FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[voice]

Travis Talton had the "it" factor. The Beloit (Turner High School) native had an outstanding career and signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bears following his Warhawk career.  Travis made a splash at training camp in Platteville.  I remember that Bears' Radio Network color analyst Hub Arkush was very high on Talton's ability and thought he may make the Bears roster that year.  In the end, a serious knee injury incurred by Talton his senior season proved to much to overcome. 

[bleedpurple]

BW- Good addition of George Rainey from the Dub. George followed Mike Miller.  Both Mike and George were very strong, tough and elusive runners. I admit i dont know who preceeded Mike, so from my history the UWW chain of great backs started here.

Going back further, Greg Jones 1966 through 1969.  As far as I know, the only player who started every game for Perk for 4 years.  Drafted by the Denver Broncos.

Vilnis Ezerins was another from that era. Drafted and had a brief, 14 game career with the Los Angeles Rams in 1968.  My memory of him is a bit murky, however.  What do you remember, bp?

I was going to mention him as well.  He was a big, fast dude. Definitely a power runner and a great blocker.  My memory is vague as well, but I just remember him as someone who seemed as big as the linemen back in the day and ran over people. 

[kubiack78]

Travis Talton had the "it" factor. The Beloit (Turner High School) native had an outstanding career and signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bears following his Warhawk career.  Travis made a splash at training camp in Platteville.  I remember that Bears' Radio Network color analyst Hub Arkush was very high on Talton's ability and thought he may make the Bears roster that year.  In the end, a serious knee injury incurred by Talton his senior season proved to much to overcome.

Spot on Voice, I played with TT, If he got the corner on you... forget about it, until that knee injury in 90' against UWL.

[UniqueInsight38]

Adam Kowles -wishbone QB for UW-RF-WSUC Player of the Year in 1995- Very tough, quick, smart, and actually threw the ball quite well

[oshfb]

BW- Good addition of George Rainey from the Dub. George followed Mike Miller.  Both Mike and George were very strong, tough and elusive runners. I admit i dont know who preceeded Mike, so from my history the UWW chain of great backs started here.

Going back further, Greg Jones 1966 through 1969.  As far as I know, the only player who started every game for Perk for 4 years.  Drafted by the Denver Broncos.

Vilnis Ezerins was another from that era. Drafted and had a brief, 14 game career with the Los Angeles Rams in 1968.  My memory of him is a bit murky, however.  What do you remember, bp?

Ron Cardo, who coached the Titans from 1984 - 1999, was drafted by San Fransicso in the 10th round and 236th overall pick as a running back in 1971. I don't see his name in any WIAC records and don't know how long he lasted in the NFL but thought worth noting.

[BoBo]

BW- Good addition of George Rainey from the Dub. George followed Mike Miller.  Both Mike and George were very strong, tough and elusive runners. I admit i dont know who preceeded Mike, so from my history the UWW chain of great backs started here.

Going back further, Greg Jones 1966 through 1969.  As far as I know, the only player who started every game for Perk for 4 years.  Drafted by the Denver Broncos.

Vilnis Ezerins was another from that era. Drafted and had a brief, 14 game career with the Los Angeles Rams in 1968.  My memory of him is a bit murky, however.  What do you remember, bp?

Ron Cardo, who coached the Titans from 1984 - 1999, was drafted by San Fransicso in the 10th round and 236th overall pick as a running back in 1971. I don't see his name in any WIAC records and don't know how long he lasted in the NFL but thought worth noting.

According to THIS Oshkosh archive, Cardo was drafted like you said, but didn't make the regular season roster.

[badgerwarhawk]

Ezerins graduated a couple of years before I got to WHITEWATER.  What little I knew of the WSUC at that time was mostly LaCrosse.  I've seen pictures of him and he does appear to be a big dude. 

A Stoutguy sighting!!  I was begining to think senility had set in and we wouldn't be hearing any more from you SG.    Sorry but I can't make the game of the politically correct tonight.  However what is even more puzzling than how a team improves so much from week one to week 11 is how a team that beats another team by 30 points in their matchup ends up being seeded lower in the same bracket?  Judging by how badly teams from the Mississippi Valley were beaten in the first round of the playoffs I'd hazard a guess that the league wasn't very good this year.  But I didn't see any of them play so I'm just guessing. 

[badgerwarhawk]

Seeing how were in the mentioning running backs mode I'll toss in John Damato and Eddie McKennie.  Damato was a powerful runner for his size and McKennie was lightning quick. 

Another more recently was Colin Burns.  Had he decided to keep playing he'd be all over the record books and I think it's safe to say Justin Beaver wouldn't have had the career that he did.   

[BoBo]

Oshfb,

I was looking at some things about the history of Oshkosh football. Do you know when they picked up the Titan nickname? It seemed like in the early days of Oshkosh Normal they were called the Normalites. Curious what they used for a mascot! 

Also, I was studying the Oshkosh coaches career won-loss record (why? I don't know)  and something struck me.  Wanted to know your opinion.  Robert Kolf coached Oshkosh for 31 years (from '29 - '62 minus a couple years here and there) with 1 championship, 0 runners-up, 2 third places, and a bunch of years somewhere between 4th and 10th place in conference play. With the basketball facility named for him, he seems to be celebrated at UW-O. Is that mainly because of longevity because his coaching won-loss pct. was only 33.8%.  By today's standards, he wouldn't have lasted 31 years with that sort of record (IMO).

[warhawkguard]

When I arrived in 1991 I remember Talton playing years before that when I went into the Army. I swear he was in college like 10 years or so...Anyways, I also remember he really didn't practice much because it aggrevated his knee. I found it odd that the Pros were interested since his knees were so shot. Yeah, he was really fast. So was his receiver brother Anthony. Nice guys though, but I never saw them again after they graduated.

Spencer Johnson had great numbers too, as he was following me through every trap and hole and sweep we ran. Funny fact was I could outsprint him! He was hilarious to be around though. Just a nice guy all around.

Kris, who were our QB's? Dennis Bogaz was it when I was a freshman (21 years old). Who were the two after him that seemed to trade off the job? Nobdoy could nail it down.

[02 Warhawk]

Oshfb,

I was looking at some things about the history of Oshkosh football. Do you know when they picked up the Titan nickname? It seemed like in the early days of Oshkosh Normal they were called the Normalites. Curious what they used for a mascot! 

This will help answer the first part of your question.

[BoBo]

Oshfb,

I was looking at some things about the history of Oshkosh football. Do you know when they picked up the Titan nickname? It seemed like in the early days of Oshkosh Normal they were called the Normalites. Curious what they used for a mascot! 

This will help answer the first part of your question.

duh! I'm such an airhead...should've remembered that.  Sorry 02 

[BoBo]

Kris, who were our QB's? Dennis Bogaz was it when I was a freshman (21 years old). Who were the two after him that seemed to trade off the job? Nobdoy could nail it down.

Was one of them Bryan Pytleski? Or Dan Runaas?

[warhawkguard]

Kris, who were our QB's? Dennis Bogaz was it when I was a freshman (21 years old). Who were the two after him that seemed to trade off the job? Nobdoy could nail it down.

Was one of them Bryan Pytleski? Or Dan Runaas?

Good Gawd ur good!

Indeed, that is the names of the two QB's! Thank you very much! We had such great athletes, a vicious defense, (except for Kubiak) , but our passing game could never get on track it seemed.

[02 Warhawk]

I'm attempting to start something new on my WIAC blog. I'm going to try my best to attend a game at each WIAC football stadium, then do a little write-up on the stadium, the crowd, tailgate scene, etc..I plan on doing possibly two per year, until I get to each staduim.

Since I attended the Oshkosh game when they played Whitewater, I thought that might be a good place to start. I brought along my video camera and TRIED to capture the sights and sounds in and around Titan Stadium. As you'll about to see, it wasn't my best effort, but I'll do better next time.

Part 1 of 8
Oshkosh - J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium