Baseball to wrestling - and everything but football

"From Colonials to Bearcats"
A History of Binghamton University Athletics 1946-2006
by Tim Schum
on WSKG Radio's OFF THE PAGE
L I V E  Tuesday, December 11th at 1pm
(Rebroadcast at 7pm)

          With its high admission standards and acclaimed standing as a so-called "public ivy", Binghamton University is not usually considered a "sports college". Its teams have never won a major national championship. Its athletes haven't yet set any world records. It doesn't even have a fierce traditional rivalry, like Harvard and Yale, or Duke and North Carolina. During its first sixty years, BU experienced a growth that makes today's university indistinguishable from the small "satellite campus" of its origin. But observing the years from 1946 to 2006 we also find some impressive teams, many dedicated players and coaches, strong college traditions and a truly remarkable sports history, filled with great stories and extensive enough to merit a new 343-page heavily illustrated "coffee table" book called "From Colonials to Bearcats".
           The author is Tim Schum, a retired professor of health, physical education and athletics, former soccer coach and assistant athletic director at Binghamton University. He is editor of the 1998 book "Coaching Soccer", one of the standard works about the game. His forty-plus years on the BU faculty prepared him well to be the scribe and storyteller, for "From Colonials to Bearcats" also examines the policies and decision-making processes that allowed the athletic program to develop along with the university itself.
          Founded in 1946 in Endicott as a branch of Syracuse University called Triple Cities College, in 1950 it became part of the SUNY system and was renamed Harpur College. Harpur evolved into the State University of New York at Binghamton, and its admittedly low-key sports program began to occupy its own facilities. No longer would the track team race on high school tracks or the basketball team play in an unheated armory. The first building to be constructed on the new campus in Vestal was the East Gymnasium, completed in 1957. The college's first president, Glenn G. Bartle, was unsure of the state's commitment to future development but knew that, unlike a classroom building, a gymnasium couldn't be renovated to some other use.
          During those first years, baseball games would be lost because players neglected to show up. Members of the first basketball team were chosen by a vote of the students who had come to try out, since the appointed coach felt he didn't know enough about the game. But the policy that still arouses some consternation was the failure to establish a football team. Dr. Bartle was not a sports fan and saw intercollegiate football as a liability to the then-small school. "From Colonials to Bearcats" tells in detail about the decision that has kept Binghamton away from the gridiron.
          When Dr. Lois DeFleur became SUNY-B's president in 1990 the university had its first chief executive who took an active interest in building the athletic program. Basketball coach Dick Baldwin, who had complied the most wins in the country during his years at Broome Community College, was recruited by BU in 1991. The school took on a new image in 2000 when the Colonials nickname was retired and the teams became the Bearcats. A spectacular new Events Center went up on campus and in 2002 the school moved up to National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I status.
          "From Colonials to Bearcats" is divided into eras, broken down by men's and women's sports and is filled with personal profiles and individual accomplishments. It concludes with records in every sport and every event, including a listing of the university's many All-American players.
          Tim Schum joins Bill Jaker to review the six decades from TCC Colonials to NCAA Division I, and the seven years effort to research and write the book. To join in the discussion call during the 1:00 PM live broadcast to 1-888/359-8754 or post a comment to WSKG.Radio@Gmail.com.

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OFF THE PAGE is taking a few weeks off for special holiday programming on Christmas and New Year’s Day. NEXT TIME: Alvin A. Delgado is working to help kids stay out of trouble and keep gangs away from Binghamton. He is a writer and teaches at West Middle School. On Tuesday, January 8th Mr. Delgado visits OFF THE PAGE to share the experiences he tells about in “Spirit of the Gang”, a novel he says is “seventy percent non-fiction.”

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