BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University Athletics Hall of Fame will welcome six new members this evening (Oct. 7). The official induction ceremony will take place in the grand ballroom of BGSU’s Bowen-Thompson Student Union. The social hour begins at 6:00 p.m., with dinner served at 7:00 p.m. and the program starting shortly thereafter.
In addition, the class will be introduced at halftime of Saturday’s (Oct. 8) BGSU-Ohio football game at Doyt Perry Stadium. The game begins at 6:00 p.m., and is designated as Hall of Fame Night.
Tickets for the dinner are $35 ($30 for Varsity BG members), and advanced reservations are required. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Falcon Club office at (419) 372-7063, but you’d better hurry. Football game tickets can be purchased through the ticket office by phone, at 1-877-BGSUTICKET, or on the web at www.BGSUFalcons.com.
The public is invited to attend the induction dinner.
The following is the sixth in a six-part series that takes a look at this year’s class of inductees…
BILL REGNIER (football, wrestling; 1963-64)
A graduate of Toledo Whitmer H.S., Regnier earned two letters in wrestling at BGSU, where he was third in the MAC meet at 147 pounds at both a junior and senior. He also won one letter in football for the Falcons. Regnier earned a bachelor’s degree in 1964, and received his master’s in 1966 from BGSU.
Immediately after earning his master’s, Regnier began his coaching career at Bedford (Mich.) High School, beginning a 41-year career at the school that continues to this day. Regnier’s tenure includes 30 years as head wrestling coach, 31 coaching football and the last 10 as the school’s Director of Athletics.
Regnier’s wrestling teams have won 500 dual matches during his tenure, and he has built a program that has captured nine state titles and produced over 25 individual state champions. Regnier and the Mules put together a string of 25 consecutive Great Lakes League championships. In 1992, he was named the National Wrestling Coach of the Year by the National Federation of Interscholastic Coaches Association, and is currently a member of the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Regnier also became the head football coach after serving as an assistant for 22 years, and guided the Mules to an 8-2 record and a state playoff berth in 1993. That year, the team won the GLL football title for the first time since 1966.
Regnier and his wife, Carol (also a BG grad), have been married for 41 years. The couple has a son, Michael, and a daughter, Lori, and four grandchildren.
The 2005 class of inductees, the 42nd class in history, brings membership in the Athletic Hall of Fame to 190. The 1983-84 national championship hockey team is also in the Hall of Fame.
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