer fielded by the University.

BGSU Athletics is proud to announce that Jack Carle, who recently retired as beat writer for BGSU Athletics after more than 35 years of covering Falcon sports, is providing his insight for our Legacy Weekend series. Please check BGSUFalcons.com regularly as Jack tells the stories of BGSU's rich athletics history.

Thanks to the work of Mickey Cochrane and Don Cunningham, Bowling Green State University's athletics archives have come a long way in the past 30 years. And with the announcement of the Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum, the future of the athletics archives will be ensured.

In the early days, archived items were stored at Doyt Perry Stadium, but many of those became damaged by rain water that had leaked into the storage rooms.

Through the item-saving efforts of Cochrane and Cunningham, those archives were moved to Memorial Hall. For many years, the history of BGSU sports was displayed in a former student-athlete book room that was open during home basketball games in Anderson Arena. But in 2011 the athletics archives moved again to its current home in the Stroh Center. Now the work to make the Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum a permanent fixture at the Stroh Center continues to move forward.

The Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum will be part of the BGSU Athletics Walk of Fame & History in the Stroh Center. That new, state-of-the-art space will serve as an attractive and compelling front porch that reflects on intercollegiate athletics programs and the University as a whole. This initiative will be highlighted during Legacy Weekend Oct. 17-18 as BGSU Athletics celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Falcon Club and the Hall of Fame.

Both Cochrane and Cunningham are members of the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame. Cochrane, who was inducted in 1992, started the men's soccer and men's lacrosse programs as well as coaching women's lacrosse for a year at Bowling Green. The soccer field at BGSU was named in his honor in 1980. He stepped down from his coaching duties in 1977 to concentrate on teaching as an associate professor in the school of health, physical education and recreation before retiring in 1985. Cochrane received numerous state and national honors during his coaching careers.

In soccer, Cochrane's teams compiled a 13-year record of 68-56-14 at BG, including a 61-39-10 mark over his final 10 seasons. In men's lacrosse, Cochrane was 88-24 in his 10 years as head coach. He currently serves as volunteer curator of the Athletic Archives at BGSU.

A 1943 graduate of BGSU, Cunningham began his 33-year athletic administration career in 1946 as Bowling Green's first sports information director. He served as the SID for 20 years and had additional duties as the athletics ticket manager and varsity golf coach. The 1956 golf team won the Mid-American Conference championship. In 1952, he was named assistant athletic director, and became the associate AD in 1976. He served as the athletic business manager from 1965 until his retirement in 1979. The press box at Perry Stadium is named in Cunningham's honor and he was inducted into the BGSU Hall of Fame in 1981. Cunningham passed away in 2000.

Both Cochrane and Cunningham realized the need to help save the history of BGSU athletics.

"We ran around in those storage rooms and covered things with ponchos we had, and we said someday we have to protect that stuff," Cochrane said. "Some photos were ruined and some equipment was rotted … everything seemed to get pushed back there. That stadium leaked from day one. When I had to move my office out of the stadium in 1985, it (the archives) kind of came into fruition that summer. We had the idea together and we started moving things together."

The archives became a second career for both Cochrane and Cunningham.

"We had a tremendous friendship; it was just a gift for us," Cochrane said. "It happened just by a remote chance … We had 15 years together with all kinds of sharing."

Starting in the 1980s, items were moved to Memorial Hall, first to an office by the equipment room at the north end of the building. However, no one could see the items located away from the main entrances to Memorial Hall and Anderson Arena, so the displays were moved to the book room. Items were also stored in space underneath the seats in Anderson Arena.

"That was fantastic," Cochrane said about the location in the hallway of Memorial Hall. "There we were, Don with his knowledge of all the people and mine was the love and knowledge of artifacts and that was the one-two punch," Cochrane added. "I began to learn about the people and Don began to learn about artifacts."

In addition to the items rescued from Perry Stadium, many other pieces of BGSU athletic history have been donated. Among the more unique items are a pair of football pants and pads from the first season in 1919; a letter sweater from a member of the 1931 football team, and a bamboo pole used in the pole vault. The football pants and shoulder pads came from Peg Troyer, who lived just four houses from the Cochranes. The pants were worn by her father Herb, and had been stored in the attic. The letter sweater came from a man in Michigan and is the 1920s style cardigan rolled collar. It features a logo in the corner that neither Cunningham or Cochrane had seen. The logo was BGC, for Bowling Green College. The bamboo pole was found in Anderson Arena, during the move to the Stroh Center. Cochrane believes the pole is from the 1940s, and it is in near perfect condition.

At the Stroh Center, the archives were first in a former janitor's closet at the back of the building, both for storage and display. Cases were then put up for displays in the front of the Stroh Center, but some items were ruined because the windows at the Stroh Center are not tinted. The cases also were not tinted.

"All of a sudden my orange stuff was turning yellow," Cochrane said.

All future cases brought in will already be tinted. However, the display cases are still in a multi-purpose area.

"My hope is that that will be there, and things will be in a more protected area, just like the room we had at Memorial (Hall)," Cochrane said.

To honor Cochrane, members of both the men's and women's lacrosse teams, have started a fund-raising effort for the Hall of Fame and archives.

"The lacrosse guys picked up on it when I said I don't know how much longer I am going to be able to do this and what's going to happen to it all," Cochrane, who is 84, said.

Last year that group presented a check for $150,000 to the BGSU Foundation when the group went public with the funding effort to reach a larger group of givers.

"This is not just an opportunity to help the school by preserving their history, but also to preserve the legacy of a lacrosse team," Leif Elsmo, a former lacrosse player who helped jumpstart the project, said last year. "And we jumped on it. We achieved our first goal and then some ... We recognized a special opportunity to take the work that Mickey Cochrane and Don Cunningham have done, which is amassing this great resource of archival information and artifacts. We saw the need to endow the project and fund it so that it can be here forever."

Cheryl Windisch, Cunningham's daughter, is pleased with the effort to save the archives.

"That's the part that touches me the most, that this was initiated by the lacrosse team because they wanted to do something for Mickey while he could still enjoy that, and know that the future was taken care of; it was worrisome to him," she said at the time of the announcement. "And for my dad to be remembered 13 years after he passed away, that touches my heart, too. He and Mickey, they were just such a pair, doing all of that for all those years. It's a tribute to their friendship as well."

More information on the BGSU Athletics Walk of Fame & History and the Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum in the Stroh Center can be found at bgsufalcons.com. Those interested in donating to the project can do so by CLICKING HERE. Any individual with memorabilia can donate their items to the archives. Please call 419-372-2401 for more information on how to donate items.

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