Softball
Scope and Contents
The collection is arranged into 19 different series, six of which concern Beloit College athletics as a whole, as contained in series like the Midwest Conference and Athletic Committees. Twelve series are delineated by sport and are arranged alphabetically. Sports or clubs that do not have enough records to necessitate their own series, such as volleyball and wrestling, are collected into another series entitled Miscellaneous Sports.
Most of the sports team series contain game and tournament programs, news clippings from Beloit College and outside publications, news releases from the College, team records, statistics, rosters, and schedules.
The Midwest Conference series includes a significant amount of documents, mostly newspaper clippings and correspondence from Presidents Carey Croneis and Miller Upton, regarding the decision in 1951 to expel Beloit College from the conference, and the 1958 decision to readmit the College.
This finding aid does not list audiovisual materials, but the Beloit College Archives does hold many recordings of events on film and VHS tape.
Dates
- 1851-ongoing
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research; however, certain materials are very fragile and require Archives staff for handling, or use may be restricted altogether.
Biographical / Historical
The Buccaneers made their varsity debut in softball on April 7, 1979, against Lakeland College in Beloit, under head coach Wendy Miller.
The first game was an 11-0 loss to the Muskies, with the Bucs managing just three hits – by Mary Sheahan, Gay Fredricks, and Nancy Habetler. The second game of the program's history was much better, with Beloit taking a 12-7 win over Maranatha. Trinkie Heller and Mary Zwayer each had three hits in the game, with Heller hitting the first-ever home run in Beloit history in her last at-bat.
Miller was the head coach for the first five seasons before Anita Palmer had a one-season stint in 1985. Pam Samuelson took over in 1986, the first of her seven seasons, and started pointing the team in the right direction. Her last five seasons produced double-figure win totals with the first 20-win season coming in her final year, 1992.
After Samuelson, Ron Splan, who was an assistant on the coaching staff, took over the program's head job and held it for 11 of the next 13 seasons. In 1996 Splan's squad won the only Midwest Conference Championship in the program's history.
Extent
From the Collection: 38 Linear Feet (49 boxes, 4 file cabinet drawers; further additions are expected )
Language of Materials
English
Repository Details
Part of the Beloit College Archives and Special Collections, Beloit, WI Repository