Just as in ages past, newspapers once again are heralding the successes of Wittenberg athletes and coaches. Bill Brown’73, head men’s basketball coach, and Pam Smith ’82, head women’s basketball coach, were each recently named North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year following stellar seasons.

Yet Brown and Smith, like many coaches before them, credit their players’ sheer talent and competitive spirit for their success, and historical records confirm that such student traits reflect Wittenberg’s rich athletic tradition. A reading of Harold H. Lentz’s A History of Wittenberg College (1845-1945) revealed that Wittenberg students have always enjoyed athletic competition.

Lentz noted that by the second decade of Wittenberg’s history, rugby football and croquet were played on campus. By 1860, cricket was introduced, and student support was so strong that the first Cricket Club survived for 14 years. Baseball, however, remained the most popular sport for many years.

In fact, the games originally were played where Recitation stands today. By 1892, the growing interest in athletic competition necessitated a gymnasium, and the first one was constructed on the site where Koch Hall now resides. During that time, the college charged its first student athletic fee and hired its first instructor for physical education, which led to the creation of the first department of physical education.

Shortly thereafter, Lentz recorded that land was purchased for a small athletic field north of the then Hamma Seminary. By the late 1800s, according to Lentz, Wittenberg was recognized as a pioneer in Ohio football, so much so that when the college played Earlham in Dayton circa 1895, the football game was advertised as the first interstate contest of its kind.

On Sept. 7, 1894, Wittenberg’s football team went on to defeat Ohio State University 6-0 in a game played at the Ohio State Fair. The prize, offered by the Fair Board, was a complete football outfit for each man on the winning team. Lentz noted that “Among sports followers, Wittenberg gained national recognition by the feats of its teams of 1918-1920.”

In addition, the fencing team, popularized by an exchange student from Persia, won the Ohio intercollegiate championship cup for the first time that year. By 1930, a new health and physical education building was constructed, which included an indoor wimming pool, and two years later, the university welcomed its first varsity men’s swimming team.

Charles Kiester ’34 served as student coach to a 12-man squad. Kiester, now 91, remembered that the pool was quite a big deal, very nice, and included viewing area at one end. He said that he remembers the squad being badly beaten by a Cincinnati team, but his most vivid memory occurred when he worked as a lifeguard at the pool.

“We didn’t wear swimsuits in those days,” Kiester said, “and I would go to the pool with my towel around my shoulder and a book under my arm.“I remember going to work one day, towel around my shoulder, book under my arm, and when I sat down and looked across the pool, the viewing stand was full of women.”Other alumni also recall athletic-related memories.

Sheila Simon ’83, for example, wanted to participate in track when she came to Wittenberg, but the school did not have a women’s track team. Simon said that then-coach Ron Murphy questioned her gruffly, perhaps to intimidate her, but when he realized how seriously she wanted to compete, he brought her on board.

“I felt like the wimpiest person on the planet,” Simon said, adding that by spring those thoughts had greatly subsided. By 1980, Wittenberg had a women’s track team.Today, campus opportunities for physical activity and competition for men and women are too numerous to list, but students can choose to participate in collegiate athletics, intramurals, club sports and any number of credit courses such as archery and canoeing.

— Phyllis Eberts ’00