Midwest vindicated in ‘College Bowl’ sweep

 Bill Knight column for 9-30, 10-1 or 2, 2021

 As a teen I often felt a mix of pride, anger and defensiveness about the Midwest. I enjoyed and appreciated growing up here, but most movies and TV shows were set in New York or Los Angeles; Kurt Vonnegut in the New York Times quoted a woman at a writers conference saying attendance was low ”because ‘Macomb, Illinois' sounds like such a hell-hole, and because ‘Western Illinois University’ sounds like such a jerkwater school”; and even the Beach Boys in their hit “California Girls” stereotyped/dismissed the Heartland with the line “Midwest farmers’ daughters…”

So, 52 years ago this fall, I was thrilled when a relatively small Midwest school became the first undefeated university in the 1969 season of NBC-TV’s “GE College Bowl.”

Bradley University not only was a champion, BU students’ achievement helped restore its reputation 18 years after a basketball scandal tarnished its image, and they showed that even after protests had recently roiled U.S. campuses, students were doing more than just demonstrating against the Viet Nam War.

At a Nov. 17, 1969, welcome-home event on BU’s campus in Peoria, Student Senate President Jim Gitz said, “Much of the clamor that has revolved around Bradley University in recent times will be met with a like commemoration of this positive action,” and university president Talman Van Arsdale commented that the wins “changed the image of the University nationally.”

Of course, TV quiz shows had suffered their own scandals, with several programs implicated in fixing results over six months in 1958-59. But “College Bowl” was a respected question/answer program with roots in radio starting in 1953, continuing on CBS-TV before NBC. Even this summer, NBC’s “Capital One College Bowl” reboot retained or gained followers (despite brothers Peyton Manning and Cooper Manning delivering cringeworthy performances as hosts).

There had been a few other undefeated colleges in the early 1960s during CBS’ run, according to “College Bowl” records, but Bradley’s success was an upset. In fact, some participants remember overhearing Johns Hopkins University’s team the night before the fifth and final match laughing about “hayseeds from Peoria.”

The road to victory started that spring when BU speech professor Larry Norton learned that Bradley was picked to compete in the nationally televised show in New York City that fall. Norton sent an urgent memo to colleagues saying, “Time is our problem. We must select 16–20 of our best students immediately.”

The “starting four” became Paul Remack of Berwyn, Ill.; Gene Sidler of Lansing, Ill., Gary Roberts of Rochester, Minn., and captain Ed Wehrli of Roanoke, Ill. (Roberts became Bradley president from 2016-2020.)

Six alternates were Rick Cloyd of Peoria, Linda Brady Fish of Springfield, Laura Johnson of Kirkwood, Mo., Tom Murphy of Riverside, Ill., Mike Kienzler of Springfield, and Eric Arnold of Peoria.

Midwesterners, all!

Preparations were a sophisticated scramble. Future broadcaster Frank Bussone, then in BU’s alumni office, coached the team in a mock TV studio with stage lights and buzzers.

“The 10 of us traveled to Peoria all that summer of ’69, practicing and auditioning to make the final four,” recalled Kienzler, recently retired from Springfield’s State Journal Register.

“Several of us were in contention for the fourth spot on the TV team – Ed, Paul and Gene were gimmes – but none of us had any gripes when Gary got the last spot,” he said. “Because of all that summer teamwork and bonding, I think we all felt we had a share in the five-time championship. And we WERE tight: GE gave the team money for first-class air fare for the TV team and one faculty member, but BU used it instead to pay coach fares for the ENTIRE team.”

Bradley’s five victories in successive weeks were impressive: They beat George Washington University 195-175 on Oct. 18, the University of Minnesota/Morris 270-50 Oct. 25, Cleveland State 220-115 Nov. 1, Beloit College 250-130 Nov. 8, and Johns Hopkins University 205-180 Nov. 15.

The returning team was greeted at the midday ceremony by congratulatory telegrams and news of phone calls from throughout the nation. Announcing that the university’s Board of Trustees was matching the $19,500 in winnings, Van Arsdale added, “Your efforts will never be forgotten. Your efforts may bring the possibility and probability of higher education to those who succeed you here at Bradley.”

A clip of the exciting final four minutes of Bradley’s victory over Johns Hopkins is online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWsZB862ESE