Bowling Green State University Athletics
Fred Beyerman: BGSU Hall Of Fame Inductee
September 06, 2003 | General
Sept. 6, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University Athletic Hall of Fame will welcome five new members on Friday evening (Sept. 12). The 2003 class will be inducted during a formal dinner on the BGSU campus.
The class of 2003 will include coach and administrator Fred Beyerman, men's swimmer Hank Reest '61, football standouts Mark Szlachcic '93 and Erik White '93 and hockey coach Jerry York.
The official induction ceremony will take place Friday, Sept. 12, in the grand ballroom of BGSU's Bowen-Thompson Student Union. The social hour begins at 6:00 p.m. with dinner served at 7:00 p.m. and the program starting shortly thereafter.
In addition, the class will be introduced at halftime of the Sept. 13 BGSU-Liberty football game at Doyt Perry Stadium. The game begins at 6:00 p.m. and is designated as Varsity BG & Hall of Fame Night.
The public is invited to attend the induction dinner. Tickets are $35 and advance reservations are required. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Falcon Club office at (419) 372-7063 before the close of business Thursday (Sept. 11). Football game tickets can be purchased through the BGSU athletics ticket office at 1-877-BGSUTICKET (1-877-247-8842) or (419) 372-0000.
The following is the first in a series of articles profiling each of the 2003 inductees:
Fred Beyerman came to BGSU (then Bowling Green Normal College) in September of 1915 as an instructor of physical education, teaching all six courses offered at that time. Born in New York, N.Y., in 1878, he received his bachelor of philosophy degree from Columbia University just prior to the turn of the century. He began his intercollegiate coaching career at Michigan State Normal (Eastern Michigan University) in 1910 before coming to BGNC.
While hired primarily to teach, he was interested in the development of an athletic program. Beyerman began collecting candidates from a sparse male enrollment for the school's first basketball team. That 1915-16 team played 11 games, with the first win coming against Defiance College, 26-10, on BG's home court.
Even though there were very few male students on campus due to World War I, baseball was added to the intercollegiate program in 1918. Beyerman, who became the school's athletic director while coaching both basketball and baseball, also provided the leadership in organizing the Northwestern Ohio Athletic Association. BG, Bluffton, Defiance, Findlay and Toledo joined the league that began with baseball and basketball contests in 1919-20. Football, tennis and track competition followed within three years.
Beyerman, who served as conference president for four years, won BG's first championship in 1921, as the baseball team captured the NWOAA title. Beyerman established the first BG athletic committee, and developed the school's first track team in 1923 before leaving BGNC to start the Wood County Insurance Company.
Beyerman, very active in community affairs in Bowling Green, was a charter member of both the Kiwanis Club and Town and Gown. Beyerman's son, Fred, Jr., was a BGNC tennis letterwinner in 1925 and 1926, and his daughter, Betty, graduated from BG in 1930. Beyerman passed away in December of 1955.
