The 1985 Bowling Green football team made waves across the media landscape all around the nation, and at the front of the sports media scene in Bowling Green was the on-campus organization, The BG News.
The BG News was, and remains, a student-run and organized newspaper featuring all things Bowling Green related. One of the main features within the paper was the sports section.
One of the main contributors for The BG News in 1985 was then–sports editor and now Falcon Media Director Karl Smith. For Smith and other BG News journalists at the time, there was a feeling this season would be nothing short of special.
“After the ’84 season there was a lot of hype,” Smith stated. “You had an experienced line, a great running back, we just knew something special could happen,” he added.
Tom Reed, the assistant sports editor of The BG News in 1985, also saw the upcoming season’s success written on the wall.
“That senior year they had a lot of skills guys coming back,” Reed stated. “I think a lot of people thought they would have a very good season. I’m not sure anyone thought they would go undefeated,” he added.
The level of widespread recognition BG sports and its media were getting at the time was something that had been unexpected from the team at The BG News — notoriety that, in part, started from the next-level play from quarterback Brian McClure.
“The Heisman was still a big-school thing, so the fact that we were getting any attention was odd,” Smith said. “I think it was kind of interesting to see Bowling Green get put on the map by McClure.”
Photographer and Key yearbook editor Phil Masturzo saw an increase in attention with the success of McClure and the 1985 football team was .
“Personally, I was getting a lot of calls from The Boston Globe and other newspapers wanting pictures of Brian McClure for stories,” Masturzo stated.
The Falcons football team was not only a large target for media for their statistics and overall record, but also the moments and stories within some of the games themselves.
One of the most memorable moments from that notorious 1985 football season is the Falcons’ 30-26 win against Kentucky, a game where the underdog Orange and Brown squad took the lead with only 23 seconds remaining.
Traveling with the team to these away games was something that the BG News crew looks back upon fondly.
“I had gotten some pictures of Denny Stolz being carried off the field and pictures in the locker room after they had won,” said Masturzo. “That’s a huge win for the MAC, even today.”
Another notable win from the Falcons’ historic regular season came in a 21-0 shutout win versus I-75 rival Toledo.
“Toledo had been the defending champs. They were the backyard rival,” said Reed. “That was the game where it was just a party at the stadium.”
Memorable moments for Bowling Green came not only from the games being played on the field but also from some things happening behind the scenes off the field.
The announcement of head coach Denny Stolz’s upcoming offseason departure just three days before the team’s bowl game matchup in California left both players and media in complete shock.
“You didn’t hear people whispering about this or that, it was just totally out of the blue,” Smith said. “When you talk with the players they were just as blindsided as anybody. The fact that he left shouldn’t be that surprising — but the fact that he announced that a couple days before the bowl game was just stunning.”
Stolz’s announcement not only shocked fans and players, but it also seemingly had an impact on the Falcons’ 51-7 California Bowl loss to Fresno State.
“Fresno was the better team, but the coach’s [Stolz’s] announcement was just terrible,” stated Reed. “I think some of the younger players were that [let down]. He had recruited them, and he was leaving.”
“Trying to talk to the players after the game, that was one of the most heart-wrenching moments as a sports reporter,” stated Smith. “This is the pinnacle of their football career. I think in their minds, I would suspect that they figured Stolz took it away from us.”
Producing media content is something that rapidly changes as technology advances. Since 1985, sports media at Bowling Green State University has seen its widespread change in execution and practice.
One thing that changed drastically over the last 40 years at BGSU is the space that is available for media students to work.
Today, Falcon Media and the students involved with The BG News work out of the Kuhlin Center, which was revamped back in 2016 to fit the needs of modern journalism and media — a setting much more comfortable than that used back in 1985.
“When I first started in ’82, we were at University Hall and the darkroom was the basement. Sometimes when it rained real hard, we got some water in the darkroom,” stated Masturzo in regard to the workspace of a photographer in 1985.
Things have also changed within the newsroom from an energy standpoint, according to Karl Smith.
“One of the biggest differences between the newsroom now and the BG News newsroom back in the day is the amount of energy,” Smith stated. “We would have about 50-80 people working on the paper.”
The 1985 football season provided many different memorable moments for fans of the orange and brown, but what it provided for media students was future career experience, valuable lessons and friendships that last a lifetime.
“So it was fun times, and a lot of those people are still some of my best friends to this day,” said Masturzo.
