WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK


                                Sports
    The diversity of the Wisconsin climate and natural facilities pro-
 vides an excellent opportunity for all types of athletic competition.
 The large number of lakes has been augmented by many municipal
 swimming pools. The real differences between summer and winter
 enable the people to enjoy sports which require dry land, water, ice
 and snow. As a result we have ice hockey, skiing, tobogganing,
 skating, iceboating as well as baseball, football, swimming, sailing,
 canoeing, boat racing and other typical outdoor sports and the whole
 gamut of indoor sports. Organized competition in these fields exists.
 Average snowfalls of 30 inches in the south and 115 inches in the
 north assure that snow and ice will generally be available. More
 than 40 established winter sports centers are available in the state
 ranging from Williams Bay and Beloit in the south to Kings Gate-
 way and Bayfield in the north.
   A well organized program of interscholastic competition in the
 major fields of football, basketball, track and baseball and such
 minor fields as swimming, wrestling and boxing is conducted with
 high eligibility standards. In recent years efforts have been made to
 place some responsibility on the schools for a program of marks-
 manship and gun safety.
   The presence of a large number of colleges in the state makes it
 possible for most people to be within easy driving distance of col-
 lege football, basketball and baseball. Beloit, St. Norbert, Ripon Col-
 leges and La Crosse State College, Marquette University and the
 University of Wisconsin are among the schools which have, at one
 time or another, fielded outstanding teams in one or more sports. In
 recent years as many as 54,000 people have witnessed football games
 at Camp Randall Stadium on the University of Wisconsin campus.
   The dominant professional sports in Wisconsin at this time are
 baseball and football. Since the Milwaukee Braves moved to Wis-
 consin, they have attracted more than 2 million customers a season,
 and have won one world series. Much older are the Green Bay
 Packers who for many years were one of the better teams in the
 professional football league. At one time or another Wisconsin has
 also had professional basketball and ice hockey. Several of Amer-
 ica's leading professional bowlers come from this state.

                              The Arts

   For the person whose interest lies in the arts, Wisconsin offers
much. Milwaukee is alleged to have founded the first Little Theatre
group inithe country, and the state is dotted with communities which
conduct such programs as private ventures or as part of municipal
recreational programs. Summer Theatre groups include the Port
Washington, Peninsula and Belfrey Players, Attic Theatre, Curtain
Club, Maskers, the Wisconsin Idea Theatre and the Wisconsin Play-
ers. One of the most spectacular productions is that of William Tell


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