Bowling Green State University Athletics
Legacy Series 8: From History To Heritage
October 13, 2014 | General, Heritage Sports
Former Varsity Sports Continue to Shape Future of BG Athletics
CLICK HERE to visit the Legacy Weekend website
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
Legacy Series Part Seven - Athletic Archives Highlight The Storied History of BGSU Athletics
This is the eighth and final 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.
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The Heritage sports at Bowling Green State University have not been forgotten by the current athletics administration. As part of Legacy Weekend, Oct. 17-18, the Heritage sports, defined as sports which have been dropped at BGSU, will be recognized.
"With this year's Legacy Weekend, we are honoring all of our varsity teams that have competed for BGSU athletics throughout our history," Chris Kingston, BGSU's athletics director, said. "We have a special opportunity to recognize our Heritage sports, and bring together the Heritage sports alumni to celebrate their achievements as Falcons. It is important to remember those who came before us, as we Make History Now."
A total of 10 sports have been dropped by BGSU since 1978 - women's synchronized swimming (Swan Club) in 1978; men's and women's fencing in 1978; men's lacrosse in 1979; women's field hockey in 1981; women's lacrosse in 1981; wrestling in 1982; and men's tennis, men's track and field, and men's swimming and diving all in 2002.
Jim Lessig was Bowling Green's athletics director from 1978-1982. Paul Krebs was the AD while the cuts were made in 2002. Both agreed that having to cut sports was difficult.
"I guess if you have to pick a low spot in your career, I'm sure this would be it," said Lessig, who is now retired. "I still feel badly about that. This was not a Title IX issue because we eliminated men's teams and women's teams."
"We are 12 years removed from that, and I haven't forgotten because it was such an emotional and trying time," said Krebs, who is currently the vice president for athletics at the University of New Mexico. "I would never want to go through that again and I don't wish that on anybody. I am certainly sad that it happened under my watch, but there's no question in my mind that at the time we did what we had to do."
The cuts in the late 1970s and early 1980s came at a time when BGSU was facing budget issues and there was the possibility that the athletics programs could have been moved from Division I-A to I-AA. Of the sports dropped in that time period, the biggest surprise was men's lacrosse, which was one of the most successful programs at Bowling Green in the 1970s.
Under head coach Mickey Cochrane, BGSU lacrosse won more than 75 percent of its games and three Midwest Lacrosse Association championships. The Falcons were ranked in the top 25 nationally in five different seasons, and had a 15-game winning streak in 1975-76 and at one point won 27 straight conference games. Cochrane and five former lacrosse players are in the BGSU athletics Hall of Fame.
Lessig said one reason for cutting men's lacrosse was that the majority of players came from the eastern part of the United States, which caused some budgetary problems. Also lacrosse was not a sport which was being played at many high schools in Ohio.
It has been the men's and women's lacrosse teams which have made the most progress in reconnecting with BGSU. The groups have played an integral part in starting the funding for the Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum at the Stroh Center.
"Much of what has been appreciated is the renewal of friendships," Cochrane said. "When you play with somebody, most of them for four years, you do not focus on what happened. You focus on seeing so and so again, what have they done, jarring memories. That's why you come back in any organization; it's the people you associated with. To deny yourself that, because of what happened, is harmful. When you come back, I can almost guarantee the good overrides the bad."
Cochrane said for many years, the men's lacrosse players would have reunions elsewhere, including Annapolis, Md. and Gettysburg, Pa. Now the reunions are in Bowling Green.
"To be holding that bitterness and denying that marvelous opportunity to relive the past, I just think is tough," Cochrane said. "There is no question that you can certainly make a case for never forgiving if you want to. But that doesn't do much more than harm your sense of well-being."
Cochrane said the lacrosse teams will be etched in time because "there was nobody before them, and nobody after them. We will preserve those years as long as those folks live."
The cuts in 2002 also involved sports with great tradition and success at BGSU, including men's track and field which produced Dave Wottle, who won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1972 in Munich in the 800 meters. He also won NCAA and AAU national championships while running for the Falcons.
"Like all BG runners, I was pretty disappointed," Wottle said. "I was disappointed for my teammates. We felt we had done quite a bit to expand the name recognition of Bowling Green back in the early '70s and then to have them to axe the sport we all loved, it was disappointing, especially to a school the size of Bowling Green."
Wottle said he is certainly over it now.
"I have learned in my career that you have to let things go," Wottle said. "Will I ever forget what happened? Absolutely not. Do I think it was justified? No, I do not. But the fact is that the decision was made, and we can't just sit there and dwell on it."
Wottle is one of 25 former track and field athletes in the BGSU Hall of Fame. Mel Brodt, who coached both track and field and cross country is also in the Hall of Fame. There are nine men's swimmers and six men's tennis players in the Hall of Fame.
"My perspective and the perspective of the Board of Trustees was that we were not running a club program, we were varsity athletics," Krebs said. "We were in a financial bind trying to sustain a competitive program with minimal resources. We decided in order to secure a better future for all our programs, we needed to drop some sports. We needed more money to compete and run our programs. At the time the most logical way was to reduce the number of sports that we offered."
Krebs said BGSU had the smallest athletic budget in the Mid-American Conference when the cuts were made in 2002. Many have contended that men's sports were eliminated, especially the three in 2002, due to Title IX of the Education Amendments passed by Congress. The enabling clause of Title IX says no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
Dr. Janet Parks, a distinguished professor emerita in the School of Human Movement, Sports and Leisure Studies at BGSU, said nothing in Title IX requires any teams to be eliminated.
Parks, a co-author of Forward Falcons, a book on women's sports at Bowling Green from 1914-1982, continued that athletics administrators have choices with regard to ways in which they comply with Title IX. BGSU chose the proportionality prong of Title IX, which was issued by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1979. This prong states that schools must provide athletic opportunities to male and female athletes in proportion to their representation in the student body.
Parks added that BGSU administrators decided to make the cuts via eliminating teams rather than other ways such as decreasing roster size in some men's sports. BGSU couldn't cut women's teams or roster sizes because the proportion of opportunities for women was already not equivalent to their representation in the student body. Eliminating any opportunities for women would have thrown the proportionality figures even more out of balance.
Women's sports came under BGSU athletic department governance in the 1976-77 athletic year. Women's competition in the Mid-American Conference began in 1980-81.
Currently BGSU has 18 intercollegiate sports – seven for men and 11 for women. There have been no men's sports added since hockey in 1969. Softball was added in 1979 and women's soccer was added in 1996 to begin competition in the fall of 1997.
With the Heritage sports included during Legacy Weekend, it gives those former athletes an opportunity to reconnect with BGSU because their college years were bigger than their sports, and it was their total college experience that prepared them for the future.
"You hope over time that people heal and recognize that we're all Bowling Green Falcons, and let's come together and do things that are in the best interests of the University," Krebs said.
The former athletes should also realize that the memories and relationships with their teammates and coaches never will be extinguished.
"What's important, where my contacts are, are my teammates," Wottle said. "I still have memorable relationships with my teammates and you can't take that away. We were really all brothers in the sport, and that's stayed with us over the years. Future generations won't have the opportunity to have the same kind of relationship that we had in the sport."
BGSU is also honoring the Falcon Club and the athletics Hall of Fame during Legacy Weekend. Both are celebrating their 50th anniversary.
In addition to the football game against Western Michigan on Oct. 18 with kickoff at 2 p.m., other activities for the weekend include campus tours; a social event at the Stroh Center on Oct. 17; a tour of the Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum at the Stroh Center; a tailgate before the football game; and recognition of former athletes during the football game at Perry Field.
Dr. Mary Ellen Mazey will host a reception for the Hall of Fame members at the University House. Paul Miles, the only Falcon football player to have his number retired, will provide music at the reception.
More information on Legacy Weekend can by found at bgsufalcons.com.
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"With this year's Legacy Weekend, we are honoring all of our varsity teams that have competed for BGSU athletics throughout our history," Chris Kingston, BGSU's athletics director, said. "We have a special opportunity to recognize our Heritage sports, and bring together the Heritage sports alumni to celebrate their achievements as Falcons. It is important to remember those who came before us, as we Make History Now."
A total of 10 sports have been dropped by BGSU since 1978 - women's synchronized swimming (Swan Club) in 1978; men's and women's fencing in 1978; men's lacrosse in 1979; women's field hockey in 1981; women's lacrosse in 1981; wrestling in 1982; and men's tennis, men's track and field, and men's swimming and diving all in 2002.
Jim Lessig was Bowling Green's athletics director from 1978-1982. Paul Krebs was the AD while the cuts were made in 2002. Both agreed that having to cut sports was difficult.
"I guess if you have to pick a low spot in your career, I'm sure this would be it," said Lessig, who is now retired. "I still feel badly about that. This was not a Title IX issue because we eliminated men's teams and women's teams."
"We are 12 years removed from that, and I haven't forgotten because it was such an emotional and trying time," said Krebs, who is currently the vice president for athletics at the University of New Mexico. "I would never want to go through that again and I don't wish that on anybody. I am certainly sad that it happened under my watch, but there's no question in my mind that at the time we did what we had to do."
The cuts in the late 1970s and early 1980s came at a time when BGSU was facing budget issues and there was the possibility that the athletics programs could have been moved from Division I-A to I-AA. Of the sports dropped in that time period, the biggest surprise was men's lacrosse, which was one of the most successful programs at Bowling Green in the 1970s.
Under head coach Mickey Cochrane, BGSU lacrosse won more than 75 percent of its games and three Midwest Lacrosse Association championships. The Falcons were ranked in the top 25 nationally in five different seasons, and had a 15-game winning streak in 1975-76 and at one point won 27 straight conference games. Cochrane and five former lacrosse players are in the BGSU athletics Hall of Fame.
Lessig said one reason for cutting men's lacrosse was that the majority of players came from the eastern part of the United States, which caused some budgetary problems. Also lacrosse was not a sport which was being played at many high schools in Ohio.
It has been the men's and women's lacrosse teams which have made the most progress in reconnecting with BGSU. The groups have played an integral part in starting the funding for the Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum at the Stroh Center.
"Much of what has been appreciated is the renewal of friendships," Cochrane said. "When you play with somebody, most of them for four years, you do not focus on what happened. You focus on seeing so and so again, what have they done, jarring memories. That's why you come back in any organization; it's the people you associated with. To deny yourself that, because of what happened, is harmful. When you come back, I can almost guarantee the good overrides the bad."
Cochrane said for many years, the men's lacrosse players would have reunions elsewhere, including Annapolis, Md. and Gettysburg, Pa. Now the reunions are in Bowling Green.
"To be holding that bitterness and denying that marvelous opportunity to relive the past, I just think is tough," Cochrane said. "There is no question that you can certainly make a case for never forgiving if you want to. But that doesn't do much more than harm your sense of well-being."
Cochrane said the lacrosse teams will be etched in time because "there was nobody before them, and nobody after them. We will preserve those years as long as those folks live."
The cuts in 2002 also involved sports with great tradition and success at BGSU, including men's track and field which produced Dave Wottle, who won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1972 in Munich in the 800 meters. He also won NCAA and AAU national championships while running for the Falcons.
"Like all BG runners, I was pretty disappointed," Wottle said. "I was disappointed for my teammates. We felt we had done quite a bit to expand the name recognition of Bowling Green back in the early '70s and then to have them to axe the sport we all loved, it was disappointing, especially to a school the size of Bowling Green."
Wottle said he is certainly over it now.
"I have learned in my career that you have to let things go," Wottle said. "Will I ever forget what happened? Absolutely not. Do I think it was justified? No, I do not. But the fact is that the decision was made, and we can't just sit there and dwell on it."
Wottle is one of 25 former track and field athletes in the BGSU Hall of Fame. Mel Brodt, who coached both track and field and cross country is also in the Hall of Fame. There are nine men's swimmers and six men's tennis players in the Hall of Fame.
"My perspective and the perspective of the Board of Trustees was that we were not running a club program, we were varsity athletics," Krebs said. "We were in a financial bind trying to sustain a competitive program with minimal resources. We decided in order to secure a better future for all our programs, we needed to drop some sports. We needed more money to compete and run our programs. At the time the most logical way was to reduce the number of sports that we offered."
Krebs said BGSU had the smallest athletic budget in the Mid-American Conference when the cuts were made in 2002. Many have contended that men's sports were eliminated, especially the three in 2002, due to Title IX of the Education Amendments passed by Congress. The enabling clause of Title IX says no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
Dr. Janet Parks, a distinguished professor emerita in the School of Human Movement, Sports and Leisure Studies at BGSU, said nothing in Title IX requires any teams to be eliminated.
Parks, a co-author of Forward Falcons, a book on women's sports at Bowling Green from 1914-1982, continued that athletics administrators have choices with regard to ways in which they comply with Title IX. BGSU chose the proportionality prong of Title IX, which was issued by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1979. This prong states that schools must provide athletic opportunities to male and female athletes in proportion to their representation in the student body.
Parks added that BGSU administrators decided to make the cuts via eliminating teams rather than other ways such as decreasing roster size in some men's sports. BGSU couldn't cut women's teams or roster sizes because the proportion of opportunities for women was already not equivalent to their representation in the student body. Eliminating any opportunities for women would have thrown the proportionality figures even more out of balance.
Women's sports came under BGSU athletic department governance in the 1976-77 athletic year. Women's competition in the Mid-American Conference began in 1980-81.
Currently BGSU has 18 intercollegiate sports – seven for men and 11 for women. There have been no men's sports added since hockey in 1969. Softball was added in 1979 and women's soccer was added in 1996 to begin competition in the fall of 1997.
With the Heritage sports included during Legacy Weekend, it gives those former athletes an opportunity to reconnect with BGSU because their college years were bigger than their sports, and it was their total college experience that prepared them for the future.
"You hope over time that people heal and recognize that we're all Bowling Green Falcons, and let's come together and do things that are in the best interests of the University," Krebs said.
The former athletes should also realize that the memories and relationships with their teammates and coaches never will be extinguished.
"What's important, where my contacts are, are my teammates," Wottle said. "I still have memorable relationships with my teammates and you can't take that away. We were really all brothers in the sport, and that's stayed with us over the years. Future generations won't have the opportunity to have the same kind of relationship that we had in the sport."
BGSU is also honoring the Falcon Club and the athletics Hall of Fame during Legacy Weekend. Both are celebrating their 50th anniversary.
In addition to the football game against Western Michigan on Oct. 18 with kickoff at 2 p.m., other activities for the weekend include campus tours; a social event at the Stroh Center on Oct. 17; a tour of the Cochrane Cunningham Archive and Museum at the Stroh Center; a tailgate before the football game; and recognition of former athletes during the football game at Perry Field.
Dr. Mary Ellen Mazey will host a reception for the Hall of Fame members at the University House. Paul Miles, the only Falcon football player to have his number retired, will provide music at the reception.
More information on Legacy Weekend can by found at bgsufalcons.com.
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