Wisconsin Stories is a partnership
of the Wisconsin Historical Society
and Wisconsin Public Television.
Debbie Kmetz: Tonight, the city of Baraboo is hosting the American Legion
Class "AA" State Tournament.
In Wisconsin, we play a lot of baseball.
And like any sport, it's more than just a game.
It's part of local life.
It's also part of what makes Wisconsin
Wisconsin.
From playing for fun to the big leagues
sports can tell us a lot about our history.
Tonight, we'll look back at some of the sports stories
that have helped shape our state.
OnWisconsin Stories.
Funding forWisconsin Stories is provided in part
by an advised fund of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin;
the Estate and family of Lois Backus;
the Halbert and Alice Kadish Foundation;
and Philip J. and Elizabeth B. Hendrickson,
encouraging you to support history
on Wisconsin Public Television
and to visit Wisconsin's treasured historic sites.
Will: In 1949, a professional basketball team from Sheboygan
became a charter member
of a new basketball league, the NBA.
Now, how the heck did that happen?
The 1930s were the barnstorming
and dance hall days of basketball.
Sheboygan fielded a series
of locally-sponsored industrial teams
and became a basketball powerhouse
taking on the best teams in the country and winning.
As the years went on, they established a record
that would enable them to join the professional ranks.
John Posewitz and his brothers
started playing ball in the 1920s.
His son, John, documented their team's history
through family papers and photos.
This is one of the earliest pictures I have of my dad
and his brother Joe.
They were playing for the Sheboygan Merchants.
They played all the local teams.
In the year 1933 and '34
they went what they called independent.
That means that they went out and looked for other teams.
They played the Beloit Fairies
the Beloit Fairbanks Morse Industrial team
the House of David, Cicero Elks
Green Bay Packers had a team. Really?
And here's a notable one
the New York Rens.
They're one of the great ball teams of all time.
Uncle Tony is the older brother.
He's about four years older.
And he played back in the '20s.
But when the team went independent
he started to write to all these other teams
and arrange for these games.
He's setting up these barnstorming teams to come through.
These barnstorming teams coming through.
That barnstorming era, this 1936 and '37
when they played as the Art Imig's and the Enzo-Jels
were the most colorful times in basketball.
You look down here, the Oshkosh All-Stars.
The Oshkosh All-Stars were--
When it all settled out
they played about 80-some games against the Sheboygan Red Skins
and ended up with a two or three game edge over all these years
of professional sports.
This thing, you want to look at, too.
This is all the different teams in that league.
There are some dandies.
Every race, religion, culture and everything else is in here.
The Bridgeport Jewish American Center
Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Here's the Buffalo Bisons.
Chicago Colored Crusaders.
Dongon Knights of Columbus.
Iroquois Club of Garfield, New Jersey.
There's the King Klein All-Stars.
They had a terrific year as the Enzo-Jels.
In 1937, they won 17, lost three
playing against the Celtics, the Rens and the people.
They had a good year that year.
So, they were prime candidates
for a franchise in this new league.
In the National Basketball League?
The National Basketball League.
Will: In 1938, the Enzo-Jels turned pro
and joined the NBL, taking on a new name:
the Sheboygan Red Skins.
John Posewitz stayed to play for two more years with the team
which brought in a new coach, Frank Zummach.
Zummach, a former Marquette University player
coached from 1938 to 1941
and stayed on in Sheboygan to practice law.
Where did the Red Skins play in Sheboygan?
The Red Skins, during my three years
played in the Eagle's Hall
right in downtown Sheboygan.
What was it like to play there?
There was a balcony around three of the sides.
And if you got down in the corner
you couldn't shoot, because it was up above you.
Did they have a dance floor there, too? Oh, yes.
What was that like?
They waxed it, of course for the big bands that came in.
And then, when we got there
they didn't get all the wax off, so it was slippery.
But if you played there often enough
you got the benefit of figuring it out a little bit.
You had an advantage?
We had an advantage that's right.
What was it like in the town at the time?
Was it big stuff to be with the Red Skins?
Oh, everybody was nuts about it.
You wouldn't believe it.
I can walk down the street today
and all of a sudden, somebody will yell, "Hi, coach!"
And that's 50, 60 years ago!
They must have been
pretty important to the town at the time.
Yes, it was. It really was.
This armory was built during the Great Depression
as a WPA project.
And it became the home of the Sheboygan Red Skins.
The team filled the armory.
And over 11 seasons
the Red Skins won over half their games
including two Western Division titles
and an NBL championship.
So, in 1949, Sheboygan was once again granted a franchise
in a new basketball league, the NBA.
But after only one season
Sheboygan and several other teams
found they could no longer compete financially
and were forced to leave the league.
Six-foot-seven-inch Milt Schoon
played center for the Red Skins during their season in the NBA.
We brought a tape of the Sheboygan Red Skins.
I don't know who they're playing
See what you think, okay?
Let me give it a shot.
This is a tape of a game we played
in the Sheboygan Armory.
That was our home floor.
In the black uniform
I believe that's the Indianapolis team
Alex, and a few more of the boys--
There I am, right there! Oops, too late.
Notice the much slower style
a more controlled ball than what they have today.
Notice the large crowd in the stands
packed all the time.
Max Morris with the ball, and there's me on the right.
There's Booty Gilbertson.
And that's Mike Dodorovich.
There's Bobby Cook shooting a free throw.
He's shooting underhand!
The great two-hand underhand shot.
That was popular in our day.
Notice the stage at the end of the floor.
Teams would sit on each side
with the scorer's bench in between.
Red Auerbach would bitch about that.
See there, it's open at the other end of the floor.
That's where the ushers and everybody always stood.
The crowd's right up to the line.
Oh, look at there! Who's that? Who's that?!
Look at there. Two bits he misses!
Oh, he made one! He got it!
(both laugh)
The place is packed.
With the people hollering, you ought to hear it.
Ooh, it was noisy.
When the referee would make a bad call
you'd think the roof was going to cave in.
See the space between the stage and the playing floor?
It's three feet. There's no room!
They have a couple padded mats under there.
Yeah, they were about as hard as the floor.
Schoon: There goes one down the floor.
You've got to get him into the stage.
That a boy! Somebody got him.
I think that was you!
No, I wouldn't do anything like that!
(both laugh)
Oh, nice feed. Nice assist!
That's basically the way--
You set somebody up
so that, you know, somebody else is wide open.
There was no time clock, shot clock
no three-point play.
The game must be over.
Sheboygan wins 75-73.
How do you like that?! That was great game!
Party tonight!
(both laugh)
(indistinct talking)
Child yelling: Johnny!
(ball cracking on bat)
Will: The familiar sounds of summer.
(ball slapping in mitt )
On the Bad River Indian Reservation near Ashland
they're sounds that help define community life.
Home, home! Out!
Traditionally, the Ojibwe
were no strangers to games played with balls and sticks
especially this one.
Lacrosse was the most popular game in North America
before Europeans arrived.
Missionaries, who tried to convert the Ojibwe
to Christianity and white ways
discouraged the Indians from playing
rough and tumble contests like lacrosse.
They promoted kinder, gentler games, such as baseball.
The Ojibwe eventually embraced baseball
but only on their own terms.
Oh, we used to do batting practice with lacrosse sticks.
Will: Joe Rose played baseball here
for the Odanah Braves in the '40s and '50s.
We'd get the lacrosse sticks out of the attic
and we knew that we could throw the ball a lot faster.
In fact, I think you could throw it
as fast as major league pitching with a lacrosse stick
because of all the leverage you got.
Will: Only not with much accuracy.
He remembered playing an entire game with lacrosse sticks
and a poor 12-year-old who got beaned
by a high inside fast ball.
Knocked him out cold.
So, then, we went over--
There was a pump over here.
And we went over and got some water
and we poured it on him and revived him.
And when he got up
instead of allowing him to take first base
because he got hit
we let him walk all the way around to home plate and score.
Everyone was cheering.
He felt real good, you know
because it was like hitting a home run
only he did it with his head.
(all laugh)
Will: As children, Joe Rose, Eugene Bigboy
and Eugene's cousin, Arnold
played here on the reservation's Pow Wow grounds.
Back then, it was a baseball field, like this one
where kids experienced the rites of spring.
And older kids, if they were good enough
experienced the rites of passage
an invitation to play for the Odanah Braves.
I started out playing
when I was about 13 years old, with them, really.
I was pretty young.
A young kid, yet, really.
Will: For Eugene Bigboy
Braves baseball games were a chance to travel
in the only vehicle the tribe owned
its dump truck!
Eugene Bigboy: Can you picture a big dump truck coming in
with a load of Indian people on a baseball team!
Will: That sounds like a lot of fun.
Rose: The whole town would show up.
Everyone in town would show up for a Sunday ball game.
You'd have people to the trees, way up here, back there.
Will: A lot of them came to see Bill Nelis
a right-handed pitcher with a smoking fastball.
Who was the best pitcher?
Who was the fastest pitcher. Fastball.
Nelis.
What about the curve ball?
He had a curve ball, too.
He had everything.
He had a knuckler that would go like this.
You couldn't catch that thing.
Will: And he was also the Braves' long ball hitter
who could clear the trees from where we're standing.
He became a legend
with teams throughout the Great Lakes vying for his services.
On July 24, 1948, the city of Ashland
honored him with "Bill Nelis Day."
But when it came to Native American
baseball legends
there was nobody quite like the Chief.
Charles Albert Bender, "Chief Bender" as he was known
was the first Native American
inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame
and the first to have a set
of baseball trading cards devoted to him.
Bender, who played in the major leagues from 1903 until 1925
was a pitching ace for the Philadelphia Athletics.
His best pitch was the one he invented, the slider
a pitch that came in fast and curved.
On his way to a place in baseball history
Bender pitched in five separate World Series, winning six games
including a shutout.
He was the American League's top pitcher three times:
1910, 1911
and 1914.
Bender's achievements
are a source of pride for many Ojibwe
including his family here at Bad River.
Oh, I knew about him when I was a child.
My father always told me about Chief Bender.
So, I knew about it just about as far as I can remember.
To us, it's just more or less a legend.
That's about all we really know about him.
Will: Even when Bender wasn't pitching
baseball was front-page news inThe Odanah Star
Bad River's Indian-owned newspaper of the era.
In 1913,The Star enthusiastically covered
every game played by the Odanah Reds.
Take it's June 27th story on the game against Glidden
a game Odanah won 6 to 2.
"The first Glidden score was by an error
"while the second came in the ninth
by a lost ball," The Starsnipped.
"The Ball was hit in the raspberry bushes
"on the edge of the diamond and was lost
giving Glidden it's second score on a lost ball."
Some things never change.
Balls still get lost in the raspberry bushes.
And Bad River still turns out pitchers who can hit.
The reservation no longer fields its own baseball team.
Little leaguers, like Roy Whitebird
are integrated throughout the league.
Their grandfather says he sort of misses the old days.
Eugene Bigboy: Right now, we don't have an organized baseball team here.
We have a lot of softball players and stuff.
I think baseball itself, you know
not only lost itself here in Bad River
it lost itself in all the small towns.
That whole baseball spirit/small town--
it's not here anymore.
You know, to play those games every Sunday
was something to look forward to.
Another Wisconsin sports story is boxing
UW-Madison collegiate boxing
which not only produced renowned champions
but also set national standards for the sport.
I'm here in the UW Field House.
For almost 30 years, this was the scene
of a very successful collegiate boxing program.
But as great was its glory
its demise was sudden and surprisingly final.
This bout in 1960
was one of the last ever held at the Field House.
Remember these images as it was the deciding match
in the fate of UW boxing.
But before we get to that, some background.
P.A. Announcer: Please welcome the UW Boxing Team's Parade of Champions.
In 24 seasons, as Wisconsin's boxing coach
he won eight NCAA team titles
and posted a dual meet record of 116 wins
22 defeats and 10 ties.
Escorted by Athletic Director Pat Richter
please welcome Coach John Walsh.
(cheers and applause)
We had very, very good success and real good boys.
And incidentally, they're all good scholars.
Kmetz: Boxing was so popular in Madison, that a match in 1940
drew more than than 16,000 fans to the Field House
and a warning from the fire marshal.
Walsh: It was completely oversold.
And I was going up to check the ring and the ropes
to see how they were, which was my normal procedure.
And somebody tapped me on the shoulder.
And he says, "John, I'm the Fire Chief."
And he says, "I'm a boxing fan."
But he said, "If you put in another crowd like this
I'm going to close you down and run like hell."
He said, "Not tonight, though.
"You've got a good match here.
We'll go ahead with that."
Kmetz: Much of the secret to the success
of the badger boxing program
can be attributed to Coach John Walsh.
He molded the program into a close-knit community.
Tom Butler: When John first came here
he was about the same age as the guys he was coaching.
And they all had great respect for him.
To this day, they still have reunions among those guys.
Everybody respected John
because everybody knew that he was such a great coach.
First of all, he was a great boxer
an amateur boxer, himself.
I mean, when he talked, everybody listened
because we all knew that he really knew what the heck he was talking about.
Bob Morgan: He had a profound influence on me.
I didn't have a father
and I thought of John as my father figure, at least.
And more so after I got out of school.
And we're still friends to this day.
P.A. Announcer: A 1951 NCAA champion at 155 pounds, Dick Murphy.
Kmetz: Dick Murphy boxed for a strong Wisconsin program
in the early 1950s.
He was the NCAA Champion
in the 155-pound weight class in 1951.
Murphy: One of the main reasons I came to Wisconsin
was because of boxing.
So, I probably wouldn't have gotten a college education.
First of all, I couldn't afford it.
And coming up here
and seeing the program and meeting the people
immediately, I was sold.
Kmetz: A teammate's of Murphy's in the early '50s
was Bob Morgan.
Morgan says his move to Madison
changed his life.
I found a home here for the first time.
So, when I had been in high school
I was not very popular.
I was a loner.
And here, I was part of something.
Kmetz: In 1952, Bob Morgan reached a peak
when he won the NCAA Championship
at 147 pounds.
And Morgan still remembers what it was like
to box in the Field House.
I always hoped my opponent wouldn't show up.
But he always showed up.
You're all alone.
I mean, the coach is near the corner.
The trainers were there; you've had all the training.
But you're alone.
And the waiting is what gets you, before.
Then, the walk up the stairs when your knees are weak.
It's just a feeling.
And the bell rings and everything is okay.
Kmetz: Although successful and popular
boxing was not without its critics.
Many faculty members felt
boxing should not be part of the university community.
There were increasing concerns about safety
concerns that led to Athletic Department studies
on the effects of boxing.
Walsh: We had the boy in mind.
And any time it was an uneven match
the referee was told to stop the bout
and so forth.
And we had very, very--
other than that one accident in 1960
that's the only serious one we had.
We didn't even have broken hands and noses.
Kmetz: But in the spring of 1960
tragedy struck the badger boxing program.
Wisconsin's Charlie Mohr
fought a championship match in the Field House
against Stu Bartel of San Jose State.
The referee stopped the fight.
Charlie Mohr lost.
He went into the locker room and collapsed there.
And a week later, he was deceased.
Kmetz: Some claim Mohr died of an aneurysm.
But the doctor who operated on Mohr
said Mohr suffered a subdural hematoma--
severe bleeding due to trauma.
But it was just one of those things that happened
and you don't know why.
Kmetz: Within days, the faculty at the university voted to ban boxing.
The resolution said
"Boxing was not an appropriate college sport.
"that it was brutal
with the sole intent to harm an opponent."
Some said the faculty limited debate on the issue
and called it a hasty decision.
And they just took a vote and abolished it.
Butler: They didn't consider it the sweet science.
I think they were--
The faculty was just ready to pounce.
And that did it.
And for all intent and purposes
it killed big-time college boxing around the country.
Kmetz: When Wisconsin ended collegiate boxing in 1960
so did the rest of the schools across the country.
But it is still remembered today.
I went fishing last year up in Minocqua.
I was in a bar having lunch.
And I had a Wisconsin--
Maybe I even had this shirt on, Wisconsin.
A guy said, "Are you from Wisconsin?"
I said yeah, and we got talking--
Talking about the boxing
and he said, "Are you Dick Murphy?"
It's almost unbelievable
how there's still people out there that remember the program
because it was such a great program.
(band playing and crowd singing "Varsity" )
(cheers and applause)
Kmetz: In 1976, the Madison West High School
girls' basketball team
won the WIAA Division "A" State Championship
and girls' basketball became established
as the inter-scholastic sport we know today.
But it's a little-known story
that the first girls' basketball tournament was held in 1925
and fueled a debate that ended competition
between schools for nearly 50 years.
A few days after the invention
of the game of basketball in 1891
women at Smith College
had adopted and modified the game.
It soon spread to Wisconsin
and became very popular with high school girls.
This was a period
of growing interest in women's health
and the free moving game of basketball
and its uniform
were part of a rebellion
against the restrictions of the Victorian era.
I'm at the Wisconsin Historical Society collections area
with Leslie, who's the curator of costume and textiles.
What kind of uniforms did girls wear
playing basketball in the early twentieth century?
Let me show you.
This is an example from our collection.
This is a gym suit, the bloomers.
You can see the big bloomer at the legs.
It's made out of wool serge, it's very scratchy.
Do you think, for girls of that era
was this kind of a liberating costume?
Oh, definitely.
For one thing, you did not have to wear a corset with it.
In fact, some schools suggested very strongly
that you did not wear your corset with it.
I think generally they thought this was a big improvement
over their regular day clothes.
You weren't hampered by skirts.
You could run in these.
You could jump. You could be physical.
A lot of girls were excited by that prospect.
Kmetz: By the 1920s, women had won the right to vote
and a new-found freedom showed in the uniforms
and competitive play on the basketball court.
It was a golden era for sports.
But leaders in women's physical education
questioned the wisdom of girls imitating men's sports.
They worried that coaches were pushing girls
to win at all costs
and that there might be serious health effects
from the physical and mental strain of the game.
In March of 1925, The Chippewa Falls Telegram
sponsored Wisconsin's first girls' basketball tournament.
Greenwood, displaying some classy ball handling
and deadly shooting easily took the title.
The competition angered some sports leaders in the state.
They charged that the girls were being pushed too hard
that some teams played as many as six games in two days
more than boys were allowed to play.
After the Chippewa Falls tournament
the Wisconsin Inter-Scholastic Athletic Association
or the WIAA
assumed control over high school girls' sports.
In 1926, they voted to eliminate competition between schools.
The girls were allowed to play out their existing schedules.
And the ban would take effect
at the beginning of the school year in 1927.
Professor Emma Wilder, of what is now UW-La Crosse
was a state leader in girl's physical education.
She sided with the WIAA in their decision
and recommended less competitive intramural sports programs
run by women, that would allow more girls to play.
Irene Ulrich was on the Mayville girls' basketball team in 1926.
I had older brothers
and I always had to play with them.
Every time they needed someone to play with, "Irene, come on!"
See if you remember...
Oh, you've got an annual? I do.
Look at this.
Do you recognize that?
Well, sure.
What were the games like?
We were the preliminary
before the regular boys' games.
We had to entertain the people
while they were waiting for the real game to start.
I have another annual.
This one is from
when you were a junior or a senior.
And it says that
the Wisconsin Inter-Scholastic Athletic Association
has forbidden high school girls
to participate in the basketball games.
Do you remember that? Mm-hmm.
They thought that basketball was too strenuous.
What did you feel like when they told you
that you couldn't play basketball?
Well, how would you feel if somebody told you
that you couldn't do something that you liked to do?
Kmetz: There were hundreds of disappointed girls like Irene.
It would be 50 years before high school girls
were given a chance to compete
in a statewide tournament.
And girls' basketball, as we know it, was reborn.
[Captioning services provided by Wisconsin Public Television.] www.wpt.org
Funding forWisconsin Stories is provided in part
by an advised fund of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin;
the Estate and family of Lois Backus;
the Halbert and Alice Kadish Foundation;
and Philip J. and Elizabeth B. Hendrickson,
encouraging you to support history
on Wisconsin Public Television
and to visit Wisconsin's treasured historic sites.