WBGU-PBS Chronicles the History of BGSU Women's Basketball
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio
8/31/2010 3:29:12 PM
Center Photo: BGSU women's basketball coaches (from left) Fran Voll, Sue Hager, Pat Peterson, Nora Liu and Curt Miller
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio
8/31/2010 3:29:12 PM
Center Photo: BGSU women's basketball coaches (from left) Fran Voll, Sue Hager, Pat Peterson, Nora Liu and Curt Miller
Photo on Right: BGSU President Dr. Carol Cartwright presents current team member and reigning two-time MAC Player of the Year Lauren Prochaska with a copy of the DVD.
Women’s basketball at Bowling Green State University has come a long way since its earliest beginnings in 1918, when two literary societies began playing against each other.
From the driving force of Dorothy Luedtke, the program’s founder, to the University’s most successful head coach Curt Miller, BGSU women’s basketball fans can experience the program’s proud history, thanks to a recently completed WBGU-PBS documentary “BGSU Women’s Basketball: A Legacy of Excellence.”
The hour and 42-minute program covers the early years of women’s basketball, prior to its founding as an intercollegiate sport in 1962, and includes highlights from each of the nine head coaches’ tenure. Interviews with coaches and players, archival photographs and video highlights are featured.
“This documentary truly was a three-year labor of love,” says producer/writer and BGSU alumnus Larry Weiss. “My wife, Fran, and I have enjoyed supporting this outstanding basketball program over the years and developing close relationships with the players and coaches.”
Upon his retirement from BGSU in 2007, Weiss, the former associate vice president for university relations and governmental affairs, asked then President Sidney Ribeau about projects he might work on part-time for the University. Ribeau asked him to co-chair BGSU’s Centennial Anniversary Commission and pull together the history of women’s basketball at the University.
Former BGSU head coach Sue Hager joined the effort and the two collaborated as producer/writers, along with Associate Producer/Writer/Editor Tom Zapiecki and Associate Producer/Editor Tony Howard, with the full support of President Carol Cartwright.
Through October, copies of the DVD may be purchased from WBGU-TV for $30 (includes shipping and handling), with $10 of that amount going directly to support the BGSU’s women’s basketball program. To purchase the DVD, contact Cari Tuttle at WBGU-PBS at 419-372-7024 or place an online order on the station’s secure website, http://wbgu.org/shop.
(Release and photos courtesy BGSU Marketing & Communications)
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History can become a fleeting memory.
Things can be forgotten, participants can pass on and records and archives can be lost or destroyed.
With that in mind, former Bowling Green State University president Dr. Sidney Ribeau decided over three years ago to preserve the history of women’s basketball at BGSU.
To that end, Larry Weiss and Dr. Sue Hager became the co-chairs of a project to chronicle women’s basketball at Bowling Green from its beginnings in the early 1960s to the current team under head coach Curt Miller.
Weiss, Hager and the staff of WBGU-TV conducted interviews with seven of the nine coaches who have led the Bowling Green program and 27 former and current players, including current seniors Lauren Prochaska and Tracy Pontius.
A total of 34 hours of interviews were taped with the coaches and players traveling to Bowling Green at their own expense. Those interviews were cut down to three hours and seven minutes and then to the current length of one hour and 42 minutes.
A preview of the documentary - “BGSU Women’s Basketball: A Legacy of Excellence” - was held Thursday (Aug. 26) at University House, hosted by current BGSU president Dr. Carol Cartwright. Five of the coaches were present along with approximately 20 players.
Hager was the third head coach for the women’s basketball team and was also an athletic administrator at Bowling Green.
“It was absolutely a labor of love ... I’m excited because it’s an actual living history of what we’ve done,” Hager said about the documentary. “It was just a matter of walking down memory lane ... This is the only way we can recoup this history and we still have a lot of people active and able to do it.
“Many of the conversations were different than I remembered, but I said let them go. That’s what they remembered and that’s the history.
Hager said she played 3-on-3 basketball while in college. She later coached with a rover before the current 5-on-5 game was introduced for the women.
“We were very lost (going to 5-on-5). I will have to credit Warren Scholler (a former men’s basketball coach at BGSU). I called him up and said I need some help, I don’t know how to do this,” Hager said. “He came and worked with us in practice and drew up plays. Bob Conibear (another former BGSU men’s basketball coach) also helped out.”
Weiss held several positions at BGSU before his retirement in 2007. In addition to his work on the video, Weiss is currently a co-chair of the BGSU’s Centennial Anniversary Commission.
“I thought I knew a lot because I had followed it for years, I learned so much more from the people who came back and shared what it was like when they were doing it,” Weiss said about the project.
Among those interviewed were Dorothy Luedtke, credited as being the founder of the Falcons’ women’s basketball team. She has since passed away, but the documentary was dedicated to her.
“They took it from a thing where they were playing intramurals on campus, She (Luedtke) had some very talented players and they encouraged her to take it to the next level and become an intercollegiate sport,” Weiss said. “That’s how it got started and we go through the whole evolution of what’s happened since them.”
“I am so proud that we were able to get it started,” Hager said about women’s basketball. “No matter what coach we had, every coach emphasized the philosophy of the university that No. 1 you’re a student and no one sacrificed the academic side to get the other.”
There is also a special section in the documentary on BG’s NCAA Sweet 16 team in 2007, Weiss said.
Bobbi Little, who played for the Falcons in the 1970s, isn’t surprised that process of putting together the documentary was a success.
“Bowling Green alumni, Bowling Green players, they always stick together. It’s such a family,” Little said.
Through October, copies of the DVD may be purchased from WBGU-TV for $30 (includes shipping and handling), with $10 of that amount going directly to support the BGSU’s women’s basketball program. To purchase the DVD, contact Cari Tuttle at WBGU-PBS at (419) 372-7024 or place an online order on the station’s secure website, http://wbgu.org/shop.
(Story courtesy Sentinel-Tribune)
From the driving force of Dorothy Luedtke, the program’s founder, to the University’s most successful head coach Curt Miller, BGSU women’s basketball fans can experience the program’s proud history, thanks to a recently completed WBGU-PBS documentary “BGSU Women’s Basketball: A Legacy of Excellence.”
The hour and 42-minute program covers the early years of women’s basketball, prior to its founding as an intercollegiate sport in 1962, and includes highlights from each of the nine head coaches’ tenure. Interviews with coaches and players, archival photographs and video highlights are featured.
“This documentary truly was a three-year labor of love,” says producer/writer and BGSU alumnus Larry Weiss. “My wife, Fran, and I have enjoyed supporting this outstanding basketball program over the years and developing close relationships with the players and coaches.”
Upon his retirement from BGSU in 2007, Weiss, the former associate vice president for university relations and governmental affairs, asked then President Sidney Ribeau about projects he might work on part-time for the University. Ribeau asked him to co-chair BGSU’s Centennial Anniversary Commission and pull together the history of women’s basketball at the University.
Former BGSU head coach Sue Hager joined the effort and the two collaborated as producer/writers, along with Associate Producer/Writer/Editor Tom Zapiecki and Associate Producer/Editor Tony Howard, with the full support of President Carol Cartwright.
Through October, copies of the DVD may be purchased from WBGU-TV for $30 (includes shipping and handling), with $10 of that amount going directly to support the BGSU’s women’s basketball program. To purchase the DVD, contact Cari Tuttle at WBGU-PBS at 419-372-7024 or place an online order on the station’s secure website, http://wbgu.org/shop.
(Release and photos courtesy BGSU Marketing & Communications)
---------
History can become a fleeting memory.
Things can be forgotten, participants can pass on and records and archives can be lost or destroyed.
With that in mind, former Bowling Green State University president Dr. Sidney Ribeau decided over three years ago to preserve the history of women’s basketball at BGSU.
To that end, Larry Weiss and Dr. Sue Hager became the co-chairs of a project to chronicle women’s basketball at Bowling Green from its beginnings in the early 1960s to the current team under head coach Curt Miller.
Weiss, Hager and the staff of WBGU-TV conducted interviews with seven of the nine coaches who have led the Bowling Green program and 27 former and current players, including current seniors Lauren Prochaska and Tracy Pontius.
A total of 34 hours of interviews were taped with the coaches and players traveling to Bowling Green at their own expense. Those interviews were cut down to three hours and seven minutes and then to the current length of one hour and 42 minutes.
A preview of the documentary - “BGSU Women’s Basketball: A Legacy of Excellence” - was held Thursday (Aug. 26) at University House, hosted by current BGSU president Dr. Carol Cartwright. Five of the coaches were present along with approximately 20 players.
Hager was the third head coach for the women’s basketball team and was also an athletic administrator at Bowling Green.
“It was absolutely a labor of love ... I’m excited because it’s an actual living history of what we’ve done,” Hager said about the documentary. “It was just a matter of walking down memory lane ... This is the only way we can recoup this history and we still have a lot of people active and able to do it.
“Many of the conversations were different than I remembered, but I said let them go. That’s what they remembered and that’s the history.
Hager said she played 3-on-3 basketball while in college. She later coached with a rover before the current 5-on-5 game was introduced for the women.
“We were very lost (going to 5-on-5). I will have to credit Warren Scholler (a former men’s basketball coach at BGSU). I called him up and said I need some help, I don’t know how to do this,” Hager said. “He came and worked with us in practice and drew up plays. Bob Conibear (another former BGSU men’s basketball coach) also helped out.”
Weiss held several positions at BGSU before his retirement in 2007. In addition to his work on the video, Weiss is currently a co-chair of the BGSU’s Centennial Anniversary Commission.
“I thought I knew a lot because I had followed it for years, I learned so much more from the people who came back and shared what it was like when they were doing it,” Weiss said about the project.
Among those interviewed were Dorothy Luedtke, credited as being the founder of the Falcons’ women’s basketball team. She has since passed away, but the documentary was dedicated to her.
“They took it from a thing where they were playing intramurals on campus, She (Luedtke) had some very talented players and they encouraged her to take it to the next level and become an intercollegiate sport,” Weiss said. “That’s how it got started and we go through the whole evolution of what’s happened since them.”
“I am so proud that we were able to get it started,” Hager said about women’s basketball. “No matter what coach we had, every coach emphasized the philosophy of the university that No. 1 you’re a student and no one sacrificed the academic side to get the other.”
There is also a special section in the documentary on BG’s NCAA Sweet 16 team in 2007, Weiss said.
Bobbi Little, who played for the Falcons in the 1970s, isn’t surprised that process of putting together the documentary was a success.
“Bowling Green alumni, Bowling Green players, they always stick together. It’s such a family,” Little said.
Through October, copies of the DVD may be purchased from WBGU-TV for $30 (includes shipping and handling), with $10 of that amount going directly to support the BGSU’s women’s basketball program. To purchase the DVD, contact Cari Tuttle at WBGU-PBS at (419) 372-7024 or place an online order on the station’s secure website, http://wbgu.org/shop.
(Story courtesy Sentinel-Tribune)
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