Blue Devil track and field history goes back to at least 1909

MENOMONIE (January 7, 2021) - The beginnings of the UW-Stout track and field programs are a little difficult to, well, track down. (Pun intended)

The first mention of a track and field team at Stout comes in the 1909 Tower, the first year that Stout's annual yearbook was published. But it's hard to imagine that several students of the Stout Manual Training School did not participate in some form of track and field before that. The school made attempts to start football as early as 1906, and fielded a basketball team in 1907, although there are references to previous teams.

Track had a golden (actually silver) history in the early 1900s as Menomonie High School produced an Olympic double silver medal winner at the 1904 Olympic Games that were held in St. Louis, Mo.

Frank Waller, a Menomonie resident, matriculated to the University of Wisconsin to pursue a career in music. But Waller was also light on his feet, excelling for the Badger track and field team as a sprinter. Waller would go on to win a pair of silver medals at the Olympics in St. Louis, finishing second in the 400 meters and the 400-meter hurdles. Did that local fame rub off on Stout? We don't know.

The 1909 Tower yearbook, the first year the tome was published, mentioned a call for "Track and Field Work" on page 114, after a story about the basketball team and before a story about the baseball team. This made mention of sprints, distance runs, jump events and throwing events. Later stories in the Tower referred to long distance events, including an intercity race between Menomonie and Eau Claire, that traversed the 28 miles between the two cities.

The track and field team appeared to officially begin with the 1916 team when Stout hosted River Falls and La Crosse in separate meets in late May at the fairgrounds.

TRACK AND FIELD WORK
1909 Tower

Some members of the junior and senior classes have organized a track and field team which at present promises great credit to our athletics.

The boys have been training for this occasion and everyone shows that he has a reason for entering this contest.

The entries consist of the following:
Chas. Beardsley, captain.
H.P. Gerger, manager

100 yard dash - Charles Beardsley (Jr)
220 yard dash - Charles Beardsley (Jr)
220 yard dash - Dick Coram (Jr)
High hurdles - Charles Vanderhoof (Jr)
Low hurdles - Ray Abercrombie (Jr)
1/2 mile run - Harvey VIckers (Jr)
1/2 mile run - Hank Gerber (Jr)
1/2 mile run - Charles Kavanaugh (Jr)
1/2 mile run - Henry Schaefer (Jr)
1 mile run - Otis Wheeler (Jr)

Broad jump - Miles Foster (Jr)
High jump - Frank Bekman (Jr)
Pole vault - Lauren Shove (Jr)
Pole vault - Miles Foster (Jr)
Hammer - Id Davis (Jr)
Shot - Grant Bonell (Sr)
Shot - Miles Foster (Jr)
Discus - Miles Foster (Jr)
Discus - Id Davis (Jr)
1 mile relay team - Charles Beardsley, Frank Beckman, Hank Gerber, Henry Schaefer

EDITOR'S NOTE: Stout at this time was a two-year school and students were referred to as juniors and seniors

The track emphasis changed by the time the team was mentioned again in the 1912 edition of the Tower.

"A cross country relay race, between the combined force of The Stout Institute, Menomonie High School and Dunn County Agricultural School against the Eau Claire, Wisconsin, YMCA, has been scheduled for May 11th," read the 1912 Tower in a article entitled "Track-Cross Country Team. "The course is laid over the main road between Menomonie and Eau Claire, a distance of 28 miles. Fourteen men from the three schools are expected to enter the race, each running two miles.

"Earl Condie has been elected to captain the team after it has been selected and every day after school, he, with a squad of athletes can be seen starting from the "gym" to take a two or three mile run through the streets of the city.

"Besides captain Condie, Tinker, H. Nelson, Heiden, Fullery, Milliren, Tapper, Frazier and Jenney, all are working hard to make the team and after the tryouts, to be held May 3rd, we will probably see most of their names on the list of those to be in the race on May 11th. "

According to an article in the May 9, 1912, issue of the Dunn County News, the race was to begin at the Stout Gymnasium and conclude at the "boy's entrance to the YMCA building" in Eau Claire, with each runner spanning two miles of the relay. 

The following week, the Dunn County News reported the Menomonie team won the "intercity relay." Menomonie held a wide lead with four miles remaining, so much of a lead that the timer in the trailing automobiles could not record the lead time.

"Nelson, the 12th man, made a fine showing, keeping up a strong pace and finishing well to the advantage of Menomonie's lead. His time was about 12 minutes. 

"By this time the Menomonie runners were so far ahead of the Eau Claire runners that it was impossible from the car in which the watch was held behind the rear man to take the time of the leaders as they finished the relay. When Nelson retired the total time from Menomonie was about 2 hours, 21 minutes and 30 seconds.

Condie would finish the race for Menomonie. "Condie came down strong between the crowds and made a beautiful finish."

"There was a great interest all along the route, farmers at many points turning out to see the runners and cheer them as they passed."

The story in the News reported that Condie finished the race at 6:21 p.m., while the Eau Claire team finished at 6:30 p.m. Instead of a baton, the runners handed off a slip of paper from Menomonie mayor Mathews to Eau Claire mayor JB Fleming, which read: "Dear Sir: If Menomonie wins the intercity relay race today congratulations will be in order; if Eau Claire wins, the same are hereby tendered to you. Respectfully yours, JR Matthews, Mayor."

Both the 1913 and 1914 editions of the Tower referred to the intercity race. Eric Stoneman was selected as the captain for the 1913 run. Eau Claire won the race, but the Tower reports "We were defeated, but it later developed that our defeat was the result of Eau Claire stationing her men wrong and running 15 men on the same course that we ran 14. It has passed into athletic history, however, and is there recorded as a defeat which we sustained."

An inter-class track and field meet was scheduled for Friday, May 30, 1913.

"When the last race had been run and when the points had been totaled, it was found that the Juniors had won the meet with a total of 59 points to the Seniors' 50 points. The Seniors consoled themselves, however, with the fact that Brunkow, one of their number, captured individual honors with a total of 22 points. Valaska, a Junior, was second with 10 points, while Mayo and Van Duzee, both juniors, were tied for third place with 17 points each. Let's hear of some broken records next year."
 

There is no mention of a track and field team in the Tower again until the 1917 Tower carries an article about the 1916 team. The story referred to two inter-class meets held both indoors and outdoors before Stout took on River Falls at the Fairgrounds, in what could very well be Stout's first intercollegiate track and field meet. Stout also competed against La Crosse that season.

"The first track meet was held at the fair grounds with River Falls on Saturday, May 13. The day was anything but favorable, a steady drizzle of ran falling almost all day. The result of this meet was two-fold; first, it gave Stout the victory and the cup by a score of 85-41; second, it created an excellent feeling of sportsmanship between the two schools."

The May 17, 1916, Stoutonia reads "The first track meet ever held at Stout will be recorded in annals of our school history as a decisive victory for the Institute team over the River Falls team by a score of 85-41."

Future Stout Hall of Famer William Lampert led Stout with points and was awarded a fountain pen, a donation from one of the business men for winning individual honors. 

"One week after the River Falls meet, we met La Crosse," read the Tower. "The weather was ideal. In the various events, the time was a great deal better than in the previous meet. The resistance offered by the Stout team was somewhat of a surprise to the La Crosse men. The meet was close from start to finish, La Crosse winning the cup by a margin of fourteen points."

The May 24, 1916, edition of the Stoutonia (which was selling for one cent), referred to the La Crosse meet as "the fastest and most exciting track and field meet ever held in Menomonie."

The story also calls the season Stout's first track and field team.

"In this first season in track work, Stout has manifested her ability to put out a track team that ranks with the best Normal School teams in the state. With nearly every man returning next year, the prospects for the best team in the state are most encouraging, if not most certain."