March 11, 1920 — Oshkosh lost 14-17 to River Falls in basketball, but the team had a good excuse for their performance. Poor train connections in Hudson forced them to take a sleigh. The drifts become too much for the horses two miles outside of Hudson. The players walked the remaining 10 miles through snow and water to River Falls.

March 12, 1960 — A tradition since the school’s founding in 1871 was broken when Lyceum, a local social fraternity and society, became the Beta Mu Chapter of Sigma Tau Gamma, a national social fraternity. Up onto this point, all school societies had been local in scope. Lyceum was the oldest school social group, founded in 1871 when 12 students united to send out orators to defend liberty. The initiation involved 51 students at Reeve Memorial Union. Later in the day, Oshkosh president Roger E. Guiles gave a brief speech during a banquet program held at the school’s cafeteria.
March 13, 1974 — Students picketed in support of faculty facing layoffs.

March 14, 2003 — The UWO men’s basketball team advanced to the Elite Eight after it defeated Randolph-Macon 53-47 in the D-III “Sweet Sixteen” tournament. Senior All-American and co-conference player of the year Tim Dworak led the team in scoring with 27 points. All the more impressive was that the tournament game was played on the Yellowjackets’ home court. Oshkosh bowed out of the tournament the next day with a 68-53 defeat at the hands of Hampden-Sydney Tigers.

March 15, 1995 — Oshkosh, the defending NCAA D-III baseball champion, lost to Division I power Arkansas, snapping a 20-game winning streak. The streak began in the 1994-1995 season when the Titans won their last 13 contests. After the defeat, the Titans won at least their next four games.

March 16, 1996 — The Oshkosh women’s basketball team won the D-III National Championship, defeating Mount Union 66-50 in front of 4,001 fans at Kolf Sports Center. Shelley Dietz leads the Titans with 20 points, while NCAA Division III Player of the Year Wendy Wangerin chipped in seven. The Titans 31-0 record marks the second time in NCAA Division III women’s history that a team went undefeated in a season, matching Capitol’s 33-0 1995 season. (Ironically, Capitol defeated Oshkosh in the title game.) Coach Kathi Bennett, daughter of former Wisconsin Badger coach Dick Bennett, coached her first national championship team. After the tournament, she is named NCAA D-III Coach of the Year.

March 17, 1979 — Student vandalism occurred on St. Patrick’s Day and 22 students were arrested. As a result of the escalating problems on the holiday, a special committee was created to investigate options. For about 25 years beginning in 1982, the school’s spring break was always scheduled to occur during the week of St. Patrick’s Day.

St. Patrick’s Day revelry got out of hand in 1979 as several thousand students gathered along the strip south of High Avenue, waiting to gain entrance into bars that were already overflowing. By midnight, revelers were stopping traffic, smashing windows and hurling objects. 22 students were arrested, although most of those taken to jail didn’t live in Oshkosh. They had come here for the party after late-night TV host Johnny Carson told his viewers that Oshkosh was the place to be. As a result of the escalating problems on the holiday, a special committee was created to investigate options. For about 25 years beginning in 1982, the school’s spring break was always scheduled to occur during the week of St. Patrick’s Day.

Information provided by UWO Archivist Joshua Ranger