Mark Fiege Washington State University Athletics Oral History Project, 1982

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Fiege, Mark.
Title
Mark Fiege Washington State University Athletics Oral History Project
Dates
1982 (inclusive)
Quantity
.2 Linear feet of shelf space, (1 box)
Collection Number
CT 17 (collection)
Summary
Oral history interviews (audiocassettes) about the history of Washington State University athletics, conducted by Mark Fiege in 1982. The interviewees are Jack Friel, basketball coach; Ike Deeter, boxing coach; Harry Missildine, sports reporter for the Spokane Spokesman-Review; and Glen Oman, assistant athletic director.
Repository
Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection is open and available for research use.

Languages
English

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

This collection consists of four oral history interviews (eight audiocassettes) about the history of Washington State University athletics, conducted by Mark Fiege in 1982. The interviewees are Jack Friel, basketball coach; Ike Deeter, boxing coach; Harry Missildine, sports reporter for the Spokane Spokesman-Review; and Glen Oman, assistant athletic director.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Alternative Forms Available

These interviews have been digitized, and are available online as part of the Washington State University Oral History Project.

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions apply.

Preferred Citation

[Item Description] Mark Fiege Washington State University Athletics Oral History Project, 1982 (CT 17)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

The tapes are maintained in their original order.

(MASC STAFF USE): range 3-4.

Acquisition Information

The Washington State University sports oral history interviews conducted by Mark Fiege in 1982 were transferred with their abstracts to the Archives by Mr. Fiege in late 1982 (MS.1982.20).

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Series 17/1: John B. "Jack" Friel, WSU Basketball Coach from 1928-1958, 1982Return to Top

Interviewer: Mark T. Fiege

Location of Interview: Pullman, WA

Date of Interview: 11 March 1982

Length of Interview: 74.5 minutes

Abstractor: Mark T. Fiege

Date of Abstraction: 11 March 1982

Release: Yes

Restrictions: No

Container(s) Description
tape time
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 0-1
Introduction
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 1-6
Early years as coach of high school teams in Colville and Spokane. Came to WSU in the fall of 1928. Talks about early conditions at WSU. Used to play their games in an "old crackerbox" where the CUB now stands.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 6-16.5
Changes in the game of basketball. Revolutionary developments came through rule changes and development of the jump shot. Talks about his introduction and use of the two-platoon system. The game has advanced much over his time. Younger players are much more skillful. Players were shorter in his day. Some centers were only 6'2".
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 16.5-20
WSU was a small school before WWII. But athletics were popular with students and local populace. Students held alternate tickets for games at old gym. Students climbed in the windows with ladders to view events.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 20-25
There was no Cougar Club in the old days. Scholarships were given to athletes in the form of jobs with local businessmen. Coaches were given a list of businessmen to meet and ask for money. Had to raise more money to compete with other schools. Most of athletes were from State of WA.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 25-30
Story of the "Golden Era" of WSU sports. Successful teams, and all the coaches had good rapport. Babe Hollingberry, football; Karl Schlademan and Jack Mulberry, track; Ike Deeter, boxing; Buck Bailey, baseball. Bailey had a basketball team called "Bailey's Angels." They played games around the northwest. Also played the Harlem Globetrotters. Bailey once broke his toe by kicking a waterbucket filled with cement.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 0-13
More about the Golden Era. Coaches attended each other's games, and also helped each other with coaching. He was happy to be a part of it. Football was dropped as a sport during WW II. There was a lot of interest in boxing. People filled Bohler Gym for matches. Director Bohler was responsible for Washington State's early progress in athletics. He helped California schools get started in athletics. Bohler was a hot-headed man. Once grabbed a boxing referee by the throat after a bad decision against a WSU athlete.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 13-16
Old conference was once divided into a northern and southern division. There was a lessening of interest in basketball because of this. But rivalry always existed between US and WSU.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 16-22
Had a championship basketball team in 1942. A big year. Had to get breaks to go that far. A popular team. His best team.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 22-25.5
For a while he was intramural director. Baseball was offered for a time. He spent more time with intramurals than with basketball. There was "no attitude" in those days toward women's athletics. Woman leadership did not want women's intercollegiate athletics. They recognized the drawbacks of men's.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 25.5-30
Played semi-pro baseball in the northwest. Bellingham, Kelso, Spokane, Colfax, Colville. Made money to help pay for school. $250-$300 per month. Played against House of David baseball team.
2, Side A Minutes (approx.): 0-10.5
More about baseball. Believes that there was a "colored" House of David team. He thinks that the automobile had a great deal to do with the decline in popularity of community baseball teams. Practically all small towns had a team.
2, Side A Minutes (approx.): 10.5-14.5
Athletic facilities at WSU have changed. As good as can be found anywhere. Good management brought it about.

Series 17/2: Ike Deeter, WSU Boxing Coach, 1982Return to Top

Interviewer: Mark T. Fiege

Location of Interview: Pullman, WA

Date of Interview: 25 March 1982

Length of Interview: 64 minutes

Abstractor: Mark T. Fiege

Date of Abstraction: 25 March 1982

Release: Yes

Restrictions: No

Container(s) Description
tape time
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 0-1
Introduction
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 1-11
Early years at WSU as student and coach. Hurt knee in football injury. Bohler told him to forget playing football. Bohler interested in build ing an organized boxing program. Club started. Had matches with other clubs in Spokane, Butte, Trail, Seattle. Mullan, Idaho had "tough miners" for a team. Deeter eventually took over as coach. Recalls some of the more memorable boxers. Story of a Philipino boxer.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 11-13.5
Development of WSU Boxing from club to intercollegiate status. Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Boxing Association. First tournament at Univer sity of Washington in 1928 or 1929. Bohler was enthusiastic about boxing. Deeter hired as coach. Some boxers went on to pro careers. George Theodoradis, Pete Rademacher.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 13.5-18
Owes all of his success to Bohler. Gave him an opportunity to do something with boxing. Bohler a great sportsman. Once tried to get lacrosse started. Bohler had good connections around the athletic world. Arranged dual meets with Wisconsin. As WSU Boxing grew, other schools took it up. Louis August coached Idaho’s first team.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 18-27.5
Talks about successful teams and athletes. Once at national championship at Penn State, area schools won five out of eight championships. Coast championships. Won national championship in 1937. Had good, tough kids. Won a lot of bouts through good conditioning. Best boxer was Eddie Mckinnon. Heard about him while he was working in the CCC in Idaho. More about Pete Rademacher.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 27.5-30
Boxing was popular, had good attendance. Drew more than anything except basketball and football. Sometimes packed Bohler gym. Had an intramural program, P.E. classes. Got some team boxers out of this.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 0-19
The "Golden Era." One of best coaching staffs on the coast. They were "all for one and one for all." Doc Bohler made it a success. He hired good people. Coaches helped each other. Buck Bailey stories. One of outstanding characters he has known. He was an enthusiastic rooter for all sports. A lot of fans came to baseball games to watch Bailey. Bailey in the Navy. He used to play golf with Bing Crosby. He liked to sing so he organized a "shower-room quartet."
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 19-24
Why the boxing program was discontinued. Some schools got too strong for others. Some boxers were killed. School administrations were in fluenced by the brutality of pro boxing they saw on television. WSU had a safe program. Use of headgear and stand-up knock-dn count began at WSU, later adopted by the AAU. WSU never had its safe program aired on television. As schools dropped the sport, teams had to travel longer distances for competition. Took too much money to travel.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 24-27.5
Most boxers graduated and went into teaching. some coach. Boxing continued with intramurals. Also Golden Gloves tournaments. Never had any black boxers. Only ones he contacted couldn't get into WSU because of poor grades.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 27.5-30
Has a high regard for boxing. It has been good to him. Got through school by getting money from merchants through merchandise orders. Wasn't supposed to get cash. Been to boxing clinics around the world: Honolulu, Tokyo, Yokahama, Europe. Helped U. S. boxing coach at Rome Olympics.
2, Side A Minutes (approx.): 0-4
One of highlights of coaching career was meeting Jerry Ford in the Navy. Ford was a good person. He studied law books while others went out and had a good time. "Malarky" about Ford being uncoordinated is untrue. He could handle his fists. National championship was also a highlight. Had a good time and met interesting people.

Series 17/3: Harry Missildine, journalist for the Spokane Spokesman-Review, 1982Return to Top

Interviewer: Mark T. Fiege

Location of Interview: Moscow, ID

Date of Interview: 3 May 1982

Length of Interview: 82 minutes

Abstractor: Unidentifed

Date of Abstraction: Undated

Release: Yes

Restrictions: No

Container(s) Description
tape time
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 0-2
Introduction.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 2-11
Covered WSU sports from 1956 until 1980. Mainly football, basketball, with some track and baseball. In football Coach Sutherland in the late 1950s and good teams. He was ahead of his time. One of the first to time the football in the air. The 1958 team was good. They would have gone to the Sugar Bowl if it had not been for the break-up of the Pacific Coast conference.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 11-24
Talks about football teams. 1965 team coached by Burt Clark almost went to the Rose Bowl. They lost a key game against Arizona State, when they were called for delay of game on crucial play. Missildine called the official on the play the "Nightwatchman of Tempe." Many WSU players went on to professional careers, some in the Canadian football League. Talks about outstanding football coaches.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 24-30
The track team. WSU was one of the first teams to recruit foreign athletes. Discusses implications of this in the Pacific Eight conference. Best football team was in 1981. Coach Sweeney had excellent teams, especially when Jack Thompson played.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 0-7
More about Cougar football teams. Bobo Brayton's Baseball teams. WSU teams have done well.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 7-17.5
Memorable football games. Jim Sutherland's teams once had eight straight victories over Stanford. 1970 Stanford game in Joe Albi stadium. Next year at Stanford he had a bet with Red Smith. Warren Power's team once beat Nebraska in opening game of season.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 17.5-23.5
Talks about basketball. WSU beat UCLA for first time in Pullman in 1980. Story of a UCLA game in Bohler gym. Bohler was a noisy gym. More about football--game with Huskies in 1960.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 23.5-30
Washington State has had good teams for the area that it is in. Talks about infractions of rules by Pacific Eight teams. WSU has a clean record. Many people have thought WSU has played over its head. Financing of athletics through bowl games.
2, Side A Minutes (approx.): 0-17
His past relationship with coaches and teams. He is not inclined to "uncover dirt" on teams. Many writers who engage in this "adversary journalism" make themselves look foolish. Not much for him to do anyway, because WSU has a clean record. Talks about the importance of inter-collegiate athletics. Has had a good association with the coaches. Nicknamed Dee Andros the "Great Pumkin." Sometimes he was allowed in on team meetings. Sometimes he was the "House Man," but he didn't receive anything for it. Warren Powers once kicked him out. Walden was his favorite coach.
2, Side A Minutes (approx.): 17-22
His choices for outstanding athletes at WSU. He always liked the "improbable types" who made it.

Series 17/4: Glenn Oman, Associate Athletic Director - WSU, 1982Return to Top

Interviewer: Mark T. Fiege

Location of Interview: Pullman, WA

Date of Interview: 19 April 1982

Length of Interview: 86 minutes

Abstractor: Mark T. Fiege

Date of Abstraction: 19 April 1982

Release: Yes

Restrictions: No

Container(s) Description
tape time
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 0-1
Introduction.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 1-9
Worked for WSU from 1949-1981. Had job in Controller's office, then moved to the Athletic Department. Athletics were separated from other student activities. Coaches and staff have worked harder than at any other university. Distance from other schools has hindered the program.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 9-24
Duties as Associate Athletic Director. Made sure all the bills were paid. At one time he handled travel arrangements for teams. Was ticket manager, business manager, assistant athletic director, before becoming associate director. Differences between his job and Athletic Director's job. Scheduling of games. "- Many decisions involved. Teams of lesser ability are scheduled to improve won-loss record. A better record means a chance at a bowl game.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 24-29
Used to travel with the football team to handle travel arrangements. Suffered from oxygen starvation in unpressurized cabins. Jets improved traveling because they were faster. He enjoyed the travel. Travel had to be well scheduled, or people got upset. Feels lucky that he was never in an airplane crash.
1, Side A Minutes (approx.): 29-30
Changes in athletics, specifically financial affairs.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 1-9.5
Changes in athletics during his career. Financial support for athletes changed. Eventually students received aid without having to work. Conference rule concerning this had been more strict than that of NCAA. Books were permitted to be issued. Conference disbanded in the late 1960s. Eventually came back together.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 9.5-12.5
Changes in scheduling. Better teams were once scheduled, in order to increase revenue. Now games closer to home, with greater chance of WSU victory.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 12.5-17.5
Changes in individual sports. Travel is more complicated now. Football teams used to travel with thirty-three players, now it is fifty-six. Substitution rules allow more players. With specialization, there are more players.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 17.5-24.5
People wondered what effect television would have. Income from television helped WSU athletics. Pacific Eight conference spreads television money around to all schools.
1, Side B Minutes (approx.): 24.5-30
Changes in women's sports. WSU has been behind the times in this area. Women used to be allocated money out of men's programs when he started. Women had "play days" instead of regular athletics.
2, Side A Minutes (approx.): 0-9
More about women's sports. Up until 1970, money was allocated to Women's Recreation Association. Problems of space involved in expansion of women's athletics.
2, Side A Minutes (approx.): 9-18
Helped to promote expansion of facilities, such as the coliseum. In the stadium project, a foundation was set up for the construction, so that the contractors did not deal directly with the University. Some did work at reduced (continued) cost, or for free. Coliseum was a valuable addition to the University. WSU renovated three facilities in "one fell swoop." This was unique, and it received national attention.
2, Side A Minutes (approx.): 18-26
Several local companies helped by providing work at reduced cost, or for free. Unions contributed by providing apprentices to fill training requirements. Farmers contributef labor and equipment. Athletic teams also did menial work. It was a community project. R. A. Hanson Co. used techniques of irrigation ditch construction in pouring the concrete for the stadium.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • College sports -- Washington (State) -- History.
  • Oral history -- United States.
  • Washington State University -- Sports -- History.