When I was originally looking for a topic I was hoping I could find something about local sports. At first I could find anything about sports that intrigued me. Then I stumbled upon papers about Bill Zorn, who was the basketball coach for Eau Claire for forty plus years. As I read more about him I wanted to learn more because he was not just the basketball coach but he was also the athletic director and the dean of men. My research question is, who really is Bill Zorn?
This question is important because Bill Zorn had such an impact on the UW Eau Claire campus that the basketball arena is named after him. People know him for being the basketball coach but he did so much more campus than just be a coach. Students and citizens of Eau Claire should know how Zorn helped out this campus and community. People might not know why Zorn Arena is called that or what Bill Zorn did to get it named after him.
The reason I myself am interested in looking into Bill Zorn’s life is because I am from the Madison area and I do not know a lot about Eau Claire but would like to learn more. I also love sports and any time I can relate history and sports I take the opportunity.
Very interesting, I had no idea who Zorn arena was named after or why it was. I think your research question may be a bit broad, is there any specific area about his life that you would like to focus on? For example, maybe just the many years he spent as a basketball coach, or maybe the role he played in being an activist in the local community.
I like the topic for two reasons: 1. I am a big sports fan and its always interesting finding new history about sports, especially when it comes to sports history about UWEC, which is my 2nd reason for liking the topic. I like the idea of having a topic that is so closely tied in with UWEC. I hope you can provide some great information about Bill Zorn, maybe like what years he couched for the University along with other ways he impacted UWEC.