In Memoriam
Voice of the Bucs
| Photo by: Jim Lyga |
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| Joe Kobylka’51 |
Hundreds of basketball players have come and gone at Beloit College over the past 40 years. But the “voice” of the program has remained the same.
Joe Kobylka’51, the team’s public address announcer since 1966, completed his 40th season behind the microphone this past spring. And audiences can expect to hear him again next year.
“I hope I can continue to do it for a few more years,” the longtime Beloiter says.
Kobylka began work as public address announcer from courtside at the legendary Field House, and now the Flood Arena.
“He means a lot to us,” says Keith Domke, Beloit College sports information director. “He does it because he loves the College.”
That love began as a student. After graduating from Beloit, Kobylka later returned to the city after a tour of duty in the U.S. Army and after earning a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University. He worked as a reporter for the Beloit Daily News, and his beat included covering Beloit College. In 1965, he was promoted to city editor.
In 1966, Kobylka left his job at the newspaper to take a position at his alma mater as the director of Alumni Affairs. That year, he began his 40-year run as public-address announcer at basketball games.
“It was just one of those things that fell into place,” Kobylka says.
That season, the Bucs won their first conference title in 10 years under coach Bill Knapton.
“To me, Joe is Mr. Beloit,” says Knapton, who coached the Bucs from 1957 to 1997. “He’s an unbelievable person in terms of his commitment and what he means to Beloit College. He’s a good friend personally, and I think the world of him. He just personifies everything good about Beloit College that I like to look back on.”
Kobylka says it’s hard to single out all of the great players he’s seen in a Bucs uniform.
“There have been so many; if you mention a couple, you’re forgetting someone,” he says.
Kobylka did mention the 1980-81 team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation for five weeks and Josh Hinz’06 (Fort Atkinson, Wis.), who eclipsed the school’s all-time scoring and rebounding records. The scoring record had been set 55 years ago by Ron Bontemps, one of Kobylka’s classmates.
The athletic department’s institutional memory is owed, in part, to Kobylka.
“Just the knowledge that he has about Beloit athletes throughout the years has been beneficial,” Domke says.
And behind the mike, Kobylka keeps crowds interested in the game.
“He brought a lot to that chair,” Knapton says. “He was colorful, and he made the games interesting.”
Kobylka describes his job simply. He reports to the crowd which player did what, and he makes sure he pronounces the players’ names correctly—something that a person with a last name like Kobylka appreciates.
And while he is a true Bucs fan, he strives to be impartial.
“When you’re handling the P.A., you can’t be biased or prejudiced towards the home team,” he says. “What I try to do is handle it as though I was at a game between two teams with whom I have no affiliation.”
In addition to his duties as alumni director and P.A. announcer, Kobylka has used his journalism background to lend a hand in the Athletic Department when Beloit did not have a sports information director.
“Joe is one of those guys who does everything,” says Ed DeGeorge, who retired after this past season as Beloit’s football coach and athletic director. “He’s been a special person at Beloit College.”
DeGeorge noted that Kobylka’s commitment to the school has been commemorated with the creation of the Joe Kobylka Team Spirit Award, presented to a male and female athlete each May.
“It epitomizes what Joe is all about,” DeGeorge says.
Kobylka and his wife Faith Kellogg Kobylka’54, a retired educator, have three children: Joe’78, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University; Rich’81, who works in the computer industry in Seattle; and Sandy’87, a stay-at-home mom and former general sales manager for a CBS television affiliate in Charleston, S.C. The Kobylkas have seven grandchildren.
This November, when the 2006-07 basketball season begins, look for Kobylka to be back courtside for season No. 41.
“You know there’s going to be an end sometime, but as long as they feel I’m doing the job, fine,” Kobylka says.
And that’s just fine with people in the Bucs’ Athletic Department.
“We’re never going to let him get away,” says Domke.
— Rick West
This article was reprinted with permission from the Stateline News of Beloit, a bi-weekly community newspaper.
EMAIL:
Joe Kobylka'51 - Director Emeritus, Alumni Affairs
Beloiters Lead Two Basketball Teams to No. 1 Spots
| Photo by: Lawrence University |
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| John Tharp’91 |
Two Beloit College alumni led their respective championship basketball teams to No. 1 rankings during the past season while coaching in Wisconsin cities less than 25 miles apart.
One is John “Roundy” Tharp’91, head coach of the Lawrence University Vikings in Appleton; the other, Lance Randall’94, head coach of the Oshkosh West High School Wildcats. Coincidentally, the two were teammates at Beloit and both served as assistants to Bill Knapton, the Buccaneers’ legendary coach.
In his 12th season at Lawrence, a Buc rival in the Midwest Conference, Tharp guided the Vikings to their third consecutive league title while posting a 25-1 record and earning No. 1 status in NCAA Division III. The team’s only loss came in the second round of the national tournament; they were the last undefeated team in all NCAA divisions.
Randall and his Wildcats won the state’s top prep prize by going undefeated in 26 games and dethroning defending champion Madison Memorial in the Division I title contest. The victory climaxed Randall’s two-year emotional ride as Oshkosh West’s coach, for he took over the program after the sudden death in October 2004 of his father Steve, who had held the job for many years. (See Beloit College Magazine, Summer 2005.)
Tharp has enjoyed unprecedented success at Lawrence, compiling a 191-98 record and winning four Midwest Conference championships. His first, in l996-97, ended a 53-year drought for the Vikings, and they’ve been a title contender ever since. A 2002 inductee into Beloit’s Athletic Hall of Honor, he has been the league’s Coach of the Year the past three seasons and also was accorded NCAA Division III regional honors twice.
As to the recipe for the Vikings’ success this season, Tharp cites four main ingredients: tremendous chemistry, great pride in rebounding under both boards, making the extra pass to find the open player, and superb depth. “It was a great group to be around; they enjoyed each other and they played hard.”
After graduating from Beloit, Randall succeeded Tharp as Knapton’s assistant before becoming head coach at Webster (Mo.) University. Later—at the time of his father’s death—he was an aide at St. Louis University.
He resigned his collegiate duties and took over the Oshkosh West program while his family and a team, school, and community mourned. A year later, his team captured the state crown and he was named the Associated Press Prep Coach of the Year.
Randall’s first Wildcat team won 21 straight before falling to another undefeated club in the state tourney. This year’s edition, buoyed by memorial chants of “Steve Randall,” left no doubt it was on a mission toward the school’s first state basketball title.
John Caspar, Jr. of the Oshkosh newspaper, The Northwestern, noted in his post-game article that Randall “hoisted the state championship trophy above his head as tears streamed down his face.” He later quoted the young coach as saying, “We had a little more motivation than some of the other teams in the tournament …We had dreams. I know others had dreams too. But our dreams are awfully deep-rooted. This one is pretty special for us.”
Both men hold each other and Knapton in high regard. Tharp describes Randall as “a tremendous competitor; he hated to lose. He had a great understanding of basketball, and you could tell he was a coach’s son.” Randall says Tharp “has a great feeling for motivating players and as a coach provides a lot of enthusiasm and fire.” Playing for Coach Knapton and John Tharp, he adds, “was like serving a basketball internship.”
Of their former coach, Tharp says, C Randall calls Knapton “a great innovator who competed at the highest level of integrity and did things the right way. Even today, he’s been like a second father to me.”
— Joe Kobylka’51
RELATED LINK:
“Death of a Beloved Coach Spurs Son to Take His Team,” Beloit College Magazine, Summer 2005
In Memoriam: Peter Maiken’55
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| Peter Maiken’55 |
Peter Maiken’55, a former editor of Beloit College Magazine, died on March 5, 2006, in Beloit. He was 71.
Maiken served as the College’s director of news and publications from 1990-1997. He returned to his alma mater after a career in journalism that spanned nearly 30 years and included editorial stints with the Chicago Tribune, the (now defunct) Washington Star in Washington, D.C., and the Rockford Register Republic in Rockford, Ill. Maiken published three books: Rip Off (1979), Killer Clown (1983)—co-authored with Terry Sullivan—and Night Trains (1989). He also edited Century of a City: A Photographic History of Beloit, Wisconsin 1901-2002 (2002), a publication of the Beloit Historical Society.
“When Pete returned to Beloit, he invested his considerable talents into campus publications and his heart into the College and town communities,” says Ann Bausum’79, editor of Beloit College Magazine from 1982 to 1990, and a friend of Maiken. “My appreciation for Pete’s wisdom, patience, and humor grew over the years, particularly while we collaborated together on a vegetable garden. Many a weed, gripe, and worry were felled by the stroke of his hoe.”
A talented jazz pianist, Maiken composed several songs, including “Wisconsin Memories,” a tribute to his home state, which was performed in concert by the Beloit Janesville Symphony Orchestra and Chorale in 1998. He earned a master’s degree in history from Northwestern University in 1966.
He is survived by his wife, Peggy Maiken, a daughter, and four sons, including Steve Maiken’88, grandchildren, and siblings.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Grace Trueblood Maiken Endowed Scholarship in Creative Writing Fund; contact Denise LaMaster, stewardship manager in the Office of External Affairs, at
lamaster@beloit.edu or 800-331-4943.
In Memoriam: Elbert Neese
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| Elbert Neese, Jr. |
Elbert “Ebbie” Neese, Jr., a life trustee and longtime friend and benefactor to Beloit College, died on March 10, 2006, in Phoenix, Ariz., at age 82.
A successful businessman, Neese was dedicated to advancing both the College and the Beloit community. He was a life member of the Beloit College board of trustees, and he and his wife, the late Margaret Knorpp Neese, were generous contributors to the College’s financial and cultural well-being. In 1992, he was awarded an honorary degree from Beloit.
Neese’s grandfather co-founded the Beloit Iron Works, a manufacturing firm that later became the Beloit Corporation and distributed paper-making machinery throughout the world. He began working full-time for the company in the mid-1940s and was named CEO in 1978, a role he filled until the company was sold in 1986. He remained active in civic organizations and affairs and recently donated funds to build a pavilion in Beloit’s Riverside Park.
“His commitment to the greater Beloit community and to the College is perhaps best represented by the Neese Scholarships, which have provided area young people with the opportunity to fulfill their potential by attending Beloit College,” says President John Burris.
Neese was predeceased by his father and his mother, Laura Aldrich Neese, of the class of 1912, his wife, two sisters, and a brother. Three sons and three daughters are among the survivors, including Laura Neese Malik, of Berkeley, Calif., also a Beloit College trustee.
Memorial donations may be made to the Ebbie and Peggy Neese Scholarship Fund at Beloit College; contact Denise LaMaster, stewardship manager in the Office of External Affairs, at lamaster@beloit.edu or 800-331-4943.
In Memoriam: Robert Solem
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| Robert H. Solem |
Businessman, philanthropist, and former Beloit College trustee Robert H. Solem died on March 3, 2006, in Beloit, at age 90.
Solem’s ties to Beloit College ran deep. In 2000, he and his second wife, Jane Elsom Walrath Solem’41, endowed The Robert H. and Jane Solem Professorship in the Natural Sciences. Prior to that, he donated a world-class collection of crinoid fossils and rare examples of Egyptian art to the College.
“Bob Solem was intensely interested in the paleontology of Midwest rock formations,” says Hank Woodard, professor emeritus of geology at the College and a long-time friend of Solem. “His initial acquisition for the department of geology of several important geological collections was followed by the funds necessary to finish the display and provide professional preparation of the fossil material.”
The fossils are on display on the first floor of Chamberlin Hall.
A past president and owner of Wisconsin Knife Works, Solem was also a pillar of the Beloit community for more than 50 years. He contributed his time and funding to numerous civic organizations, including the Rotary Club of Greater Beloit, the Beloit Janesville Symphony Orchestra, the Beloit Historical Society, the Beloit Chapter of the American Red Cross, and Beloit Memorial Hospital. He served as a life-member, trustee, and major benefactor of the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Ill. In 1998, the museum dedicated a new wing named for Solem that houses “Jane” —the fossilized remains of a dinosaur named after Jane Solem that went on display in 2005 (see Beloit College Magazine, Summer 2004).
Solem was predeceased by his first wife, ElizabethRiche Solem. He is survived by Jane, his wife of 13 years, one son and three daughters, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
RELATED LINK:
"A Tale of Two Janes: One, a Dinosaur," Beloit College Magazine, Summer 2004.
