Harris Frank Beeman papers

Record Group

Identifier: UA-10.3.179

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The photograph is a composite copy of the 1951 Big-10 Championship Tennis Team and a news article from a anniversary event. This team was the first Michigan State University athletic squad to win a Big Ten Championship.

The electronic resource, "MSU Campus and Tennis Photos 1942-1943", consists of scanned images (by UAHC) from Mr. Beeman's scrapbook. The images are of the campus, ROTC events, and tennis events. Also included are photos and documents related to the protests that happened on campus and in the capitol about John McGoff and apartheid. The photos include protestors at MSU and the Lansing Capitol. Photos include protestors painting the painted rock with the "McGoff Off" theme. This protest was against McGoff's name being put on a Wharton Center stage. McGoff was associated with the South African government that supported apartheid. Other photos include a bulletin board, picketers, and a shanty that was part of the "Shanty Coalition." Also included are photocopies of handbills? and a newspaper article that gives and outline of the McGoff protests (these materials were scanned and added to Archivematica Ingest folder).

Dates

Creation: 1942 - 1985

Creator

Beeman, Harris F. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this collection must be obtained from University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.

Biographical Note

Harris Frank Beeman (known as Frank) was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 28, 1921. Beeman attended Royal Oak High School, received his B.A. from Michigan State College (1943) and his MA and PhD from University of Michigan (1960). While attending Michigan State College, he lettered in tennis in 1941, 1942 and 1943.

He served as Athletic Officer of the 508 Parachute Infantry until 1946. He also served as an ROTC Instructor during the Korean War.

He joined Michigan State University as a physical education instructor (assistant director of the intramural division) on June 15, 1947. In 1948, he became the director of intramural and recreative sports. In addition to his directorial duties, he was appointed head tennis coach and led the team to a Big Ten tennis championship in 1950.

As Intramural Athletic Director, Beeman fostered an innovative open door policy, planned and supervised the Intramural IM West Building (1956) and the IM East Building (1989), instituted the Intramural Administration Master's Degree Program, co-authored a text on Intramural Sports, and produced a film on tennis. Beeman was the first National Chair of Intramural Section of AAHPER and co-chaired the first National Conference on Intramurals for College Men and Women. He retired from MSU July 1, 1986 and was named as IM Director Emeritus.