From Woody's Couch

Page 102 of 105

Fall Sports (Part 2)

September 1, 2011 / drobik.5@osu.edu / Comments Off

Men’s Golf

The Men’s Golf team has won numerous championships, including 23 Big Ten Championships, most recently in 2004. The team has been part of the Big Ten since at least 1928, when it won its first Championship. Jim Brown, who played the No. 1 position on the golf team from 1963-65 as a student, served as team coach from 1974-2009, one of the longest-serving coaches in Buckeye history.

Men's Golf Team, 1928

Golfer John Cook with sister Cathy, 1978

Jim Brown, golf coach

Women’s Golf

Ohio State was actually the originator of the first women’s golf championship in the country, which also happened to be the first national championship to be held for any women’s sport.

In 1941 Ohio State hosted the 1^st Women’s National Collegiate Golf Tournament, made possible by the work of Gladys Palmer – then-chairwoman of the women’s division of the phys-ed department – and the support of then-Director of Athletics Lynn St. John. The tournament went on to be hosted by other institutions for many years and was eventually taken over in 1973 by the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. The NCAA took control of the championships in 1982.

Women's Golf action, 1940s

Gladys Palmer, 1957

Women’s Volleyball

The Women’s Volleyball Team was formed in 1971, and joined the NCAA in 1975. The team has won the Big Ten Championship in 1989, 1991 and 1994.

Women's Volleyball action, no date

Women’s Field Hockey

The earliest reference to Women’s Field Hockey that we know of comes from a brochure in 1920, listing Field Hockey under fall women’s sports. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the sport was sponsored by the women’s department of athletics, which sponsored tournaments. The sport gained Varsity Status in 1971. The sport was officially sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference in 1981, and OSU hosted its first conference later that year.

Women's Field Hockey action, 1959

Women's Field Hockey action, 1982-83

Fall Sports (Part 1)

August 30, 2011 / drobik.5@osu.edu / 7 Comments

We thought it would be fun to briefly highlight the histories of OSU’s other fall sports. Here’s part one:

Men’s Soccer

Veterinary Medicine soccer champs, team photo, 1914

Men’s Soccer began at Ohio State around 1912 as an informal league. The first record of the sport was in 1914, when Professor Thomas French mentioned “soccer football” in an article about fall sports. At that time there were ten local teams, from fraternities and boarding houses, playing matches in Columbus. It was not until 1953 that Ohio State’s team played its first intercollegiate season. To date, the team has won three Big Ten Championships (2000, 2007, 2009). They have won 16 of the 22 matches played against Michigan, including the last two years.

Men's Soccer Team (from the 1914 yearbook)

Men's Soccer at Ohio Field, 1913

Women’s Soccer

Women's Soccer, action shot vs. Notre Dame, 1993

Though women’s soccer has existed at OSU since 1977, it didn’t become a Varsity sport until more than 15 years later. When the Women’s Soccer Club first applied for Varsity status, it was denied; the University cited lack of funds for all sports, as well as a lack of competition, since the Club was playing Division III schools. Players argued that Division I teams did not want to play against OSU for fear of losing to a Club team, while at the same time many Division I schools had enacted rules preventing their Varsity teams from playing clubs. The sport finally received Varsity status in 1993, giving the women the same class and facility scheduling opportunities as the men, as well as funding for scholarships, travel and tournament fees. In 2002 the team won the Big Ten Championship.

Women's Soccer Team, inaugural season, 1993

Men’s Cross Country

Men's Cross Country Team (from the 1913 yearbook)

Men’s Cross Country is one of the oldest sports at OSU, as foot races were held on campus before Ohio Field was in use. The earliest reference to an official team was in 1912, the year of the first Big Ten Championship (the Buckeyes placed 6^th); by 1914 the team had thirty members and was growing in popularity.

Men's Cross Country, finish line at Western Conference Run, 1917

Women’s Cross Country

Women's Cross Country, beginning of a race, 1975

The first season of intercollegiate Women’s Cross Country was in 1975, with a dozen members. The sport was officially sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference in 1981. The women had a track team, both indoor and outdoor, even before the establishment of a Cross Country Team.

1981 Women's Cross Country Team

Cramped quarters at the Towers

August 25, 2011 / haire.14@osu.edu / Comments Off

You may have read the recent Columbus Dispatch article, “Dorm fixes will squeeze Ohio State students.” If you haven’t, here’s a short synopsis: Many freshmen this year will be living four to a room, instead of two to a room, because two residential halls will be under construction.

Lincoln Tower dorm room, 1967

Except for the temporary nature of the cramped quarters, doesn’t that sound familiar? For those of you who lived in Lincoln and Morrill towers as OSU students, a tight living space was just a fact of life. You and three other people, whom you’d soon know very, very intimately, showed up on move-in day and tried to stuff all of your belongings into an area that, by today’s standards, seems like it was designed to be a walk-in closet, not a living space for four adults.

How did it happen that Lincoln and Morrill towers – so mod for their time – came into existence?

In 1962 the university’s master plan included the construction of a new “focal point” along the Olentangy River, due to the increasing number of students and limited dorm space. It appears that the master plan at that time called for the construction of six towers, all alike, though of course only the first two–Lincoln and Morrill–were built. (They opened in 1967.)

Morrill Tower at night, 1967

The plan also called for other facilities, like a student union–which resulted in the construction of the Drake Union–as well as a boat house and support facilities (post office, shopping, etc.) that were never built.

As to why the other dorms were never built, our files are not conclusive. There was a lot of controversy within the campus community and various departments as to where to place the first two towers. Also, several utility lines had to be relocated, and since the buildings would be next to a river, a pump house and other considerations had to be made. Meanwhile, other dorms, such as Drackett Tower, were already under construction.

No matter. Lincoln and Morrill towers have become iconic structures of the OSU campus, and to help you remember all of the good times you had there as students in those very tight quarters, we’ve provided some more photos below.