WMDJC

History

After all, what's a club without an overblown, distorted account of its own past?

"The University of Dayton Juggling Club" was officially founded in late January 1993 by senior Electrical Engineering major Todd D. Haverkos with the help of the younger, more manipulatively talented Shawn Cline. The two didn't agree on juggling club preferences--Todd was a firmly-standing Custom European man, while Shawn stood fast with his preference for the Klassic American--what they did agree on was the Idea:

To get a bunch of people together to throw things at each other

It had nothing to do with the thought that "law is for people, and people should be able to afford it." Joel Hyatt had already stolen that one.

Todd, using the constitution of the Iota Eta chapter of Eta Kappa Nu as his reference, finalized the original constitution and the original goals statement on January 11, 1993. Both Shawn and Todd were students in the University of Dayton Dept. of Electrical Engineering, which made then-brand-new Prof. Brad Duncan a natural pick for the club's advisor. Although Prof. Duncan did not and still does not juggle, Shawn and Todd simply needed a token "responsible party" to fulfill the SAAC (the now-defunct Student activities Advisory Council) requirements for an officially-recognized University organization. Prof. Duncan was willing to take that risk for them.

The next school year (Aug. 1993), Prof. Duncan was pleased to unload his figurehead position on the newest ELE faculty member, and one who actually knew how to juggle-- Prof. Russell C. Hardie. The new advisor was easily the most accomplished club passer in the club and assisted the club's growth with youthful enthusiasm. It was also at this time that Todd changed the name of the club. After successfully establishing the club with a rather bland and conservative club name, his original intent for the club's namesake was fulfilled when he officially registered with SAAC as The World's Most Dangerous Juggling Club for the Fall semester of 1993.

Given that the club was founded by 2 EE's and advised by a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, it's no surprise that the UD Juggling club quickly took advantage of electronic communication to link its members. Email served as the de-facto means of communication among the charter members and continues as the primary mode of communication today. The creation of these web pages made the club the first non-technical organization on campus to have an html-based home on the web. The cooperation of Prof. John Westerkamp is credited with making this web server possible. Prof. Westerkamp was responsible for much of the early development of Web pages at the University. The WMDJC extends its thanks!

--Todd D. Haverkos, February 25, 1995

Since Todd's reign as supreme ruler of the WMDJC, our club has undergone many changes in leadership. Most recently, its mantle has come to rest upon myself. Though our members have changed, our goal has not. May the WMDJC continue to see active membership, talented jugglers, an no juggling-related head injuries!

-- Mark A. Bartsch, August 23, 1999