Lefty’s Legacy Saved in Digital Collections!

As we continue to celebrate the 100th Season of the Men’s Basketball, devoted Terp fans reminisce on the many standout players and coaches who have come and gone through this program. Over the years, University of Maryland basketball footage has poured in from the athletic department and the private collections of former Terps, and University Archives is excited to announce that we have digitized and preserved footage from the recently inducted Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, Coach Lefty Driesell!

In fall 2016, our University Archivist Anne Turkos and Athletic Archivist Amanda Hawk left College Park and drove to Virginia Beach to meet with Coach Driesell. They had previously discussed his interest in donating the archival footage he accumulated from his time as a Terp, and while very excited to add to our athletic history, both Turkos and Hawk were a bit nervous about the state the footage was in. Once the University Archives team arrived, they found 113 pieces of videotape and film spread between Driesell’s personal storage locker and condo! Even stored in optimum conditions, videotapes recorded as recently as 30 years ago are in danger of becoming unplayable, and film could lose sound after 40 years of deterioration. Safe to say, the urgency to digitize Lefty’s footage was immediately apparent.

But Coach Driesell and the University Archives shared a goal of trying to save these audiovisual pieces and make them accessible to the public. So after packing up the van and making the 3.5 hour trip back to College Park, the Archives staff set immediately to work to make sure to digitize every piece of footage. Lefty’s contribution to Men’s Basketball history can be found at go.umd.edu/leftyfootage.

You can support the University Archives’ work to continue to digitize more Men’s Basketball footage by making a gift to Help Preserve Maryland Basketball History. Our Launch UMD campaign is now open to the public and will run through the conclusion of basketball season on March 8, 2019. Check the Launch site frequently to see how we are progressing, and encourage your family and friends to make a gift as well. What better way to celebrate the 100th season of men’s basketball than by making sure that the games that Terp players and fans once enjoyed on the court will be preserved for generations to come!

GO TERPS!

 

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Minnie Hill, Class of 1925, had a special piece of advice perfect for Valentine’s Day: ‘A Recipe for Kisses’

To one piece of dark piazza, add a little moonlight. Take for granted two people. Press in two strong ones a small soft hand. Sift lightly two ounces of attraction, one of Romance. Add a large measure of Folly. Stir in a floating ruffle and one or two whispers. Dissolve half a dozen glances in a well of silence. Dust in a small quantity of hesitation, one ounce of resistance, two of yielding. Place the kisses on a flushed cheek or lips. Flavor with a slight scream and set aside to cool. This will succeed in any climate if directions are carefully followed.

Come discover this, and other treasures in Minnie’s scrapbook at University Archives!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

A couple in McKeldin Library, 1958. 

 

#Terps100: This Day in History: January 27, 1979

The Maryland men’s basketball team has enjoyed a lot of big wins in their 100 seasons on the hardwood, but perhaps none bigger than their 67-66 victory over Notre Dame on January 27, 1979, in front of a sell-out crowd in Cole. The Fighting Irish came to campus ranked No. 1 in the country and riding a seven-game winning streak, while Maryland was unranked and looking for an upset.

The Terps led by as many as 12 during the game, but fell apart in the last 7.5 minutes of the contest, needing some late heroics from stars Larry Gibson and Buck Williams to complement Ernie Graham’s game-high 28 points and eke out the victory. Gibson pulled the Terps to within two, 66-64, sinking two free throws at the 1:26 minute mark. The Irish then passed the ball around until 15 seconds remained (in the days before the institution of the shot clock), and Reggie Jackson fouled Notre Dame’s Stan Wilcox. Wilcox missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Maryland’s Buck Williams grabbed the rebound, one of his 15 on the day. The Terps called time-out with 11 seconds left, then again with 5 seconds remaining to set up the final play.

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Coach Lefty Driesell called for the same set-up that had nearly beaten the No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels only a week earlier. Jackson passed the ball to guard Greg Manning who gave up an open shot to drive to the hoop. Just as he was about to go out of bounds, he flipped the ball back to Larry Gibson who sank a layup and was fouled by the Irish’s Bruce Flowers, who later seemed unconvinced that he had indeed committed the infraction. “If the referee [said] I did, then I guess I did,” he told the Washington Post after game.

Notre Dame called two time-outs in an attempt to ice Gibson, whose free throw hit nothing but net with one second left on the clock.

The Irish called another time-out to set up a last-gasp, half-court shot that fell short, and the celebration was on! Terrapin fans, many of them waving Maryland flags, mobbed the court, and Driesell was mobbed by a huge crowd on the floor of Cole while being interviewed on national television.

After the game, Gibson told The Diamondback, “That was definitely one of the biggest shots of my life…I was just trying to concentrate on the rim. But I was thinking about beating the No. 1 team in the country.”

You can re-live this No. 1 upset by watching the four reels of footage from the game in the UMD Archives’ collections, which have been digitized as part of our campaign to Help Preserve Maryland Basketball History:

• from tip-off to about 8 minutes left in the first half
• from 8:16 remaining in the first half to halftime
• from halftime to about 8 minutes left in the second half
• from 8:28 remaining in the second half to just short of the final shot

If you enjoyed viewing this landmark Terps’ victory, please visit go.umd.edu/preservembb and make a gift to support our on-going work to digitize additional footage from 1953 to 2014.

This is the fifth in a series of blog posts the University Archives will be featuring as part of the celebration of the 100^th season of Maryland men’s basketball, 2018-2019, with our colleagues in Intercollegiate Athletics. Visit the #Terps100 website for more information about and to participate in the celebration.

Follow Terrapin Tales throughout the season for additional features on landmark days in Maryland men’s basketball history. Next in line is March 8, the 60^th anniversary of the Terps’ first-ever ACC Tournament championship.

 

 

 

 

 

#Terps100: Surprise Find: George Simler

As we assembled the all-time roster of University of Maryland men’s basketball players over the summer, we came up with some unlikely finds, some gentlemen who were better known for their achievements later in life than they were for the exploits on the hardwood.

We’ve already told you the stories of Charlie “King Kong” Keller, the only Terp to ever play in baseball’s All Star Game and World Series, and author Munro Leaf, most famous for his beloved work The Story of Ferdinand.

But did you know that we had a future lieutenant general playing for the Terps under head coach H. Burton Shipley in the 1940-1941 season?

George Simler, born in 1921 in Johnstown, PA, entered the University of Maryland in fall 1940 and played freshman football and basketball and ran track for the Terps, but left in June 1941 when he was called to active duty in the Navy.

Two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Diamondback  published a letter he sent to the university community, showing his love for Maryland and how much he missed being on campus:

Nine days later, he enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Forces on December 18, 1941, and  he received his pilot wings on August 5, 1942.

Simler served two combat tours as a pilot in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. He was shot down in July 1944 but successfully evaded capture and returned to the Allied lines two months later. Following the war, he returned to the university serve as a professor of aerospace science and tactics and to complete his education. As he finished out his student days, he rejoined the football team, participating in the Terps’ first-ever post-season bowl game, the Gator Bowl, versus Georgia on January 1, 1948. Five months later, he received his degree in Military Science and was awarded the Sylvester Watch, given to the man who typified the best in Maryland Athletics.

Terrapin football team, 1947. Simler (#40) is third from right in the second row.

Following graduation, he took on a variety of assignments for the Air Force in the U.S. and overseas, including command of various fighter groups and director of operations of the Seventh Air Force and the Headquarters of the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam, even flying several combat missions during that conflict. He also served as vice commander of the United States Air Forces in Europe.

Throughout his 30-year career in the Air Force, General Simler received numerous awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and the Vietnam Air Gallantry Cross. You can find the text for many of his award citations here.

He was killed in a jet crash at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas on September 9, 1972, shortly before he was to have  been  promoted to  full general and assigned to head the Military Airlift Command.

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Simler played in 14 games as a freshman under head coach H. Burton Shipley, scoring 29 points. While perhaps you wouldn’t characterize as a star on the hardwood, he did make an impact as a freshman baller and is certainly a Terp of whom we can be very proud.

 

 

 

 

#Terps 100: This Day In History: January 9, 1911

1910-1911 MAC basketball team. Captain H. Burton Shipley in the center of the first row.

Varsity competition for the Maryland Agricultural College cadets (the forerunners of today’s Terrapins) began on a chilly January evening in 1911. A squad of seven players traveled south from New York University to play a series of games against colleges in the Washington, DC, area, and the Aggies were their chosen opponent on January 9.

Unfortunately we have not been able to locate many details about this game, but we do know that the Violets’ (named for the color of their uniforms) thrashed the MAC cadets 29-7. Evidently the “dash” with which the Aggies played, according to a mention in the February 1, 1911, Triangle, was not enough to overcome the strength of the defending intercollegiate champions from NYU.

The Aggies’ mainstays that season were Paul Goeltz and Herbert White at forward, Augustus Rupert at center, and guards H. Burton Shipley, Arthur (Doc) Woodward, and Paul Binder. Woodward also served as the team’s manager, and Shipley as the captain.

Shipley’s entry in the 1914 Reveille yearbook

Shipley has a particularly interesting connection to his alma mater. After his graduation from the two-year degree program in 1914, he took some coaching courses at the University of Illinois, then began his coaching career at the Perkiomen, Pennsylvania, Prep School, leading the football, basketball, and baseball teams. Positions at the helm of all three sports followed at Marshall College and the University of Delaware. Shipley also spent a summer as the manager of the Martinsburg, West Virginia, baseball team in the Blue Ridge League before returning to the University of Maryland as the baseball and basketball coach. He led the Terps on the hardwood from 1923 to 1947, winning the Southern Conference championship in 1931 and making the conference finals in 1939. “Ship” also coached Maryland’s first All-American, Louis “Bosey” Berger.

1931 Southern Conference champions

 

He is better known, perhaps, for his leadership of the baseball team. Shipley took the helm in 1924 as he was finishing up his first season with the basketball team, and led the squad until 1960. The ball field was named for him in 1956 and today is part of Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium.

 

 

These six young men established a program which has risen to national prominence, including an NCAA championship in 2002.

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts the University Archives will be featuring as part of the commemoration of the 100^th season of Maryland men’s basketball, 2018-2019, with our colleagues in Intercollegiate Athletics. Visit the #Terps100 website for more information about and to participate in the celebration.

Follow Terrapin Tales throughout the season for additional features on landmark days in Maryland men’s basketball history. Next in line is January 27, when we commemorate the Terps’ historic 1979 win against the #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

 

 

 

Terps 100: This Day In History: December 30, 2014

‘I don’t know how we did it:’ No. 12 Terps get past cold shooting with free throws, rebounds in Big Ten debut; College basketball Maryland men 68, Michigan State 66, 2OT

The Big Ten opener for Maryland men’s basketball, December 30, 2014, against Michigan State, was truly a thriller and one of the most memorable victories in the team’s 100 seasons.

The move from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) to the B1G had been a controversial one, so Maryland came into East Lansing to face the Spartans with something to prove. The Terps were enjoying their highest national ranking in 10 years and were ready for the test against one of the conference’s toughest teams.

The first half was a low-scoring affair. Maryland led 17-14 at the break, after the teams combined to shoot only 27 per cent from the field. Defense was the name of the game, and Coach Turgeon said afterwards, “Nobody has guarded us as well as they’ve guarded us.”

Dez Wells hits for two!

The lead see-sawed back and forth in the second half, and it took a three-pointer by Dez Wells, playing in his second game back after suffering a fractured wrist, to tie the score with three seconds left in regulation.

In the first overtime, Michigan State was ahead 55-51 with less than a minute remaining. Turgeon was slapped with a technical foul, frustrated by the lack of a foul call on a drive by freshman Melo Trimble, and it looked like the Terps might collapse. Jon Graham followed with a lay-up, and Wells added two free throws to extend the game again.

Freshman Melo Trimble drives for two of his 17 points against Michigan State.

Maryland took control in the second overtime, wearing down the Spartans to secure a 68-66 win. Despite some serious shooting woes and 21 turnovers, they finished with some impressive stats, out rebounding Michigan State 52-36 and hitting 26 of 32 free throws, all of those after halftime.

Coach Turgeon celebrates the big win.

It’s always tough to win on the road, especially against a perennial powerhouse, but the Terps showed great grit and determination in their first conference victory, a win that Coach Turgeon, all members of the 2014-2015 squad, and Maryland fans everywhere will long remember.

Post-game celebration in the locker-room.

This is the third in a series of blog posts the University Archives will be featuring as part of the celebration of the 100^th season of Maryland men’s basketball, 2018-2019, with our colleagues in Intercollegiate Athletics. Visit the #Terps100 website for more information about and to participate in the celebration.

Follow Terrapin Tales throughout the season for additional features on landmark days in Maryland men’s basketball history. Next in line is January 9, when we mark the anniversary of Maryland’s first-ever varsity competition.

 

 

 

 

 

#Terps100: Surprise Find: Munro Leaf

As we assembled the all-time roster of University of Maryland men’s basketball players over the summer, we came up with some unlikely finds, some gentlemen who were better known for their achievements later in life than they were for the exploits on the hardwood.

We’ve already told you the story of Charlie “King Kong” Keller, the only Terp to ever play in baseball’s All Star Game and World Series, who just happened to  be a star shooter for Maryland for four seasons, 1933-1937.

We were surprised to find another famous name on an early roster—Munro Leaf! Leaf, better known as the author of the delightful children’s book, The Story of Ferdinand, took to the hardwood for the freshmen basketballers in the 1924 season.

You can learn more about Leaf’s famous work here.

His court career did not last long, however, and didn’t even rate a mention in the list of his activities included with his senior photo in the 1927 Reveille yearbook.

 

The roster we compiled was recently used by artist Daniel Duffy to create one of his pieces of “word art,” which was distributed to fans at the November 28 ACC/Big Ten Challenge game vs. the University of Virginia Cavaliers.

See if you can find Munro Leaf or Charlie Keller among the 863 names of former players, coaches, and basketball venues that Duffy incorporated into his work!

We found another surprise or two on the roster, so check back on Terrapin Tales to see who we discovered!

New Exhibit: Year of Immigration

Visitors to H.J. Patterson Hall can now view a new Special Collections and University Archives exhibit highlighting the history of international students on campus. The display is a part of the Year of Immigration, an initiative across all of the University of Maryland’s schools, that seeks to increase awareness about immigration, global migration, and refugees. The Year of Immigration strives to create a more diverse and inclusive community at the University of Maryland.

 

 

The exhibit is located on the first floor of H.J. Patterson Hall, right next to the Office of International Student and Scholar Services. Materials featured in the exhibit include photographs of UMD’s earliest international students, Pyon Su and C.C. Chen. Other images portray the many international student groups on campus. Documents and brochures describing international student life at UMD are also a prominent part of the exhibit.

The Year of Immigration display was created by Ashleigh Coren, Special Collections Librarian for Teaching and Learning, and graduate assistant Clare Kuntz. Coren and Kuntz consulted President’s Office records, yearbooks, university publications, and The Diamondback in their research on international students at the University of Maryland.

When discussing the exhibit Coren said:

Exhibits are incredibly time intensive projects. It took us over a month to find materials, design the concept, and the print the materials and captions for the display. But, we’re pretty proud of what we’ve done. One of my favorite items is a 1966 letter by the Director of International Education Services and Foreign Affairs to then President Elkins about the housing discrimination experienced by students from Africa and the West Indies. While upsetting and in many cases, relevant to some of the struggles experienced today, it is nice to see that even in 1966 there were advocates for international students on campus.

The exhibit will be on view in H.J. Patterson Hall for the remainder of the semester, be sure to check it out in the next couple of weeks!

 

Terps 100: This Day In History: December 2, 1955

The scene in the newly completed Student Activities Building was a festive one the night of December 2, 1955. University officials, dignitaries from around the state, including Governor Theodore R. McKeldin, and representatives from other Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) schools gathered to dedicate the new structure and celebrate the opening of the second largest arena on the East Coast, dwarfed at the time only by Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The ceremonies, chaired by J. Freeman Pyle, dean of the College of Business and Public Administration, featured addresses by Governor McKeldin and Charles Wickard, president of the Student Government Association. Judge William P. Cole, Jr., Class of 1910 and chair of the Board of Regents, presented the building to the university, and President Wilson H. Elkins officially accepted the structure.

(left to right) Victor Frenkil, chairman of Baltimore Contractors, Jim Tatum, UMD athletic director, Judge William P. Cole, chair of the Board of Regents, and President Wilson Elkins at the dedication of the Student Activities Building

Following all the speeches and photo-ops, the Terps took to the court against the Virginia Cavaliers.  Bob Kessler scored the first points in the new arena, hitting two free throws in the opening moments, but Virginia answered back quickly, with two free throws of their own from Bob McCarty and a basket by Bob Hardy. The Terps hit a lay-up and capitalized on an offensive rebound to take the lead at 6-4. At halftime, they were in front of the Cavaliers by 4, at 34-30, and they continued to pull away in the second half, thanks to some hot shooting from Kessler and teammate Bob O’Brien.

Game day program, Dec. 2, 1955

Game action, Dec. 2, 1955

Ultimately Maryland prevailed in a low-scoring affair, 67-55, the ACC opener for both teams. Kessler finished with 23 points, and O’Brien 15, as the high scorers for the Terps.

Who could have predicted at the time that the Terps would also end their playing days in Cole with a game against those same Virginia Cavaliers, winning that final contest on March 3, 2002, 112-92.

Today the historic field house, named in December 1956 for Judge William P. Cole, Jr., has been re-purposed as the Terrapin Performance Center, with a dazzling indoor practice facility; the Center for Sports Medicine, Health, and Human Performance; and the future home of the Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

This is the second in a series of blog posts the University Archives will be featuring as part of the commemoration of the 100^th season of Maryland men’s basketball, 2018-2019, with our colleagues in Intercollegiate Athletics. Visit the #Terps100 website for more information about and to participate in the celebration.

Follow Terrapin Tales throughout the season for additional features on landmark days in Maryland men’s basketball history. Next in line is December 30, when we mark Maryland’s first win in the Big Ten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A “War of Pens” With One of UMD’s Most Notorious Alumnae

Before writing the S.C.U.M Manifesto and attempting to assassinate Andy Warhol, Valerie Solanas was a student-journalist for the Diamondback from 1956 through 1957.

Valerie Solanas, 1958 Yearbook

In contrast to her later reputation as a radical feminist, Solanas wrote some fairly generic articles for the paper. In her first article from February 2, 1956, Solanas reported on a female student who donated her eighth pint of blood. The next time she popped up was as a feature reporter on a May 16, 1956, article defending the university’s decision to charge seniors a $10 diploma fee.

The fall semester of 1957 saw the end to her rather bland assignments. On November 19, 1957, the Diamondback editorial staff praised a speech given by Max Shulman at the Associated Collegiate Press Convention. Described as a humorist and national college newspaper columnist, whose column “On Campus with Max Shulman” appeared regularly in the Diamondback, Shulman’s speech declared that in order to “reinvigorate the youth,” the matriarchy must be destroyed. He claimed that when America was run by “restless men,” the country was the light of the world. Shulman suggested that one way to begin the process of reversing the matriarchy was to take the girl with whom you have been going steady since you were 13 and “punch her in the nose” because it will “leave no confusion as to who’s boss.”

Title card for Max Shulman’s column, which appeared regularly in the Diamondback.

Solanas responded with a letter to the editor on November 22, 1957, stating that Shulman was the “nadir of trivia” and that his statements were “pure bigoted drivel.” She went on to defend stay-at-home mothers by outlining all of the work they did while their husbands were at work and noting that two-thirds of married women juggle work and family duties. She then turned her attention to the Diamondback editors by questioning whether or not it was appropriate for this sort of content to be in the editorial section of the paper. Her fiery response was co-signed by ten other female students on campus.

On November 26th, Harry Walsh, writing on behalf of himself and the residents of North Baltimore Hall, responded to Solanas by claiming that “these females” purposefully misinterpreted Shulman’s speech and he doubted that Shulman was serious about revolting against the matriarchy since Walsh doubts it even exists. While he does not believe that men have lost masculinity and that he should he punch his girlfriend in the nose, he and his dormmates believe that Solanas’ response only created more humor around the whole situation.

Over the next two months, anonymous and named men from the UMD campus and College Park community chimed in to defend Shulman’s comments, with the main war waging between Walsh and Solanas. One anonymous writer from December 11th wrote that women are meant to stay home and that “women think they’re too good to do housework and try to think.” Another man, W.E. Parr, wrote on December 12th that Solanas is “Maryland’s own little suffragette.” He stated that when UMD men come across a “certain type of distraught female,” the best thing to do is humor them.

Solanas wrote two significant responses on December 17th and December 18th. In the first, entitled “Verbal Warpath,” she tells men to “maintain your manly composure” and that their replies are “unbecoming to men of your intellectual stature.”  After taking a few more shots at the multiple men writing in and insulting her, she signed off with “‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ and my pen is dipped in blood!” The next day, she responded directly to Parr, arguing that men are actually the ones who are wasting away without the women because they are desperately seeking companionship as they lurk around dances and the female dorms.

One female student did come to the defense of Solanas on December 10th when Mary Louis Sparks wrote that Solanas was not trying to wage war, but clarify certain concepts that are held by a large number of men and that those concepts are being held in error. None of the women who signed off on Solanas’ first letter wrote in to defend her, and it is unclear if women wrote in and were not included or if Sparks was actually the only student to defend her.

By January 9, 1958, the editor of the Diamondback had stepped in to put an end to what had become known as the “War of Pens,” as it was unlikely that Shulman or his followers would be converted. He also noted that both sides stated their cases rather poorly due to the sheer number of insults and sarcastic responses to one another. The editor then declared that January 17th would be the last issue that would address the debate.

Solanas was the only person to directly respond to the call for final thoughts. She opted to write a poem rather than a traditional letter:

January 17, 1958, poem on the War of Pens

There were at least 15 exchanges over the course of three months with articles separate from the “Backtalk” column that addressed the debate. Nearly every “Letter to the Editor” section had someone chiming in on the debate. After the war of pens had ended, Solanas did not appear in the Diamondback as a writer again, while Max Shulman’s column “On Campus,” that was sent out to multiple college newspapers, continued to be published. On what could be considered a particularly conservative campus in the 1950s, the Diamondback editorial staff said that War of Pens had permeated every part of campus life. Though it cannot be said that it caused any major changes, this look into gender relations on campus is certainly enlightening, especially since it was led by Valerie Solanas.

Flip through the gallery below to see the entire “War of Pens”!

To see more archived issues of the Diamondback, visit https://www.lib.umd.edu/univarchives/student-newspapers

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