April 15, 1982
A team from Vassar played in the National College Bowl Tournament finals, held in New York City. Originally a popular radio program, the College Bowl—“The Varsity Sport of the Mind”—was broadcast between October 1953 and December 1955. Two four-person teams competed in each 30-minute program, answering questions on topics ranging from literature, history and philosophy to science, the arts and religion. Revived for televison in 1959 by the General Electric Company, the games appeared on Saturdays and Sundays through June of 1970. A team from Vassar defeated Vanderbilt University in the televised GE College Bowl in 1960 and, subsequently defeated by Boston College, finished in second place.
The competition resumed in 1977 under the sponsorship of the Association of College Unions International (ACUI), continuing until 2008. Vassar’s 1982 team consisted of co-captians Steve Storman ’82 and Dave Morris ’82, Charles Sperling ’84, Brian Schick ’83 and David Thaler ’84. In the finals, Vassar defeated Davidson College, but was beaten by the the eventual winner, Rice University, giving the a tie for third plance with the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The Vassar team earned a trophy for reaching the semifinals and $2,500 in scholarship money from TIME Incorporated, the sponsor of the tournament.
Vassar teams reached the national championship round in 1981—finishing in last place with 8 other teams—and again in 1984, when they tied with Princeton for 3th place.
The Miscellany News