Bikes: Gauchos' Ride Or
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Sciene & Tech A Look InsIde Top Coffee Fall Sports the freshman on the special issue Stops in I.V. menU to Follow sports page Wise Words of a page page Guacho Alumnus 14 13 09 opinion DAILY NEXUS Thursday, August 25, 2016 www.dailynexus.com UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA Bikes: Gauchos’ Ride or Die Letter from Take a spin with the Nexus through UCSB’s history on two wheels the editor A Look Ahead We’ve had so many cus- tomers … After several for the Class years, the children would of 2020 come back to buy bikes for their kids. - GEORge MISBeeK part of Isla Vista, a small neighborhood that underwent development as early as 1925. With no running water or paved roads, I.V. DAILY NEXUS FILE PHOTO “wasn’t a fancy place,” she said, and was Defender Ismaila Jome served as captain home to many low-income families. of the 2015-16 Gaucho men’s soccer team. Bicycles were cheap and popular, “like in any semi-rural beachside community with scattered houses and a bunch of kids,” Gustafson said. Welcome According to Dennis Whelan, associate campus architect, members of the United States Navy probably used bicycles between 1941 and 1944 when there was a U.S. Marine to Soccer Corps base in place of the university between Megan Mineiro 1941 and 1944. Editor in Chief UCSB later moved into the former Marine Heaven base buildings, he said, and cyclists would Class of 2020, welcome to par- ride on roadways and walkways or they adise. Now that you stand at the would create their own dirt paths in what gateway, after countless hours spent Sean White were “the very early and dusty days of cam- researching universities from East Sports Editor pus.” Coast to West Coast (ehem, Best There was a particular “cycle boom” Coast), allow me to give you a look On behalf of the Daily Nexus Sports staff, amongst UCSB students in the 1960s, as inside what the future holds in store we would like to welcome the class of 2020 noted by a 1964 headline in El Gaucho (a pre- for you in this laid-back community to paradise here at UCSB. While you may decessor to the Nexus). The story reported 23 where the beach is your backyard and not know it just yet, various moments and accidents and 659 bike thefts in the 1963- shorts are appropriate attire 365 days 1964 school year, events that campus police of the year. fun memories await as you continue life as a considered a “major problem” to address the Gaucho pride can be traced back Gaucho. following school year. to countless origins, some of which Helping to form the memories to come Misbeek took advantage of this “cycle you may have already gathered from will be the many sporting games and matches boom” when he and two other friends started the most recent publication by The that are scheduled during the Fall, Winter Varsity Bike Shop on Sept. 18, 1964, a date Princeton Review: Ranked at No. 8 and Spring Quarters. he quickly recalls today. among public universities, employ- With school approaching, there will be a The founder, now 87 years old, said bikes ing six Nobel laureates and laying brief introduction to some of the sports that were well in use by the time he had set up claim to the No. 1 spot among Green make being a Gaucho even more enjoyable. shop in a building where “they hadn’t even Schools, we have plenty to be proud But for now, prepare to get to know one of got all the walls in yet.” He and his co-own- of. Or maybe Gaucho alumni boasted ers were “optimistic” of the store’s future; to you that the Isla Vista party scene our most popular teams on campus: the UCSB they anticipated continuing growth for the is unrivaled, with “the best years of men’s soccer team. university, both in enrollment numbers and your life” defined by crowded cliffside El Gaucho archives At the helm of the Gauchos’ soccer pro- in the physical size of the campus. daygers where liquor flows freely and gram is Head Coach Tim Vom Steeg. Currently UCSB’s bike-friendly campus even led alumnus Jack Johnson to meet his Some might say the optimism was well- hazy nights can be spent listening to in his 18th season, Vom Steeg has helped lift future wife when he locked his bike to hers outside of I.V. Theater. founded. These were the years, after all, live music from rooftops. UCSB’s program to new heights since his when the largest-ever generation at the time While this is all true — except the debut season in 1999. — the baby boomers — started their post- idea that these are undoubtedly the Guiding Santa Barbara to its first NCAA Josh Ortiz before his time. It wasn’t until a series of secondary education. A UCSB Planning data peak years of your existence when, in Tournament appearance in 2002, the veteran County News Editor “bike booms” in the 1960s and 1970s, how- book indicates 4,865 students enrolled in reality, they are only the beginning coach has created a winning environment ever, that necessity for the human-powered the 1962 Fall Quarter, which increased to — there is so much more to UCSB One could hardly paint an accurate por- vehicle came to physically shape the campus 5,938 students in the 1963 Fall Quarter and only fully comprehended once you that has resulted in two national champion- trait of the UC Santa Barbara campus with- itself. 7,879 students a year after that. experience it for yourself. ship appearances in 2004 and 2006 in which out including a few key details: hundreds of Local historian Britta Gustafson said her BIKE p.7 For me, the takeaway when I walk the Gauchos defeated UCLA 2-1 for the title bikes lined side-by-side outside lecture halls, impression is that bikes have always been across the stage in two years (fingers in their second trip. thousands of bikes filed bumper-to-bumper crossed) to pick up my diploma and With longevity and the accolades to back en route to classes and, occasionally, two shake Chancellor Yang’s hand with it up, the all-around growth UCSB has made bikes locked together when there is no space a smile on my face will be the lively in nearly the last two decades illustrates a on the bike racks. collective of diverse individuals that standard of consistency that Vom Steeg has George Misbeek, one of the founders of define this community. helped create within the Gauchos’ program. Varsity Bike Shop on Pardall Road, has pro- Yes, we’re happy because we can “[It’s] been what I’m most proud of,” Vom vided service to UCSB’s bike-savvy students walk to class day after day with the for over 50 years, and he has seen genera- sun shining down on us and sand Steeg explained. “I think the fact that we’ve tions walk in and out of his doors. still between our toes from a morn- made 13 trips to the postseason out of 17 “We’ve had so many customers — moms ing walk along the beach. But there’s years that shows that we’ve been able to do and dads who’d come in with their kids more to that positive energy, tangible the right thing more often than not. To do to buy bikes,” Misbeek said. “After several as you trek through campus or wan- that you need the right players, coaching years, the children would come back to buy der the streets of I.V. staff and the right support networks, espe- bikes for their kids.” This community, while it has cially from our community. Although Misbeek has seen a large chunk experienced unimaginable tragedy, of UCSB bike history, the use of bikes on continues to grow stronger each year SOCCER HEAVEN p.8 campus and in Isla Vista dates back decades LETTER FROM THE EDITOR p.7 EL GAUCHO ARCHIVE 2 Thursday, August 25, 2016 Daily Nexus This week’s Up & coming saturday aug26 aug27 8:30 pm - 10:45 pm september 24 county courthouse 24 f r i d a y free saturday The National Parks: America’s Best Idea 12 PM The granada theater free screening Nearly a decade in the making, this 12-hour, six-part documentary series from acclaimed filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan is a breathtaking journey through the nation’s most bogie & bacall summer film series: spectacular landscapes and a celebra- tion of the people who fought to save how to marry a millionaire them for future generations to trea- Resourceful Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall), spunky Loco Dempsey sure. (Betty Grable) and ditzy Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe) set out to marry millionaires. When the three friends scheme to rent a lux- Episode one,12 PM: urious penthouse in New York City to attract rich husbands, fate The Scripture of Nature (1851-1890) has something else in store. magic lantern films: episode two, 2 PM: 6 pM: Arrive early to enjoy a free performance at 6 pm by the Unit- The Last Refuge (1890-1915) ed States Navy Band Cruisers, an active-duty music ensemble that finding nemo episode three, 4 PM: performs for the likes of the President of the United States! With a 8:30 pm The Empire of Grandeur (1915-1919) repertoire that spans Rock, Pop, R&B, Soul, Motown, Jazz, Funk anisq’oyo’ park and more, they’ll send off the summer film series in style.