I can remember when SIU had a field hockey team. The big grassy area behind Wham was the field hockey field.
When I was in "The Dale," the so-called minor sports (non-revenue) excelled. Baseball had two losses in the College World Series finals in three years, both the men's and women's gymnastics programs were filled with many All Americans, wrestling was a good program, and in Saluki track, I was blessed to be teammates with many great athletes...world-record holders, NCAA champs, many multi-time All Americans and a slew of Saluki Hall of Fame inductees. And Saluki athletes showed up and supported the other teams in competition. I dare to say the Saluki Dawg Pound began as the athletes sitting together and cheering on the Dawgs. We used to get free tickets to the events, and we all sat together.
Best four years of my life that developed into life-long friendships. And I still get together with a bunch of my old Saluki track brothers, as well as the guys from other sports, at Homecoming every year.
Lots of great athletes - Ivory Crockett, Michael Franks, David Lee, Bob Roggy, Connie Price-Smith, George Woods, Deanna, Gwen Berry, Darrin Plab, etc., etc.
Looked this up - men's gymnastic won 4 National Championships from 64 - 72 plus several runner ups! Bill Meade was another great coach.
Canceled in 1979. WHY??
@mr_woogers Herb Vogel coached a very successful women's gymnastics program back then. We used to have women's meets after basketball games on Saturday night. Student work crews would have to set up The Arena after the completion of the game. The action kept me out of Buffalo Bob's and Merlin's on those nights.
@mike-belchaks-box Lots men's and women's gymnastics, wrestling and tennis over the years. Too bad Title IX didn't allow for the retention of those sports and the addition of all the others.
Wasn't women's gymnastic cancelled at the same time as men's? I know tennis was. Maybe more about budget than Title 9??
--------
NIU still has wrestling, m/f tennis, m/f soccer, and women's gymnastics. (no swimming)
Redturd U still has m/f tennis and women's gymnastics. (no men's swimming)
EIU still has m/f tennis and m/f soccer and beach volleyball.
Lowly WIU has m/f soccer, and women's tennis. (no swimming)
SIUE has wrestling, m/f soccer, and women's tennis. (no swimming, no football)
Belmont has m/f soccer, and women's tennis. (no swimming, no football)
@mr_woogers I remember playing flag football against Ivory Crockett. I am still out of breath from trying to keep up with him! I think we won, but I will always remember him running right past us. No need for fakes or cuts. Just motor right past us. He was one fast guy. He also was very nice to play against.
I was on the student Title 9 recommendation committee. I wish I would have kept a copy of the final report. What was implemented did not exactly mirror our recommendations. We all felt we were there for optics anyway. Gale Sayers, the AD, only met with us once for about 30 seconds, then had to leave. Never to be seen again.
Basically, every decision was based solely on financial reasons. If it cost more than it made, the most costly were cut. Gymnastics was not one we recommend be cut — if memory serves me. Football was also allegedly on the cutting block too. What saved it was the mandatory move to 1AA. That whittled some costs down, ie fewer scholarships. I say mandatory because of the qualifications the NCAA laid down at the time to remain 1A. Size of the stadium was one we simply couldn’t meet. Now don’t hold me to this exact number, but to remain a 1A program, your stadium had to have 50,000 seats between the 20’s. Old McAndrew didn’t come close. I think it had less than 10,000.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
@mr_woogers Herb Vogel coached a very successful women's gymnastics program back then. We used to have women's meets after basketball games on Saturday night. Student work crews would have to set up The Arena after the completion of the game. The action kept me out of Buffalo Bob's and Merlin's on those nights.
R.I, You mean it kept you out until later.
@mr_woogers I remember playing flag football against Ivory Crockett. I am still out of breath from trying to keep up with him! I think we won, but I will always remember him running right past us. No need for fakes or cuts. Just motor right past us. He was one fast guy. He also was very nice to play against.
Still holds the world record in the 100-yd dash (no longer used) - 9.0 seconds. That is freaky fast!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_Crockett
