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From 1955-64, the legendary Perry took Bowling Green on the most successful run in program history, going 77-11-5 overall with five Mid-American Conference championships and that 1959 national title. The team that years later would be nicknamed the Falcons set a national scoring record that same season in a 151-0 win over Findlay College that saw BG score 22 touchdowns in the game.įrom 1924-34, Warren Steller coached the Falcons to a 40-21-19 record and three league championships.
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Bowling Green joined the Northwest Ohio League the following year, but there were no fans on hand for the first game in 1921 due to a flu epidemic. The 1920 team recorded the program’s first win, defeating Kent State Normal College 7-0 in the final game of the season. “But it seems like it was always having good people involved that brought success and fame.” “There are so many interesting stories from over the years,” Cochrane said. While returning from a game in Michigan, the players on the 1920 team missed the last trolley car from Toledo to Bowling Green and had to spend the night sleeping on the floor of an all-night eatery. During the summer, Clucas would go to county fairs in the area and wrestle the local champions, and he prevailed in enough of those matches to pay his college tuition with his winnings. “There have been a lot of great players and great coaches that have been associated with the football program over those 100 years, and they are responsible for the rich history and solid reputation that Bowling Green Football has today.”Ĭharles Clucas played tackle on that first Bowling Green football team and he was the heaviest player on the roster at 170 pounds. “That’s how this all got started, but that was obviously a very different time, in so many ways,” said Mickey Cochrane, the curator of the Athletic Archives at BGSU and former head coach of Falcon men’s soccer and lacrosse teams. The games were played at the now gone Ridge Street School, with an admission price of 25 cents. Due to a shortage of footballs, the kickers and the quarterbacks could not practice at the same time. There were just 19 players on that first team, but that was more than half of the male enrollment at the time of the institution then known as Bowling Green Normal School. It was a very modest but ambitious beginning that put the foundation in place for Bowling Green Football. Bowling Green has stood out as one of the best in the Mid-American Conference over the years.” “That legacy is out there, as evidenced by the Hall of Fame coaches and the outstanding players that have been with us. “Bowling Green has a reputation nationally as a highly respected school with a highly respected football program,” said Mike Wilcox, a 1975 BGSU alumnus and longtime Falcon Athletics booster.
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BOWLING GREEN FOOTBALL FREE
Bowling Green has produced 27 All-Americans, and more than 60 Falcons have been drafted by teams in the NFL, with dozens more signing free agent deals to play in the pros. Through the decades, the Falcon football program has been led by 20 different head coaches, including some whose names are well known and revered in the collegiate ranks, such as Doyt Perry, Don Nehlen, Urban Meyer, Dave Clawson and Dino Babers.