History of The Big Ten Club
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In the depression year of 1932, Michigan alumnus Bob Hiller brought together some local Big Ten alumni for informal luncheon meetings in the Biltmore Hotel. The camaraderie caught on: Early in 1933 the Big Ten Club was formally established to spread the good fellowship generated at the luncheon meetings. The Club grew steadily, even during the wartime years of the early 40s, and in 1946 the signing of the Rose Bowl pact sparked an enthusiastic increase in membership and breadth of Club activities.
Beginning in 1946 our annual Dinner for Champions welcomed and honored the visiting Big Ten football team selected to appear in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. For a number of years the Dinner was held in the Biltmore Hotel. From 1966 through 1988, the Dinner was held at the Hollywood Palladium and from 1989 through 1994 it was held at the Century Plaza Hotel. Bob Hope headlined the entertainment for 43 years and recent Dinners featured Pia Zadora, Norm Crosby, Joe Pesci, Alan Thicke, Don Knotts, George Kirby, The 5th Dimension, Barbara McNair, Tom Lasorda, Tom Dreesen, Rhonda Shear, Fred Travalena, Joey Villa, The Pendragons and many others.
The Dinner for Champions was discontinued in 1995 at the behest of the Big Ten Alumni Directors and the Conference. The Dinner will be revived in the future only by request of the school officials of the Big Ten Conference team selected to play in the Rose Bowl Game.
Our www.bigtenclub.com website was created in 2003 and includes our history, bios, events, newletters, pictures, store, links, bylaws, member sign up, job board and contact information.
The Big Ten Club is a great way to enjoy the camaraderie of Midwestern schooled folks at various events and functions. Plus with our long standing association with the Tournament of Roses, Big Ten Club members enjoy access to special private events and allotted Rose Bowl Tickets.
Basic Year Itinerary:
January: Rose Bowl Game
March/April: Person of the Year/Installation Dinner at the Tournament of Roses,
LA Food Bank Community Service Event
Summer: Cubs vs Dodgers Baseball, Hollywood Bowl Concert
August: Football Kickoff & Caucus with the Tournament of Roses
December: Queens Luncheon, Holiday Party
Event details online
Universities in the Big Ten Club of Southern California:
Chicago, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
University of Chicago was one of the original schools in the Big Ten Conference from 1896-1948. Chicago has remained a part of the Big Ten Club since our Club’s 1933 inception.
| Past Presidents |
| 1933 | Robert Hiller | Michigan |
| 1934 | C.R. Jamison | Purdue |
| 1935 | Steadman Smith | Illinois |
| 1936 | Novin Smith | Iowa |
| 1937 | Harold Leslie | Ohio State |
| 1938 | John R. Richards | Wisconsin |
| 1939 | Glen English | Indiana |
| 1940 | Fred Speil | Chicago |
| 1941 | George Judson | Minnesota |
| 1942 | Howard Rosine | Northwwestern |
| 1942 | Everett B. Laybourne | Ohio State |
| 1943 | H.J. Garretson | Iowa |
| 1944 | Otto A. Gerth | Minnesota |
| 1945 | Preston Richards | Chicago |
| 1946 | L.G. Brittingham | Wisconsin |
| 1947 | G.W. Nisson | Northwestern |
| 1948 | W.H. Brawner | Illinois |
| 1949 | Maurice Norcop | Micigan |
| 1950 | Burt W. Dreyer | Purdue |
| 1951 | Don A. Ladenberger | Iowa |
| 1952 | G.W. Purcell | Indiana |
| 1953 | Ken Hooton | Ohio State |
| 1954 | Norman Paine | Chicago |
| 1955 | Lloyd L. Heskett | Iowa |
| 1956 | Floyd L. Wohiwend | Northwestern |
| 1957 | Hugh C. Tolford | Michigan State |
| 1958 | William B. Arnold | Illinois |
| 1959 | Stuart K Oliver | Michigan |
| 1960 | Leslie P. Schultz | Wisconsin |
| 1961 | Warren Dunnell | Minnesota |
| 1962 | Michael A. Gallucci | Purdue |
| 1963 | Richards D. Barger | Indiana |
| 1964 | H.A. Wardenburg | Northwestern |
| 1965 | Richard Beals | Michigan State |
| 1966 | Alex H. Gaal | Ohio State |
| 1967 | Frederick A. Schnell | Illinois |
| 1968 | Carl L. Rogers | Iowa |
| 1969 | Fred G. Space Jr. | Michigan |
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| 1970 | Harold M. Derus | Wisconsin |
| 1971 | John F. Johnson | Purdue |
| 1972 | Charles D. Snowden | Indiana |
| 1973 | Joseph P. McCormick | Michigan State |
| 1974 | Richard M. Leversee | Minnesota |
| 1975 | Albert A. Wistert | Michigan |
| 1976 | James N. Ebright | Ohio State |
| 1977 | Jerry Howe | Illinios |
| 1978 | Fred W. Soldwedel | Northwestern |
| 1979 | Donald P. Chehock | Iowa |
| 1980 | John M. McKinley | Wisconsin |
| 1981 | Russell G. Shoemaker | Indiana |
| 1982 | William W. Glenny | Purdue |
| 1983 | William W. Roberts | Michigan State |
| 1984 | John Wm. Perry | Minnesota |
| 1985 | Jack J. Levand | Ohio State |
| 1986 | William B. Hugill | Illinois |
| 1987 | Roger W. Stoltenberg | Iowa |
| 1988 | Otto S. Schaeffler | Northwestern |
| 1989 | Howard M. Durbin | Purdue |
| 1990 | Talmadge C. Tillman | Indiana |
| 1991 | William N. Moule | Michigan State |
| 1992 | Charles Van Cleve | Ohio State |
| 1993 | Kenneth W. Oberg | Michigan |
| 1994 | William A. Shaw | Iowa |
| 1995 | Neil A. Lavick | Minnesota |
| 1996 | Morris D. Dent | Illinois |
| 1997 | Julie Lynch Shapiro | Wisconsin |
| 1998 | Richard I. Wells | Ohio State |
| 1999 | John R. Burrows | Iowa |
| 2000 | Richard Potter | Purdue |
| 2001 | Fred D. Soldwedel | Northwestern |
| 2002 | Brian J. Harris | Illinois |
| 2003 | Leonard J. Roth | Michigan State |
| 2004 | Blake Coleman | Indiana |
| 2005 | Bob Banta | Ohio State |
| 2006 | Dave Schucker | Purdue |
| 2007 | Derek Hildebrandt | Wisconsin |
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Past President Bios
2007 - Derek Hildebrandt
- Born in 1971, Staten Island, NY
- Raised in Waunakee, WI…a Madison suburb
- Graduated from Waunakee High School in 1989 lettering in Basketball and Golf and was the class speaker
- Graduated from University of Wisconsin in 1993 with a double major in Economics and Psychology
- Entertained Badger fans from 1991-1993 as UW’s mascot Bucky Badger
- Completed graduate level Professional Program in Film and Television Producing at UCLA in 1998
- Began professional career in the infomercial world working with Amazing Discoveries led by Mike Levey, involved in over 30 infomercials with revenues of over $600 million dollars
- Former Producer and Vice President of Production and Marketing for 3Oh!5 Creative, Inc., an entertainment advertising and marketing company, producing movie trailers and DVDs for the studios
- Currently President of Hilltop Entertainment - a media, advertising, film development and production company
- Serves on the Board of the Producers Guild of America’s New Media Council and Chairs the Mobile & Employment Committees
- Member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
- Lifetime member and current Board Member of the Big Ten Club of Southern California
- President of University of Wisconsin – Los Angeles Alumni Board
- Founder and President of the Greater Bucky Open, Inc., a fundraiser golf outing held each year in Wisconsin raising money for the UW Children’s Hospital and Bucky Badger student mascots. www.greaterbuckyopen.com
- Enjoys movies, sports, beer/brats/cheese, and clings to a 14 handicap in golf
2006 - Dave Schucker
- Born in 1936 and raised in Pittsburgh Pa
- Received BSME from Purdue University and an MS in Mgt Science from USC.
- Came to California in 1958 to work for Douglas
- Retired in April 2004
- Married in 1963, and with my Wife, Margaret, raised 4 children.
- I come from a line of German math teachers. One was My dad who served in WWI (on our side) in the 85th Aero Squadron. I never heard much about it because he died in 1940. My mother was a wonderful women who thought she could do anything and everything and she really did. I have two brothers that were my chief antagonists until we reached 21, since then, the closest of friends. My older brother, Karl died of brain cancer 2 years ago maybe because he was a chain smoker from the age of 13 or perhaps because he spent 44 years as a chemical engineer in an Ohio plant enriching uranium for nuclear reactors and atomic bombs. Younger brother, Rich retired as a director of antiterrorism in the middle east for the FBI and now lives with his wife in Michigan.
- My wife is a Canadian Nurse who has become a noted teacher of quilting and wearable art. I met her at a beach party in Malibu. She had broken her leg doing the Twist. I signed her cast and the rest is history. We have 4 children 2 married girls Jane Soto and Nancy Pantellas, one single girl Greta and a single son David (also a Purdue graduate) and 5 grand children
- Career Wise
- I have been a paper boy, a soda jerk, a waiter, worked in the Steel mills and finally got a real job at Douglas in 1958. Some of you may remember those huge open bays with 300 engineers lined up at drafting tables. I started in one of those. Fortunately I got into a test group where I actually had the opportunity at 22 years old to work directly with both Donald Douglas Sr and jr. It occurred when I set up a test facility for Nike Zeus Vickers motor pumps. The facility had a tall stack for dispursing the very noxious fumes from the hot gas driving the motor and it had a unique leak detecting system that I had designed for the hydraulic side of the pump. On the first trial run the prevailing winds around Clover field in Santa Monica carried those very noxious fumes directly into the inlet ducts for the air conditioning of the Douglas executive offices. Within 5 minutes I got to meet, face to face, jowel to jowel with both Douglases and had a comfortable budget for a redesign of the exhaust stack. This sort of typified my 5 years at clover field.
- Likes Old Toy Trains and collect and run them.
- Love Purdue and have been the regional director for our alumni association and am now the Secretary of the Big Ten Club of SoCal (that means several rose bowl tickets every year)
- Has been an extra in movies and will be again.
- Plan to write a series of personal vignettes to pass onto my children. Leaving them for my children to read will be my final vengeance.
- If I have any talent and hence an avocation, it must be in music??? I now sing in a church choir and am back trying to pick up long lost “skills” on the piano and guitar
- There were only 8 boys in my 8th grade class. Several I keep in touch with and will get to see at my 50th High school reunion in the fall.
- I consider my 4 kids and their husbands to be great friends and this is only partially related to the fact that they all have jobs and have moved out of the house.
2003 - Leonard (Len) Roth
- Born and Raised: Born in 1935. Raised in Los Angeles, CA
- Schooling: Graduated Hamilton High School Los Angeles in 1953
- Graduated UCLA (Political Science Major) in 1957
- Graduated MSU (Mass Marketing Major) in 1963
- Personal Achievements:
- 29 years married to JoAnn
- 4 children from previous wife
- 10 granddaughters – if not a record, damn close (nine live within 30 minutes of my house. I’m blessed)
- BTC Achievements as President that I am most proud of:
- Initiated Associate Director Positions – to expand leadership pool and cooperation with local clubs
- Initiated annual auction from which proceeds are donated to outgoing presidents alma mater
- Professional: Have been in the insurance and financial services field since 1975. Attained the professional designations of ChFC (Chartered Financial Consultant) and CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter.
- Life Plan: Love what I do personally, professionally, and Big Ten Club. Plan to stay active with all as long as blessed with sound mind and body.
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