For those of you in Ripon or have been in town during the past few months, you may have seen the new ice skating rink adjacent to downtown and the campus. The rink is located on land owned by the college and is managed by community volunteers including Howard and Bear Hansen (no relation to the Speech professor), Brandon Haas and Craig Tebon. The photo above shows that ice skating is nothing new to campus as two students ca. 1940s skate to class. If you can identify these students, please email me at prellwitza@ripon.edu
Pictured above is Prof. Howard Hansen, '37 (far left) leading a Speech class outside of Lane Library. Prof. Hansen taught from 1955-1964 at Ripon College and established the major in Speech, which is now the Communication Department. Ripon has a lengthy tradition of being strong in speech, forensics and debate. During his tenure, Prof. Hansen continued that tradition while serving as coach of the debate team and developed several outstanding teams. At the time of his death in 1964, he was President of the Wisconsin Speech Association.
Ripon College's commitment to excellence in Speech continues n February 9th, when Ripon will be host the 2010 Forum on Ethics and Oratory with keynote speaker Kathryn Olson presenting on Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
Before Barnes & Noble, before Amazon.com...there was the bookstore. Students shop for books at the beginning of the semester sometime during the late 1960s or 1970s.
Many of the faculty are back on campus putting the finishing touches on their syllabi. Students will arrive this weekend. Monday afternoon students will finish registration in the Storzer Athletic Center. Pictured above is registration during the 1970s in the Old Gym, which was located just south of the Commons.
During the 1940s Ripon had both a men's and women's rifle team. The caption from the 1942 Crimson states: "Because the Ripon College women felt that, due to the war situation, Red Cross work should come first, it was necessary to shift and shorten the women's rifle season. Of the four week period, two weeks were spent studying the parts of the gun and the way in which they should be used as well as sighting and zeroing in the rifles. This left only four practices before the record targets were fired. In spite of this and because of the expert guidance of Captain Steinman, the record firing was well done." Pictured above is Barbara Elsy.
Pictured above are members from the Ripon College Ski Club from around 1950. If you were a member of this club or you can identify any of the individuals in the picture please contact me at prellwitza@ripon.edu
’29 HOMECOMING FLOATS SHOW IMPROVEMENT OVER PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS
The annual Homecoming parade featured by numerous floats of every sort, traveled up and down Watson st. [sic] to a successful close.Led by the Boy Scouts and the local high school band, the parade took ona stirring aspect.
Floats of every description were present.The prize winning floats were submitted by Tracy and Duffie, who took first and second prizes, respectively.
Tracy’s was a burial ground mounted on a truck, which was followed by six men carrying a casket.It bore the inscription, “in memory of Carroll.”Duffie offered a mounted zeppelin which was accompanied by the words, “Take Carroll for a ride.”
Merriman and Lyle were represented byhuge telephones and accompanying signs reading, “Calling Carroll’s bluff.”Bartlett’s “Carroll wedded to de-feet,” was portrayed by a bride and groom.The bride represented Carroll, and the groom whose feet were gigantic, represented defeat.Sanford presented an operating room with Carroll on the operating table.Gore reigned supreme.The inscription was, “Will Carroll pull through?”Parkhurst portrayed “Ripon on Top,” by a huge football mounted on a car.Several girls carrying smaller footballs walking beside and in back of the car.Woodside’s contribution was a gigantic nut cracker bearing the words, “Crack the Carroll jinx.”Smith offered a large reproduction of the little schoolhouse where the Republican party was born.On the roof of the building were the words, “The hunting ground of the Redmen.”
This year’s homecoming float and vehicle decorating contest will take place on Saturday, October 3rd at 11AM in the quads. Stop by to see the floats and stick around to see Ripon take on Carroll at 1PM at Ingalls Field. (Ripon beat Carroll in 1929, 20-6. Go Redhawks!)
For those of you in Ripon or have been in town during the past few months, you may have seen the new ice skating rink adjacent to downtown and the campus. The rink is located on land owned by the college and is managed by community volunteers including Howard and Bear Hansen (no relation to the Speech professor), Brandon Haas and Craig Tebon. 
