- Sports - Janesville Sesquicentennial
-
- [Photograph of Pat DAWSON]
-
- Rivalry: DAWSON was on both sides in Janesville-Beloit
duel
- Tradition.
- It's one word which means so much in sports.
- Just ask Janesville and Beloit. They've been the adversaries
in an athletic rivalry which has so much
- tradition and dates back so far that few alive today remember
when it all began.
- But one who still can speak for both sides is Pat DAWSON,
a former high school and college
- sports standout at Beloit, who came here in 1930 and gave
38 years to Janesville as a teacher, coach of more than a half-dozen
sports, athletic director and recreation director.
- "I have embraced the whole 100 years," DAWSON
said of a rivalry which has indeed covered
- virtually an entire century, seemingly having gotten its
start at the high school level with Beloit's 38-0 football victory
over Janesville in 1895. "And, believe me, the memories
are there."
- "I remember that Janesville was always out to beat Beloit
in football, but had the darnedest time
- trying to do it," recalled DAWSON, himself the
Beloit captain in an astounding 91-3 triumph over Janesville
in 1920. "But in those early years, Beloit had the tradition
and Janesville didn't - and that's always counted for so much."
- As the years have passed, however, Janesville not only has
turned around that tradition against
- Beloit, but has started much of its own. A significant step
was the inception of the Craig-Parker rivalry in 1967, as was
Janesville's pioneer role in producing quality athletics for
girls.
- Although most people trace the upswing in girls' interscholastic
sports to the enactment of Title IX
- legislation just over a decade ago, Janesville was attempting
to bring such competition to the forefront even before World
War II.
- "I fought for girls' sports all my life, and it (the
subject) would come up way back when I'd go to
- the state meetings," DAWSON said of his role
as athletic director for Janesville schools in the 1930s. "But
every time it came up, it would get voted down about 50-1 - simply
on the platform that they (girls' interscholastic sports) would
not make money and we simply couldn't afford to spend tax money
for it."
- Nonetheless, the Girls' Athletic Association got its start
in Janesville in those days, opening the way
- for some interscholastic competition.
- "We'd get together with Watertown, Waukesha and Madison
several times a year for what we'd
- call field days," DAWSON recalled. "We couldn't
call them meets, but we had competition. And, by God, some of
the performances were pretty good."
- Today, of course, the level of girls' interscholastic athletics
has gone beyond good. The program
- in Janesville alone involves eight sports, each of which
leads to a WIAA state tournament.
- "I think 99 out of 100 people today accept the fact
that you've got to spend tax money (for girls,
- as well as boys), whether you like it or not," DAWSON
said. "And I'm tickled to death to see what has happened.
I think the program for girls should be absolutely 100 percent
equal to the boys."
- While working to establish such equality, Janesville has
developed a cross-town athletic rivalry
- which many people consider to be unequaled by anybody. If
nothing else, it has led to unparalleled success in sports such
as basketball, baseball, football, track and wrestling, consistently
giving the city Big Eight Conference title contenders.
- "I think the emphasis that has been built up through
the junior highs and grade-school system has
- given Janesville the strength it has today," DAWSON
observed. "A tradition has been developed that wasn't always
there."
- Nobody knows more about that than DAWSON.
- "Janesville had a rule when I came here (in 1930) that
no kids could go out for athletics until the
- 10th grade," he recalled. "And that was a penalty
right there."
- Consequently, without such restrictions, Beloit was able
to clearly hold the upper hand over
- Janesville in those years. But even Beloit going unbeaten
against Janesville in football 25 consecutive years (1912-1937)
didn't hold down the heat in their incredible rivalry.
- "We never had any animosity between the kids, but at
times the conduct of the crowds got to be
- absolutely outrageous," said DAWSON, specifically
recalling a pre-game football outburst in 1930 that threatened
to bring at least a temporary halt to the rivalry.
- "A letter was drafted (in 1930) that included a proposal
to call things off between the two schools
- for a minimum of two years," said DAWSON, who
was in his first year as Janesville's head football coach at
the time. "But we faced the problem head-on, and since then
conditions have been pretty fair."
- With the work of DAWSON and an athletic program that
stretched back to the seventh grade,
- Janesville finally turned [the] corner toward football success
in 1937. Not only was the Beloit jinx at last beaten with a 14-0
victory at Monterey Stadium that fall, but Janesville shared
its first Big Eight Conference championship in its second season
under Coach Harold REBHOLZ.
- Janesville football teams went on to win four straight times
over Beloit and gain another champion-
- ship in the 1940s under Coach Kenneth KITELINGER,
who later was to succeed DAWSON for a successful 16 years
as athletic director. After that, the numbers began to even up.
- The record now shows that Janesville finished ahead of Beloit
in the Big Eight boys' basketball
- standings nine times in the 1950s, while taking five titles.
It also shows that Janesville's two high schools have won 16
times in their 18-year football series with the Purple Knights
and that Craig boys' basketball teams have beaten Beloit in 14
of their last 16 meetings, truly turning around an old tradition.
-
- [Photograph: The 1937 Janesville Bluebird football team tied
for Big Eight championship with a 6-1 record and beat Beloit
14-0.]
-
- [Photograph: The 1971 Parker High basketball team brought
the WIAA state championship to Janesville. Front row, from left:
Craig BRACE, John BOBZIEN, Mike McGRATH,
John BRIKOWSKI and Ted SCHULER. Middle row, from
left: Coach Bob QUAERNA, Terry RYAN, Greg RUD
and Jeff PAULSON. Top row, from left: Coach Bob MORGAN,
assistant coach Dan MADDEN, Bob LUCHSINGER, Dick
MEIER, sophomore coach Dale BARRY and manager Pat
O'LEARY.]
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