Throughout its history, UNMC has offered faculty, staff, and students opportunities to interact outside of offices and labs. Sporting events are one of the most popular ways that UNMC colleagues have fun outside of work.
Tennis is one of the earliest sports embraced by many at UNMC (University of Nebraska College of Medicine before 1968). In the 1910s, the school graded the ground west of Poynter Hall to create three tennis courts. That spring, students measured and marked the lines of the courts in the dirt. They played an inaugural tournament in 1914 in which the winner was awarded a silver loving cup donated by A.C. Stokes, MD, forever known as the "Stokes Trophy." The tennis committee had plans to schedule matches with Bellevue and Omaha University. It is unclear from records whether this dream ever came true.
Basic science instructor John Latta, MD, recalls in his oral history that after joining the faculty in the early 1920s, tennis courts were built west of University Hospital. Dr. Latta played tennis with graduate students after work. In the oral history of basic science instructor Edward Holyoke, MD, Dr. Holyoke remembers that when he joined the faculty in the 1930s, the tennis courts had moved west of Conkling Hall (current site of the Lied Transplant Center). By the 1970s and 1980s, the tennis courts on campus were long gone, but the tennis competition continued. UNMC sponsored leagues for men and women that were played at Miracle Hills. In 1980, the first annual Chancellor's Cup saw competitions in tennis, racquetball and men's squash.
Bowling additionally has been a popular pastime for UNMC employees. While the UNMC campus has never boasted its own lanes, the 1950s were the heyday of UNMC bowling. Phi Rho Sigma, Phi Chi, Alpha Kappa Kappa, nursing students and lab technicians competed in a league at the Forty Bowl. In the late 1950s to early 1960s, the competition ramped up, judging by the creative way the teams incorporated their day jobs into their names: Therapins, Pill Pushers, Strike-o-Paths, White Caps, Therastrikes, Needlers and Budjateers (can't leave out the folks in business and finance). In 1957, the bowling season concluded with a dinner and dance at the Birchwood Club Chuckwagon Room.
In the 1970s, the medical center league bowled at the Ranch Bowl. Also, the Rose Bowl offered free bowling to medical center employees on Sundays. Bowlers consisted of faculty, staff, students, residents and spouses, vying for prize money and a trophy. Who says doctors only play golf?
What about the history on the UNMC football team ?