Sports collection

Collection

Identifier: AC 99

Staff Only

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

Affiliation: NCAA Division III
Conference: Midwest Conference
Nickname: Buccaneers
Colors: Blue and Gold

From Robert K. Richardson's unpublished history book:

Various sports and pastimes have at different times commanded the interest of Beloit students. Bowling, cricket, croquet, cross-country running, walking, fishing, hunting, indoor polo, boating, swimming, "hay baths," prison base, sleighing, coasting, tobogganing, skating, and skiing all had their early, and for some, relatively brief, heydays in the 19th century. Basketball was introduced into Beloit by the women, at least as early as 1896-97 - the late start being explained by the lack of any adequate playing floor before the erection of the Keep Gymnasium. Male basketball began in the winter of 1904-05, under the captaincy of Walter A. Strong, class of 1905. Tennis was well under way by 1884.

Despite all this activity, the chief sports at Beloit in the 19th century were baseball and football. Some kind of baseball was played on the campus from at least 1853, though it was just after the Civil War that organized baseball really came to Beloit – with the advent of the very successful Olympians team. Beloit's football began in 1859, with the game started by the freshman class at the time.

1883 marked Beloit's entrance into its first intercollegiate league: Northwestern, Racine, Wisconsin, Beloit. The approval of the Trustees was in part and explicitly motivated by the power of the game to attract attention to the College.

Extent

38 Linear Feet (49 boxes, 4 file cabinet drawers; further additions are expected )

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection documents the activities of many of Beloit College's athletic organizations, including intercollegiate sports teams, intramurals, clubs, and the Athletics Department in general. There are a considerable amount of materials related to the Midwest Conference throughout the collection, as well as game and tournament programs, news clippings from Beloit College and outside publications, news releases from the College, team records, statistics, rosters, and schedules. Sports highlighted are baseball, basketball, fencing, football, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, and track. See also Beloit College collection of photographs.

Accruals

Additions are transferred periodically to the College Archives by the Athletics and Recreation department and the Communications and Marketing office.