More WOUB antics
Kudos. Ohio Today keeps getting better and better. One recent item — about WOUB radio’s 50th anniversary — provoked some pleasant and humorous memories.

Its predecessor was WOUN, born more than 50 years ago, after World War II, when radio journalism (under Professor Vincent Jukes) was a new curriculum. It operated out of a Quonset hut and was manned by our wacky, fun-loving bunch. We called it the “uncanny” radio station because it had no restroom facility (one late-night DJ spun a disc and announced that he was “going outside to put up the antenna”).

Under some regulation — FCC or whatever — it wasn’t technically radio “through the airwaves,” but rather a “weird wireless” with a signal that was not to reach more than about 580 yards from the station. However, with the bizarre conduct of even a slightly powered signal, some words that shouldn’t have sort of slipped out far beyond that mandated distance.

Strangely, the first assignment in the radio journalism course just came to mind — putting together a crystal set that even was able to pick up some weird sounds through the blackness from Parkersburg, Marietta or wherever.

Larry Press, BSJ ’49
Ventura, Calif.

As a 1954 BFA grad and radio speech major, I appreciated the article on WOUB. I was one of the DJs on Yawn Patrol (I have a promotional poster to prove it) and did play-by-play for basketball and baseball.

A few corrections are in order: We played more than instrumentals and classical music. I did a show in 1953-54 where vocalists were featured each day. Secondly, how could you do a feature and not mention Professor Vincent Jukes, who truly was the backbone of the radio station for many years?

Rev. Anthony J. Tolbert III, BFA ’54
Mount Prospect, Ill.

We really enjoyed your article on WOUB and the picture of the old Quonset hut that housed it in the early ’50s. We met there on Jo’s late night talk show in May 1952, so maybe this letter also refers to your earlier article, “Love 101.” We have been married 46 years. We think it will last.

I was not expected the night of the talk show. A friend of mine had been invited but could not make it and asked me to substitute. The topic for discussion was “What’s wrong with the OU coed?” I said something to the effect that they were too pushy and did not give guys a chance to be gentlemen, something I have been reminded of from time to time.

OU was a smaller place then, but we have warm memories and left feeling well-prepared for graduate school and the long academic careers that followed.

Charles J. Krauskopf, AB ’53
Joan Miday Krauskopf, AB ’54
Prescott, Ariz.

Ohio University has the finest broadcast journalism school in the country. Take that from one who trained there and has been around the business for nearly 40 years. I fondly recall the many newscasts I did on WOUB. It was that hands-on training, and the persistence of teachers like Archie Greer, that allowed me to get a job at WTVN radio in Columbus right out of college. I remained there for 22 years.

My most frightful moment on WOUB was not my first live broadcast of the big fire on Court Street, but rather one night when I had just finished the 6 p.m. news and the newsroom phone rang. This rather distinguished voice pointed out in no uncertain terms that the institution was to be known only as Ohio University and never as OU. “Yes sir,” I replied as I said good night to then-President Alden! Ah, those were the days, my friends.

Bill Patterson, BFA ’62
Columbus

I was very pleased to read your cover story on WOUB-FM in the fall 2000 issue. The article had special meaning for me since I was one of the many students involved in that first carrier broadcast from the balcony of the auditorium in Ewing Hall.

It also was nice to read about the importance of John Metzger and Archie Greer in the development of the station. I was, however, surprised that there was no mention of Vinnie Jukes. It was my understanding at the time that Jukes was the faculty member responsible for getting the support of the administration in the radio endeavor.

H. Eugene Dybvig, BFA ’47, MFA ’51
Carbondale, Ill.

A helping hand
I enjoyed your article in the fall issue about the Roger Conner family. It brought back a wonderful memory. I was the first casualty of World War II to return to Ohio U. I was starting my sophomore year. I got a call from the McBee Co. asking me to come to talk to employees about my war experiences. They were trying to sell war bonds.

This was where I met Roger Conner and the other officers. Before graduation, I got a call from Roger, who asked me if I had made any plans. We met shortly after that and I joined the company. It was truly a wonderful start for my career in business. I was with McBee about three years. I started my own company in the early ’50s and retired in ’88.

I congratulate Pat Conner Study on her very generous gift in loving memory of her parents. Her dad and the McBee Co. are memories I will never forget.

Jack Bennett, BSC ’45
Lakewood, Ohio

High hopes for daughter
The article “Love 101” in the spring 2000 issue caught my attention. My husband and I both graduated from Ohio U. We met there, and celebrated our 30th anniversary in December. He lived in Lincoln and I lived in Jefferson. I met him in the lounge of Lincoln Hall when my group, Angel Flight, was introducing our Homecoming candidate. Our first date followed on Halloween (no big deal then) and after dating for quite some time, he proposed to me on a bench on the golf course. We married on Dec. 20, 1970, and made Athens our home until 1975.

Our daughter entered Ohio U. in the fall as a freshman. And she is living in Lincoln, just down the hall from where her dad lived. I hope she has as wonderful an experience at OU as we did.

Sally Miner, BSED ’71
Bernie Miner, BSC ’75
Massillon, Ohio

Athletes sparked spirit
To your very colorful fall issue of Ohio Today, let me add some information significant to those of us at Ohio U. in the 1940s.

Frankie Baumholtz did go on to play pro ball. But he will be remembered by many as the very modest heart and soul of the ’41 basketball team, which became the Cinderella team that almost won the Madison Square Garden International Tournament. Frankie was an All-American and MVP at the tournament — and could have been elected president on campus!

Pete Lalich was the great star center on that team and was a joy to watch, as everyone at the Garden — except the officials — will attest. He exuded enjoyment when he played.

I remember Pete best because we were together in the group from Athens and OU that was bused to Parkersburg for our physical exams that would determine eligibility to be drafted. I, at 5 feet 6 inches tall and a mighty 130 pounds, passed. Luckily, my Cleveland draft board allowed me a deferment to complete my senior year.

Pete, at 6 feet plus and at least 50 or 60 pounds heavier, flunked (something about his ears).
We both laughed. Then Pete went on to serve in many other valuable ways.

Harold Stieglitz, BSJ ’42
Roslyn, N.Y.

Another Miss Brown fan
What great memories were brought to mind by the two letters from former students concerning the passing of Lurene Brown, professor emerita of English!
Perhaps I was even more blessed to have been a student of Miss Brown at Lancaster High School in the early ’40s. She really was the consummate teacher — tough, but fair, and did we learn correct grammar!

A few years later, I was a teacher and coach at LHS and thought even more of her as a fellow educator.

To add to my English education at LHS, I also was blessed by having Martha Gesling as a teacher. She later was honored at Bowling Green State University.
While I stayed in education only eight years, I was guided into that career by these two teachers plus a goodly number of others.

Bob Dickey, BSED ’49
Dunedin, Fla.
(1949 J-Prom king)

Golfers have predecessors

The 1971 women’s golf team.

While I am very excited to see the University once again enjoying a women’s golf team, it is not the first women’s team (as reported in the fall 2000 Ohio Today).

There actually was a team at the University when I came here for my master’s work in 1964. In 1966, as a faculty member, I was assigned the coaching position as part of my teaching load.

The budget was so small the student-athletes had to pay most of their own expenses, and we usually were given a station wagon to transport them to events. The men got the majority of the money and “shared” a tiny portion with the women’s intercollegiate sports even though women were already 51 percent of the student population.

The last team I coached, before the program was cut in 1972, was third in the Midwest Women’s Intercollegiate Association tournament played at the University of Minnesota against such teams as Ohio State, Indiana and Minnesota. I was proud to be a part of the lives of those students at that time. They competed at a high level of skill and never had a losing season. One softball team I coached won all 13 games that year, playing both slow and fast pitch.

I hope this illustrates that Ohio University has a rich history of many wonderful alumni who competed without all the luxuries that are available today. If any of you would like to “reconnect,” write to me at 6669 LeMaster Road, Athens, Ohio 45701, or kingj@frognet.net. Thank you for your great efforts.

Joyce King, PHD ’66
Assistant professor emerita,
health and sports sciences
Athens

Success apparent
I was at Ohio University from 1966 to 1968. The inaugural issue of Ohio Today and the subsequent editions are wonderful. Through them, it is easy to see the scope of Ohio University’s successes.

I have been a professor of education since 1994 and also am deputy director of the Institute of Education at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. Kudos to OU, which provided me with a solid foundation for my professional achievements.

Y.A. Jatto, BSED ’68
Zaria, Nigeria

Indicates letter was recieved by e-mail.