Budweiser and Miller’s bygone stake in Eph athletics – The Williams Record
Miller and Budweiser competed for space on the sports page. (Photo courtesy of Henry Hilton.) The year is 1982 and the old Lasell pool stands are packed. It seems like the entirety of campus has decided to show up for the club water polo game against Amherst. Why? Certainly not to watch high-level water polo. […]
Miller and Budweiser competed for space on the sports page. (Photo courtesy of Henry Hilton.)
The year is 1982 and the old Lasell pool stands are packed. It seems like the entirety of campus has decided to show up for the club water polo game against Amherst. Why? Certainly not to watch high-level water polo. According to Will Andrew ’86, one of the day’s starters, almost none of the team members had ever played the sport before joining the team.
The reason was simple: alcohol. “[The team] put a keg up in the stands of the little old pool that they had at the time and everybody told everybody,” Andrew said. “So there were probably 50 people, but it looked like the place was rocking.”
According to Andrew, the team went on to win with 17 goals, nine of which he scored.
A four-inch by four-inch box in the following week’s Record commemorates both Andrew’s performance and the widespread hangovers the next morning. The box featured a picture of Andrew surrounded by the Budweiser crest and the message “Will, this bud’s for you.”
The “Budweiser ‘King of Beers’ Athlete of the Week” was an institution at the Record during the 1980s, highlighting the exceptional play of one student athlete each week. For every issue, a new athlete would be selected by the sports editors and a short blurb would highlight their success.
“It was actually a fairly easy process,” recalled John Clayton ’85, a former sports editor and later the editor-in-chief of the Record. “If someone scores three touchdowns or 30 points in a basketball game or a couple of hat tricks, that person is sort of the MVP.”
While the overt marketing of alcohol to 18 to 22-year-olds may seem unusual today, it was a product of its time, Clayton explained. “Alcohol was a much bigger factor in campus life than I think it is now,” he said.
In Clayton’s opinion, the social importance of alcohol was driven by a number of factors. “Marijuana was illegal, so in terms of party aides, alcohol was really it,” he said. Also, because the drinking age at the time was 20, juniors and seniors were of age. “Because it was a sort of half-and-half thing, there was a lot more tolerance of, for example, advertising alcohol in the paper,” Clayton said.
Alcohol companies knew about beer’s hold on the College. “With beer being such a big factor in student life, the beer companies wanted to harness that,” Clayton said.
Two companies made a hoppy splash on the pages of the Record: Miller and Budweiser. “I mean, it was sort of a duopoly with these two huge companies,” Clayton said.
The two firms competed fiercely. Budweiser and Miller fought tooth and nail to promote their productto the student body. To accomplish this goal, they waged a war of soft power from the inside out.
“They hired these campus reps … who tended to be big partiers on campus who would always be drinking Budweiser, and so it was sort of cool to be drinking Budweiser,” Clayton said.
If Budweiser had campus representatives, you can bet that Miller had them too. John Schafer ’87, Clayton’s colleague at the Record, hada Junior Advisor who was one of these representatives. “My JA [Paul Meeks ’85], was the Miller rep on campus,” Schafer said. “He had an illuminated Miller [sign] they put on this window that you’d see [from] a long way away.”
These representatives were staples of the community. “[Meeks was a] big time athlete: charming, he played football and lacrosse,” Schafer said. “He was funny and he was charismatic and that’s why Miller tapped him to be [their] rep.”
Despite having Meeks in its corner, Miller was up against tough competition. As Clayton recalled, Budweiser was generally considered to be the cooler beer.
A key way that the Budweiser reps sustained this reputation was the “Budweiser Athlete of the Week” title. Schafer recalls that the Budweiser reps pitched the concept to the Record and were responsible for making it work. “They passed a little bit of money [to the Record] to run it,” he explained.
“In Budweiser’s mind, the ‘Athlete of the Week’ ad was part of that victory [over Miller], because it was an incredibly popular feature in the paper,” Clayton said.
This designation meant something to the athletes, too. “You’d be sitting with the other folks on the team and say, ‘Well I’m the ‘Athlete of the Week’ … I get to sit at the head of the table,’” Andrew remembered.
Andrew is not the only athlete who recalled the pride associated with winning the title. “The [‘Athlete of the Week’]distinction came the same time that I was featured in the April 1988 edition of Sports Illustrated for being the first Black All-American in squash,” Wendell Chestnut ’88 said. “It was sort of like that 15 minutes of fame scenario.”
Faced with such a strong form of advertisement, Miller tried to strike back on the same page of the paper. “Miller was really jealous of [Budweiser’s dominance],” Clayton said. “And, during my time, Miller actually started a competing ad campaign … the Miller High Life scoreboard.”
The scoreboard was similar to the scores the Record currently features at the top of the sports page, except it almost exclusively highlighted wins for the College. This warm and fuzzy feeling that Miller was trying to evoke was meant to distract from Budweiser’s sponsorship of the “Athlete of the Week” column.
Despite the aggressive move, the Miller reps’ efforts were not enough to oust the “King of Beers” from its on-campus throne. “Because it was a scoreboard, [and because] it wasn’t focused on individuals, it didn’t seem to me that it was really drawing the same appeal that the ‘Athlete of the Week’ did,” Clayton said.
As the 1980s came to a close and the real Cold War fizzled out, the College’s cold beer war also went the way of the dinosaur. “In the late 1980s, when the drinking age went up to 21, those policies [of tolerance towards drinking] really changed,” Clayton said.
While alcohol is by no means gone from the College, its institutionalization in columns such as the Miller Scoreboard and the “Budweiser Athlete of the Week,” has been lost to time. By the 1990s, the title had been officially changed to simply “Athlete of the Week.”
As the influence of Miller and Budweiser has faded, the true meaning of the “Athlete of the Week” still shines through. “You knew Budweiser was a beer and Miller was a beer, but it was more the fact that it was the athlete of the week … You were more focused on the person and the sport,” Chestnut said.
Autumn Smith Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications Louisiana Tech women’s basketball’s Autumn Smith was selected as one of 10 recipients for the Conference USA Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship, as announced by the league office on Thursday. Smith recently graduated from Louisiana Tech with her bachelor’s in biology with a pre-med concentration while maintaining a […]
Louisiana Tech women’s basketball’s Autumn Smith was selected as one of 10 recipients for the Conference USA Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship, as announced by the league office on Thursday.
Smith recently graduated from Louisiana Tech with her bachelor’s in biology with a pre-med concentration while maintaining a 3.54 GPA. She is a four-time CUSA Honor Roll recipient and a 2021-22 CUSA Academic Medalist. She plans to continue her education in a physician’s assistant program.
The Arlington, Texas, native is a four-year member of the Lady Techsters and appeared in 82 games. She shot 34.4 percent from the field and 32.6 from long range for her career. She had a career-high 15 points on 5-6 shooting from three in a win over Central Baptist on December 19 during her senior year.
This marks the 17th year the award has been named after Dr. Jim Castañeda, who served Rice for 46 years as an educator, coach and Faculty Athletics Representative before he passed in 2008. Every season, CUSA grants a $4,000 scholarship to distinguished graduates selected by the league’s Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Conference USA Board of Directors.
2025 Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients Mathys Lefebvre, FIU, Men’s Soccer Hannah Buffington, Jax State, Softball Tianna Rivera, Kennesaw State, Women’s Soccer Taiva Reinertson, Liberty, Women’s Lacrosse Autumn Smith, LA Tech, Women’s Basketball Kendall Maynard, MTSU, Women’s Golf Elizabeth Cervantes-Vanderlugt, NM State, Swimming Jaylen Phillips, Sam Houston, Football Ema Uskokovic, UTEP, Volleyball/Beach Volleyball Brooke Sleeva, WKU, Women’s Soccer
Dragovic Selected to Represent Montenegro at U20 World Championship
After an impressive freshman season with UC Santa Barbara’s Men’s Water Polo team, Danilo Dragovic has been selected to represent Montenegro at the World Aquatics U20 World Championship in Croatia. This marks another achievement for the Gauchos, as he joins fellow player Dom Brown who debuted for Team USA earlier this year. Dragovic’s first match […]
After an impressive freshman season with UC Santa Barbara’s Men’s Water Polo team, Danilo Dragovic has been selected to represent Montenegro at the World Aquatics U20 World Championship in Croatia. This marks another achievement for the Gauchos, as he joins fellow player Dom Brown who debuted for Team USA earlier this year. Dragovic’s first match will be against reigning champions Hungary on June 14, followed by a game against host Croatia and then Team USA. The tournament runs through June 21, with all matches live streamed.
By the Numbers
34 steals, 35 goals, and 35 assists in the season for Dragovic, making him the Gauchos’ third-highest scorer.
Recorded nine points across four games against top teams including UCLA, USC, and Stanford.
Yes, But
While Dragovic’s selection highlights his talent, there could be pressure as he faces elite international teams, which may test his skills further and impact Montenegro’s overall performance.
State of Play
Montenegro will open its championship campaign against Hungary on June 14.
Dragovic’s performance will be closely watched after a notable collegiate season.
What’s Next
Following group stage matches, Montenegro aims to advance to playoff rounds from June 17-20, with hopes for a strong performance leading to the finals on June 21.
Bottom Line
Dragovic’s representation at the U20 World Championship is a significant milestone, showcasing not only his individual talent but also elevating the profile of UC Santa Barbara’s water polo program on an international stage.
UIL Legislative Council to consider new sports, playoff changes during Wednesday meeting | Beeville Bee-Picayune
The University Interscholastic League’s Legislative Council is set to meet Wednesday, June 11, in Austin, where proposals to sanction new sports, implement a basketball shot clock, and alter playoff rules will take center stage. The all-day meeting will be held at the Westin Austin at the Domain, beginning at 8 a.m. with a business session […]
The University Interscholastic League’s Legislative Council is set to meet Wednesday, June 11, in Austin, where proposals to sanction new sports, implement a basketball shot clock, and alter playoff rules will take center stage.
The all-day meeting will be held at the Westin Austin at the Domain, beginning at 8 a.m. with a business session followed by a public hearing featuring scheduled presentations from leaders of athletic organizations and public stakeholders. Speakers are expected to advocate for changes ranging from eligibility rules to the expansion of UIL activities.
Among the most prominent proposals is the addition of new UIL-sanctioned sports. Boys volleyball, girls flag football, bowling, table tennis, and lacrosse are among the activities being pitched, along with cultural and performance programs like Ballet Folklórico and TDEA dance.
The athletic committee, scheduled to meet later in the day, will take up a series of proposals including the formal adoption of a shot clock for basketball, the creation of a Class 3A soccer division, and removal of pilot status from the water polo program. Other proposals include allowing instant replay in all playoff games, setting a mileage cap for travel in postseason contests, and modifying rules around off-campus PE participation.
The committee will also hear staff reports related to sportsmanship, playoff structure, and pilot program evaluations. Though the public hearing allows outside input, the committee’s business meeting does not accept external presentations unless clarification is needed by committee members.
Additional proposals address player eligibility, including the impact of school transfers and student grade retention as well as coaching certification and playoff seeding formats. One proposal would give home field advantage in the first round of playoffs to all district champions.
Final decisions on which proposals move forward to the full council are expected by day’s end.
Nine Wildcats Ready for National Championship Stage
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The K-State track and field teams wrap up the 2024-25 season with nine Wildcats competing in the four-day NCAA Championship starting on Wednesday (June 11) at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The first two days of the meet will be streamed on ESPN, the final two days on ESPN2. Each individual event […]
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The K-State track and field teams wrap up the 2024-25 season with nine Wildcats competing in the four-day NCAA Championship starting on Wednesday (June 11) at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The first two days of the meet will be streamed on ESPN, the final two days on ESPN2. Each individual event can be streamed separately on ESPN+.
Six women and three men will compete across ten individual events after earning a qualifying spot at the NCAA West Preliminary on May 28-31. Featured women include Sharie Enoe (high jump), Jourdin Edwards and Safhia Hinds (400 meter hurdles), Monique Hardy (hammer throw), Tamaiah Koonce (discus throw) and Shalom Olotu (long, triple jump). The three participating men include Riley Marx (javelin throw), Selva Prabhu (triple jump) and Emil Uhlin (men’s decathlon).
With the men’s first day of competition on Wednesday, the men’s decathlon will kick off at 2 p.m., CT with the 100 meter dash. The following events include the long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 meters. Marx will compete in the javelin throw that afternoon at 7:15 p.m.
On Thursday (June 12) the men’s decathlon will wrap up with the remaining five events starting at 11:45 a.m., CT with the 110 meter hurdles. The women will then start their first day of action, the hammer throw beginning at 3:30 p.m., the long jump at 7:40 p.m. and the quarterfinal 400 meter hurdles race at 8:14 p.m.
Prabhu will be the only Wildcat to compete on Friday (June 13) in the triple jump at 7:10 p.m., CT. On the final day of competition on Saturday (June 14) the women will start at 2:30 p.m., CT in the discus throw. The remaining Cats hit the field at 7:30 p.m. in the high jump and the triple jump, at 8:10 p.m. Should Edwards or Hinds finish in the top-9 on Thursday, the 400 meter hurdles final will take place at 9:27 p.m.
Olotu is the first K-State woman in 10 years, since Akela Jones, to compete in two events individually at the outdoor NCAA Championship. In 2015, Jones won the women’s heptathlon with 6,371 points and then went on to finish 4th in the high jump at 1.87m (6′ 1 ½”). Olotu reached the highest stage in two events after significant personal bests at the West Preliminary, 6.44m (21′ 1 ½”) in the long jump, the no. 4 best outdoor mark at K-State, and 13.45m (44′ 1 ½”) in the triple jump.
Uhlin, a senior from Falun, Sweden will compete in his second NCAA Championship decathlon. During his freshman season in 2022 he earned Second Team All-America honors after finishing in 12th place with 7,546 points. At the Drake Relays Uhlin recorded his best decathlon performance at 7,788 points, the no. 6 best score in the K-State records.
This is the first outdoor championship appearance for eight Wildcats, Enoe and Hardy have previously competed in the indoor championship in the high jump and weight throw, respectively. The outdoor Big 12 championship on May 15-17 propelled the athletes to personal bests, the momentum leading them to qualifying marks.
Hinds, this season’s 400-meter hurdles Big 12 Champion, is looking for her first NCAA title. A transfer from South Plains College, she claimed the NJCAA title in the same event last year in 58.31 seconds and was part of a winning 4×400 relay team in 2023. Her conference title winning time of 55.90 seconds remains her fastest time and the no. 2 best in the school records.
Enoe is looking to add to her trophy case this season as she earned First Team All-America honors in the high jump this indoor season, consistently aiming towards her best height of 1.88m (6′ 2″). Advancing past the Preliminary’s for the first time, Hardy’s personal best of 68.07m (223′ 4″) in the hammer throw claimed 3rd place in the conference meet.
Prabhu, the freshman from Madurai, India, arrives in Eugene with the 3rd best triple jump in the NCAA this season at 16.49m (54′ 1 ¼”). His personal best earned him the runner-up spot during the West Prelims and the no. 3 spot in the K-State outdoor records. Marx threw over 70 meters three times this season, including his personal best of 72.58m (238′ 1″) for 4th place during the Prelims, the no. 2 best throw in the K-State records.
Edwards saw steady progress in the 400 meter hurdles during the postseason, racing under 57 seconds for the first time during the Preliminary semifinal race in 56.73 seconds to finish 7th overall. Koonce had her best performance of the season in the discus throw as the 6th place finisher in the Prelims at 55.99m (183′ 8″), just six inches shy of her personal best from last season.
How to follow the ‘Cats: For complete information on the K-State Track and Field and Cross Country Teams, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team’s social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.
Lee Wood named WKU Director of Cross Country and Track and Field
WKU Athletics named Lee Wood as the Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Monday morning, filling the gap on the Hill left by the sudden passing of Brent Chumbley on Jan 30. Wood has served as interim head coach since the position opened, leading the Hilltopper men’s team to a fifth-place finish in the 2025 […]
WKU Athletics named Lee Wood as the Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Monday morning, filling the gap on the Hill left by the sudden passing of Brent Chumbley on Jan 30.
Wood has served as interim head coach since the position opened, leading the Hilltopper men’s team to a fifth-place finish in the 2025 Conference USA Outdoor Championship, their best finish since 2019.
“We are excited to name Lee Wood our next Director of Cross Country/Track & Field,” said WKU Athletics Director Todd Stewart in a press release. “Coach Wood guided the program admirably this spring following Coach Chumbley’s passing.”
Wood ran for Missouri Southern from 1998 to 2000 before transferring to the University of Arkansas, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Education with a concentration in Kinesiology and Exercise Science. He later obtained a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
“It is a great honor to be the next Director of Cross Country and Track and Field at WKU,” Wood. “This team has had a great amount of success and winning tradition in the past, and I’m ready to build on the foundation that has been set.”
Wood began his coaching career with 12 years of experience at the 7A high school level, winning seven state championships with Rogers High School and Heritage High School in Arkansas. He was scooped up by Western Colorado University, an NCAA Division II school, where he spent the first five years of his collegiate coaching career.
Before arriving on the Hill in December of 2023 to lead the WKU Cross Country and distance teams, Wood served as head coach at Drury University. As a Panther, he led over 70 athletes to break school records, leading the women’s team to their highest conference finish in program history.
Miles Grant aims for high jump success at NCAA Nationals
Miles Grant is the only Hornet who qualified for the NCAA Track and Field Championships. SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Miles Grant is the definition of setting a goal and achieving it. “In my goal sheet, I had written that I wanted to go to Nationals,” said Grant. “So it feels really good to be able to […]
Miles Grant is the only Hornet who qualified for the NCAA Track and Field Championships.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Miles Grant is the definition of setting a goal and achieving it.
“In my goal sheet, I had written that I wanted to go to Nationals,” said Grant. “So it feels really good to be able to accomplish something.”
The graduating senior out of Sacramento State University is the only member on the track and field team to qualify for the upcoming NCAA Championships this weekend, where he’ll be competing in high jump.
“This will be my last collegiate meet, so I think enjoyment is the most important thing,” said Grant. “And just representing who I am and where I’m coming from. I’ll definitely feel some nerves, but you get that feeling in your chest and it’s like an elevating kind of feeling and it helps me when I’m high jumping.”
Behind every great athlete is a great coach, and for Miles, that’s coach Carl Caughell.
“We’ve become friends over the course of four years,” said Grant. “It makes it that much more exciting to travel and get to spend time with him while we’re traveling and competing.”
It’s safe to say that Miles has left an indelible mark on this team.
“I know all my teammates names,” said Grant. “I always try to say hi to them when I see them, just that small bit has made an impact on my team.”
Miles can clear 7 feet and 2 1/2 inches, which is high enough to clear Shaquille O’Neal. And funny enough, he already has a marketing pitch for the big guy.
“My girlfriend, who’s also on the team, she’s always talking about you need to do an ad with Shaq where you jump over him. He turns around hands you a Red Bull, and we turn to the camera and say ‘Red Bull gives you wings.'”
Grant takes off for Eugene, Oregon, where the championships will be held on Tuesday, and he’s set to jump on Friday.
Northern California track star Naiaja Sizemore wins two gold medals at CIF State Championships
