Beaver ‘Legends’ Reunite to Celebrate Trio of League Titles Won in 1975-76
Homecoming celebration features salutes to Beaver football, baseball and men’s basketball teams from 50 years ago
Student-athletes from three championship teams a half-century ago will be honored during the Buena Vista University Homecoming celebration on Sept. 26-27.
The 1975 Boot Hill Bowl football champions will join the 1976 Iowa Conference title winners in men’s basketball and baseball in taking a bow during the Homecoming football game as the Beavers host Simpson College on Peterson Field at J. Leslie Rollins Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
“To have three teams who won titles 50 years ago back on campus to reconnect and celebrate their accomplishments gives Homecoming an even extra special boost,” says Director of Athletics Amy Maier.
The celebration is dubbed, “Legends of ’76: The Champions Reunion.”
“A lot of us knew guys from the other teams. I am good friends with nearly everyone from that Boot Hill Bowl football team, and I knew just as many baseball players on the ’76 team. It was a great era, and it will be good to reconnect while we cheer on the Beavers.”
-Dr. Randy Braden ’76
“This is such a great idea and a wonderful way to welcome back so many Beavers from 50 years ago, although it hardly seems like it could be that long ago!” says Keith Kerkhoff ’77, a Buena Vista University Hall-of-Famer who earned All-American laurels as a defensive tackle. “Not only did the Boot Hill Bowl victory provide memories we will never forget, we were very fortunate to continue those winning ways that year in men’s basketball and baseball. So many of us were closely connected, and several guys played multiple sports.”
One of those multi-sport Beavers is fellow Hall-of-Famer Jeff Trost ’76, who twice earned Iowa Conference Most Valuable Player honors while playing catcher for Coach Jay Beekmann ’42. Trost traded his football spikes for baseball cleats and helped push the Beavers to their league title, which, at the time was the program’s 12th baseball crown.
The Beaver baseball team now has 23 league championships thanks to a pair of titles earned this spring as BVU won both the regular season and the conference tournament.
“I was going to Buena Vista to play baseball, and it was my mom who suggested I try out for the football team. I started out as the seventh-string running back,” he says with a laugh.
Trost was able to play alongside his brother, fellow BVU Hall-of-Famer Steve Trost ’77, and, like his Beaver classmates, earned a ring for one league football title (1972) and a watch for a second conference crown (1973) before winning the Boot Hill Bowl as a senior. He recalls that Beaver baseball players each earned a trophy for winning the league title in the spring of 1976.
Interestingly, Jeff Trost will be on hand for the Homecoming celebration, albeit as an official working during the football game, a position in officiating he’s enjoyed since 1986. Brother Steve Trost will manage the clock from the press box at J. Leslie Rollins Stadium as both remain involved in American Rivers Conference football.
Dr. Randy Braden ’76, who also played two sports at Buena Vista, has worked to gather some of his basketball teammates to celebrate the Golden Anniversary of their Iowa Conference crown. Braden, a Beaver Hall-of-Famer, was part of a conference baseball championship in 1974, then opted to focus solely on basketball, where he helped lead Coach Bernie Wiess’ team to a 17-9 mark as a senior, teaming with Iowa Conference MVP Dr. Phil Maynard ’76 (a BVU Hall-of-Famer) and a host of others, including then-freshman Dan O’Hern ’79, a basketball and baseball Beaver who will be inducted into the BVU Athletics Hall of Fame this year.
“My best memory is that we won the league championship outright with a victory at Wartburg in the last game of the regular season,” Braden said. “We were a bit undersized in many of our games, but Coach Weiss taught us such good defensive fundamentals and kept us balanced on the offensive end.”
The loop title was the program’s third of what is now 19 conference championships in men’s basketball.
Braden, like his teammates, is excited to be back on campus to share memories of their times together as they came of age while winning titles.
“A lot of us knew guys from the other teams,” he said. “I am good friends with nearly everyone from that Boot Hill Bowl football team, and I knew just as many baseball players on the ’76 team. It was a great era, and it will be good to reconnect while we cheer on the Beavers.”
Beaver Legends of ’76 are invited to attend a breakfast reception and program that includes an induction of Cornerstone Guard members (those who graduated from BVU in 1975) at the renovated Cobblestone Ballroom in Lakeside at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27.
Two special tents will be erected in Alumni Alley immediately north of the north end zone on Peterson Field for the Homecoming game. Those tents are reserved for Cornerstone Guard and members of the championship teams of 1975-76. The tables and chairs will be set, just roll your cooler into the game as those who register will have a lanyard for free admission to the game and tailgate. Alumni admission is covered; regular gate fees apply for family members and friends.
For information or to RSVP, please check https://www.bvu.edu/homecoming/alumni. You may also email alumni@bvu.edu or call the BVU Office of Alumni Engagement at 712.749.2101.