I remember traveling to many out-of-town high school sports events in a party that included the late Rick Lucken. He was a Vietnam War veteran and rather a character, likeable. Not one to conceal what was on his mind either. So he told me about how some local people with interest in UMM sports had some frustration trying to give money. Heavens, how could that be?
Well, I imagine those were times when UMM felt very secure with its financial underpinnings from the State of Minnesota. Which was nice of course. But as private money came to be more and more relied upon, the institution could not be so arrogant in laying down rules/restrictions. Leave it to an unaccountable bureaucracy to employ the latter.
So Rick told me there were prospective donors who really wanted their $ to go toward the higher-profile sports of football and men's basketball. UMM football went through a genuine heyday for a long time. Instead of saying "thanks and we'll take your money," the institution told such individuals that their $ had to go to the overall sports program. People got discouraged about that. The teams that we might describe as "fringe" did not inspire the opening of pocketbooks, you might say.
And in the category of American cultural history, we must remember that girls and women's sports had to climb the rather challenging mountain of gaining legitimacy.
There was a time when the UMM women's basketball coach made a special gesture of "thank you" to me when in fact I really just did what was fair and reasonable. I remember some players at season's end jogging up the bleachers at the P.E. Center to give me a card and a verbal thanks. It made me happy yes. But it made me feel I had "gone the extra mile" for women's hoops as if this commitment was needed sort of for political reasons. And I was not the most enlightened person. Hey, I remember when the 3-point shooting rule was created and I doubted for a time if girls or women could even make these shots!
Our high school administration was not without such shortcomings. Let me explain: it was years before the bleachers got pulled out on both sides of our 1968 gym for girls basketball. The boys got the "full meal deal" as it were. (Wasn't that an old Dairy Queen promotion?)
Music departments had to stop being so accommodating with "pep band" because they were getting whip-sawed by demands from the formerly fringe teams that were starting to thump their chest.
I remember my father directing a quite bona fide UMM pep band when the "basketball team" (men) played at the "P.E. Annex." No women's sports yet. Isn't that amazing? Just like in movie "Hoosiers," the feminine gender was restricted to cheerleaders.
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| Chris Voelz |
When all was said and done, women's sports ended up with the best possible outcome. It did not need so much bureaucratic insulation to succeed, hey it succeeded on its own merits! Just take Iowa women's basketball as one example. I heard a little retrospective about that from Iowa media recently. The U of Iowa women were once totally obscure and minor compared to the men. Today that program would rival the men although the men are doing awfully good. But what a joy! It's not even an outlier.
But let's get back to Rick Lucken's little story from UMM's past. The hindering of prospective UMM sports donors could only come from a past feeling of entitlement when private $ was not coveted so much. Why not let certain boosters come forward to help certain teams? Hey it might even be the women's teams. Or maybe soccer which I presume started small too. If you look in back issues of the Morris newspaper from when UMM soccer began, you will see generous coverage with shall we say a little extra flair. Yes that might be associated with yours truly.
My flair did not always satisfy everyone but I digress. The coverage was supplied by yours truly. And I did it with a definite sense of history. It's a Williams family trait as far as UMM is concerned. My father directed the pep band at the P.E. Annex where it played the original UMM fight song. The song was eventually retired. And no, I'm not sitting here feeling resentful about that. The P.E. Annex was a lot like the gymnasiums we saw in "Hoosiers" with Gene Hackman.
I told my little story about the past would-be sports donors to my main contact person with UMM today. She said the sense of "obstacles" or frustration was certainly not imposed today. My mind sifted through this and it didn't take long to arrive at the logical conclusion/deduction. If certain big donors want to direct $ to the traditional high-profile teams, well then that's fine, because then there could be more "institutional money" spread to the other teams. Maybe this would defeat the purpose in the minds of said donors. But remember, people always feel good when pitching in to help UMM.
But what of UMM's future now? Very much clouded, it would seem. It would seem we are at the mercy of the U president. Or maybe not: maybe she's just acting in response to those above her, maybe not even the regents but rather the legislature. My father always understood that the buck stopped there. He had extensive experience within the U before UMM was even created.
The original UMM fight song would sound great as a straight instrumental presentation. There might have been a problem with the lyrics. I'm thinking of a specific line. But as an instrumental presentation it would have to sound good, it would have to. The original head of the campus "commissioned" my dad to write it along with the "UMM Hymn."
Some people only associated my father with the men's chorus which was certainly "famous." But he directed everything at various times. He was the only UMM music faculty in the institution's first year, 1960-61.
Egg on my face
Oh, women certainly came around to making the 3-point shot! I am willing to admit how I underestimated them. Mea culpa. And this past winter I enjoyed watching the UMM women play just as much as the men! But my donated dollars go toward music!
Addendum: Re. those long-ago trips including Rick and me, around 1990, I remember when more than once we traveled for a game at BBE and ended up in the wrong town! Belgrade instead of Brooten or the other way around!
"Collective?" UMM ought to be aware that the term is connected to all kinds of "liberal" stuff like socialism, communism and woke-ism. Perhaps the term should be avoided. People hate socialism although I guess they like their Social Security and Medicare.
- Bran Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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