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Levi-clad golfer from the 1974 season |
Men's golf became a sport for Oshkosh State Teachers College in 1933. It started with an All-School Golf Tourney, which was held May 1, 1933. The matches were played on the Municipal Links Golf Course and consisted of 18 holes. The winners of the tournament were to form the first golf team. This team would compete with golf teams from Ripon, Lawrence, Steven's Point, and other Wisconsin Schools. There was no mention of who won the tourney in either the Advance or the Oshkosh Northwestern. |
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The next golf event mentioned was also in 1933. Oshkosh's Local Golf Team placed second at a three-way meet in Whitewater. Whitewater placing first and Steven's Point placing third (The Teachers College Advance, 1933). Again, no mention of who played. The next tournament was sponsored by the Men's Organization of the school in 1936. It was the first All Men's Handicap Golf Tourney with Al Hartman as chairman. In 1937 the Headlines of the Advance read, "Golfer's Drop 7 - 5 Decision." Al Hartman, who was Oshkosh's number one golfer, had a 74 game (The Teachers College Advance, 1936). This was the first mention of who was on the team. It included John Achermann, Al Schneider, Marlon Batterman, and Al Hartman. |
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The first year that golf was recognized in the yearbook was 1938. The team then consisted of Batterman, Acherman, Hartman, Dewing, and Schneider. The first golf coach was Bob Kolf. Mentioned in the 1948 Quiver yearbook, was a State Golf meet in Milwaukee. Oshkosh tied Stout with matching scores of 623. The teams were allowed to enter five golfers, but scores of only four were counted. Stouts Roger Winbergs turned in a card of 133 for the 36 holes, which broke the old Medallist's record of 141 held by Albert Hartman of Oshkosh in 1938. |
Members of both the Mens' tennis and golf teams, 1937-1938. |
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Eric Kitzman became the next golf coach in the 1960s, and coached until 1989. During that time Oshkosh had won seven team championships in 1955, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1973. In the mid 1980s the golf program, along with women's field hockey, was dropped due to lack of funding. A local businessman, who was affiliated with golf, heard of this and helped the program. He privately funded the program until the late 1980s. Robert White became the coach in 1989 and had to fund-raise for money to keep the program (White, 1999). In 1992 golf was officially cut from the UW Oshkosh program due to gender equity and lack of other Universities sponsoring the sport. The university needed to drop some men's programs to make room for more women's programs, thereby providing equity in the opportunity for both genders at UWO to participate in athletics. The last season ended in October 1991 with a fifth-place finish at the WSUC golf championships held at the Ceder Creek Country Club. Eau Claire took the championship with a score of 1223, and Whitewater took second with a 1233. The top Titan finisher was Greg Meyer with a three-round total of 249. Greg Meyer and Jim Buchuber made All-Conference for the final year of golf at UWO. |
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Ditty from an unknown author 1900 Quiver. |
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| References
The Teachers College Advance. (1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, & 1938). Quiver. (1900, 1902, 1938, and 1948). White, Robert. (1999). Personal Interview . |
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