October 31, 2012 at 1:11 p.m.
Rhinelander's Novotny recalls playing football for Loyola University
Rhinelander's Novotny recalls playing football for Loyola University
Novotny recently reunited with a few of his teammates from Loyola University, which is playing football again after 40-plus years on the sidelines.
Loyola, known in the college sports world as the 1963 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball champions, dropped its formal football team in 1930 at the behest of its administration. The sport came back in club form in 1970 and 1971 before disappearing again.
Novotny was a wide receiver on the 1971 squad, which won the Mid-Central Collegiate Conference title.
"It was in place just for two years, 1970 and '71," he said of Loyola's return to football. "Due to financial concerns, it was disbanded after the '71 season. Travel expenses were very high. We played games anywhere from as far out west as Hutchinson, Kan. to out east to Pittsburgh. The athletic director at the time was George Ireland, whose claim to fame was as the coach of the 1963 NCAA Loyola basketball champions.There was no money that was going to go to football that was coming from the basketball budget."
Earlier this month, Novotny showed off a replica of the conference championship trophy, which he and his teammates passed around like the Stanley Cup, before returning to Loyola earlier this month for the football team's homecoming game.
"The original one, somehow over the years disappeared. So at the 40th reunion, last October, a bunch of guys got together and decided that we needed something else. That trophy was put together with all of our names on it and its been traveling around the country with a bunch of guys," Novotny said.
Novotny joked that, like the Stanley Cup, beverages were likely held inside the trophy at one point or another.
Players on the '70 and '71 teams got together Oct. 13 for the team's homecoming game against The University of Michigan-Flint and reminisced about their time at Loyola. "A lot of the faces are the same, but a lot of the bodies are different," Novotny recalled.
He told one story about Loyola's game against the University of Chicago at Solider Field in 1971 and the famous quarterback that was going to take to the same field the next day.
"The following day, the Chicago Bears were playing the Dallas Cowboys there," Novotny recalled. "After our game, the Cowboys were standing at the other end of the field, waiting to come out to practice. Me, being totally fearless and a little bit stupid, ran down to the other end and up to Roger Staubach, stuck my hand out and said, 'Good luck tomorrow.' I looked up at this big giant of a man who was standing behind him, who was (Hall of Fame offensive lineman) Bob Lilly. He gave me a look like, 'kid, you must be crazy.'"
Football was gone from the suburban Chicago campus until this year. Novotny said members of his team got together to raise more than $70,000 to help resurrect the program.
Back in Rhinelander, Novotny has started his ninth season behind the microphone at the RIA. He is doing public address for the Rhinelander Street Cats of the Midwest Junior Hockey League and will handle the announcements for the majority of this year's Rhinelander High School boys' hockey and Rhinelander/Antigo/Three Lakes girls' hockey games.
"I started when my son (Mike) was a sophomore in high school," Novotny said of his announcing gig. "I just love hockey and have been a hockey fan longer than I've been a football fan. I just love the sport and love being involved in it."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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