Time Machine: Coe & the College Bowl

'GE College Bowl” was a popular TV game show that aired Sunday afternoons from 1958 to 1970 on CBS and then NBC.

The show featured teams of students from two colleges or universities competing to see who could answer the most questions. The winning team received scholarships and could continue to appear for up to five times.

In November 1964, Cedar Rapids' Coe College was invited to send a team to New York City to compete on Feb. 28, 1965. The team's expenses and entertainment were paid for by the show.

WHO GETS TO GO

In late December, about 150 Coe students began taking a series of tests over a five-week period to see who could be on the team.

The field was narrowed to eight students in January by three Coe judges - Lynn Engdahl, the college's forensic coach; John Murray, chairman of the history department; and Clark Antes, Coe's public relations director.

The eight students watched the TV show on Sunday afternoons, matching their wits against those appearing on television.

On Feb. 2, Antes announced the final four who'd go to New York City - Alison Shepherd of Ames, a senior and team captain; Paul Roberts, a junior from Skokie, Ill.; Tony Pordes, a freshman from New London, Conn.; and Rudy Drost, a senior from Chicago.

Drost also was an all-conference football player who'd played on Coe's Midwest Conference championship team in the fall of 1964.

Coe senior Dean Myers of Grundy Center was selected as an alternate.

PREPERATION

Part of the preparation was a Feb. 10 match between the four students and four Coe faculty members in the Coe auditorium.

The faculty team was English instructor Sheila Blanchard; Joseph Kasper, chairman of the physics department; Albert Schmidt, associate professor of history; and John Walker, college chaplain and assistant professor of philosophy and religion.

The students lost to the faculty, 470-265.

From all the questions about emperors, geography, mythology and literature, only four stumped both teams.

One of those was 'What do the following men have in common - Stephen Phelps, James Marshall and Samuel B. McCormick?” The answer: 'They were all presidents of Coe.”

Another stumper occurred when Engdahl, the moderator, asked a student to stand and play a musical selection on an instrument. When the student finished, Engdahl asked what instrument the student was playing. (It was the cornet.)

headed for NEW YORk

The four students, accompanied by Engdahl and Antes, left for New York from the Cedar Rapids airport on Feb. 28, a Friday afternoon.

The Gazette informed readers that team captain Shepherd 'followed a custom of her grandfather, Cedar Rapids' Dr. Fred Murray ... (in making) Coe beneficiary of her flight insurance.”

The group checked in at the Savoy Plaza Hotel and immediately began to explore the city, walking 16 blocks to Times Square. By then, they were feeling the March cold and wanted to take a taxi back. That's when they discovered how difficult it can be to hail a cab in New York City. They were nearly back to the hotel before they could get one to stop.

On Saturday, the group split up. Some went to art galleries, and the rest explored the United Nations, Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. They all went to a Broadway play Saturday night.

PREP TIME

At noon Sunday, the Coe team met its opponent from Oregon's Portland State, the reigning champion that was back for it fourth appearance.

The two teams gathered in an NBC conference room. They listened to moderator Robert Earle explain the rules and give such tips as, 'If you think you're going to know the answer, press the buzzer and take a chance.”

The teams practiced for 45 minutes. The Coe team, at first nervous, gained confidence.

After a lunch break, another hour-and-a-half of questioning ensued while the show's crew tested equipment.

A makeup session was followed by two brief practice sets and then a full dress rehearsal with cameras.

THE MATCH

The half-hour telecast started at 4:30 p.m.

The Coe team started strong, jumping to a 95-0 lead. The first half ended with Coe ahead, 120-90.

The seasoned Portland team rebounded, however, and Coe lost 345-175.

'The college was pleased with the team's performance,” coach Engdahl said. 'Despite the pressure, the team was poised and ran up a score more than three times the total of the two previous teams that had met the Portland group.”

Coe took home a $500 prize from General Electric.

RETURN FLIGHT

The team members caught a flight home immediately after the telecast. When they arrived in Cedar Rapids, they were welcomed at the airport by a crowd of Coe students, faculty and Cedar Rapidians.

What few knew until after the College Bowl was over was that Shepherd's mother and sister had been evacuated from Saigon to Bangkok on Feb. 13, when the war was ramping up in Vietnam. They waited there until her father's tour of duty was over in June. Shepherd's father, Geoffrey Shepherd, an agricultural economist and professor at Iowa State University, was an adviser for the Vietnamese government.

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