A football conference title. A talented, competitive hockey team. A national-level track competitor.
These are just a few of the things that BGSU saw from its athletic programs this year. Something missing? A lacrosse-related feat.
Well, a lacrosse program is missing too.
In the mid-1960’s, however, Bowling Green did have its own varsity lacrosse program.
Now, 50 years later, that same program has been immortalized into college lacrosse lore after the unveiling of its own pillar Saturday at the National Lacrosse Center in Sparks, Maryland.
“The program had an amazing amount of success,” former Falcon lacrosse player Dennis Vereb said at a team reunion. “And that was the product of putting together a quality group of guys with some great coaches. We were a team and a family, and clearly we still are.”
In 1965, Bowling Green engendered its men’s varsity lacrosse team. Just 15 years later, the team was cut from the BGSU athletics program. In between that decade and a half, the Falcons became a powerhouse.
By winning more than 75 percent of its games, the Bowling Green lacrosse program is one of the winningest of its kind in the country. The Falcons played in the Midwest Lacrosse Association, which included Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Denison and Michigan State. The team was ranked in the national top 25 during five separate seasons and, at one point, earned 27 consecutive conference wins.
In addition to Vereb, former player Mike Wilcox and former coach Mickey Cochrane, about 120 additional players, coaches and family members were also in attendance at the unveiling.
“That pillar will be there for many, many years from now, and when the kids of the kids of the guys that played on those Bowling Green teams visit the National Lacrosse Center, they will see it and share in the pride we all have about Bowling Green lacrosse,” Cochrane said.
Cochrane posted an 88-24 (.785) record while at the helm for Falcon lacrosse from 1965 to 1974. A 1992 inductee of the Bowling Green Athletic Hall of Fame, he also led his teams to two undefeated seasons and a top 10 national ranking.
Wilcox, whose player achievements include being an All-American, also noted the significance of Bowling Green’s pillar.
“It is very neat that the first-ever event at the new home of US Lacrosse was honoring Bowling Green and its lacrosse program,” Wilcox said. “This was a very proud moment for everyone connected to the program.”
The National Lacrosse center is scheduled to open in September of this year, but the unveiling of the Falcons’ pillar was a special event at the venue.
“That pillar showcases the accomplishments of a lot of great players and coaches over a 15-year period,” former player Leif Elsmo said. “That monument is right there next to the ones from all of the perennial national lacrosse powers, and we’re there for the right reason. And to see the reaction of the guys was phenomenal. That brick and mortar is a reflection of what they accomplished.”
In recent years, the former BGSU lacrosse program had devolved into a hidden gem. With the rise of other sports over the past decade or two, the once potent memory of a truly dominant program faded into history.
But almost 40 years after the end of the program, those memories have been brought back. They were running rampant at Saturday’s revealing of Bowling Green’s pillar.
Now that pillar has been revealed and the center is due for opening, those memories of Falcon lacrosse are here to stay.
Editorial / PR for Mike Wilcox and Bowling Green University 2016 LaxPhotos.com / John Strohsacker [email protected]
