Juniors Sam Scheurell and Ryan Welsh also reached the quarterfinals after compiling a 5-1 record in the preliminary rounds but were defeated on a split, 2-1 decision by the top team from Neenah. All four debaters earned top speaker awards: Thur fourth, Cekanor sixth, Scheurell seventh, and Welsh eleventh.

The outstanding performance capped off a decade of success for the Webster Club. Over the past ten years, Marquette has been in more final rounds (six), has qualified more teams to the elimination rounds (16), and has earned more top speaker awards (5) than any other school. The squad’s accomplishments include:

• 3 Championships (second only to Brookfield Central’s 4)
• 5 Top Speaker Awards (no other school has more than 1)
• 3 Runners-Up (more than any other school)
• 4 Semifinalists
• 6 Quarterfinalists
• 16 Teams In Elimination Rounds (more than any other school and more than 20 percent of the total)

A complete year-by-year listing of the Webster Club’s accomplishments during the 2000s is available below the fold.

2000-2001:
Champions - Manav Bhatnagar & Andy Nolan
Semifinalists - Ankur Aggarwal & Mike Gesinski
1st Speaker - Andy Nolan
2nd Speaker - Manav Bhatnagar
3rd Speaker - Ankur Aggarwal
8th Speaker - Mike Gesinski

2001-2002:
Runners-Up - Ankur Aggarwal & Manav Bhatnagar
Semifinalists - Pat Pugely & Erik Schuchard
1st Speaker - Manav Bhatnagar
2nd Speaker - Ankur Aggarwal
10th Speaker - Steve Weiskopf

2002-2003:
Quarterfinalists - Charley Boynton & Ben Schultz
6th Speaker - Erik Schuchard

2003-2004:
Semifinalists - Charley Boynton & Ben Schultz

2004-2005:
No teams cleared, No speaker awards

2005-2006:
Runners-Up - Gaurav Bhatnagar & Tyler Jackson
Quarterfinalists - Mark Kettler & Nolan Wanecke
1st Speaker - Gaurav Bhatnagar
5th Speaker - Nolan Wanecke
6th Speaker - Mark Kettler
7th Speaker - Tyler Jackson

2006-2007:
Quarterfinalists - Gaurav Bhatnagar & Nolan Wanecke
1st Speaker - Gaurav Bhatnagar
5th Speaker - Nolan Wanecke

2007-2008:
Champions - Joe Balistreri & Garrett Fields
Semifinalists - Noah Charles & Mark Kettler
Quarterfinalists - Ben Benson & David Gebhardt
2nd Speaker - Garrett Fields
3rd Speaker - Mark Kettler
7th Speaker - Joe Balistreri

2008-2009:
Champions - Joe Balistreri & Michael Hoffmann
Quarterfinalists - Ben Benson & Noah Charles
1st Speaker - Joe Balistreri
5th Speaker - Michael Hoffmann
9th Speaker - Noah Charles

2009-2010:
Runners-Up - Matt Cekanor & Tyler Thur
Quarterfinalists - Sam Scheurell & Ryan Welsh
4th Speaker - Tyler Thur
6th Speaker - Matt Cekanor
7th Speaker - Sam Scheurell

“Teams To Suit Up For Debate Bowl”
The Milwaukee Sentinel, December 28, 1977

Marquette High School is holding a national debate tournament Tuesday but is not entering itself in order to give someone else a chance to win.

“No one else would come if we were in it,” said James Copeland, the school’s debate coach.

His team has held the national championship in the National Forensic League for the past seven years and has won the top position in the Catholic League for six of the past eight. It has also walked off with the first place trophy at the last three national tournaments it has entered, including the latest last Thursday at the Golden West Invitational.

“We’re not entering this one so that we can be a good host,” Copeland said.

As a good host, the high school is sponsoring a tournament with what Copeland called “a lot of razzmatazz and ballyhoo and excitement.”

They’re calling it the Superbowl of Debate.

Participants will be wearing football jerseys, timekeepers will blow whistles and Astro Turf will top the podiums. The Astro Turf, Copeland explained, is being used in case debaters try any “slippery arguments.”

Runners will take judge’s ballots to the scoreboard and post them as they are ready. If necessary, the games will go into sudden death overtime. No detail is being missed in carrying through the football theme.

Sixty students from 30 cities are entered, 56 of them from cities that have National Football League (NFL) teams. The other four students represent two teams from the defunct World Football League.

Copeland said that the Superbowl theme was chosen because Wisconsin is noted for its football enthusiasm, partly due to the Green Bay Packers. The Packers, by the way, will be represented by two students from Sibley High School in St. Paul, Minn., because a suitable team could not be found in Green Bay.

“There will be a lot of pageantry and fun,” Copeland said,” but these are the finest debaters in the country.” He said many of hte debaters in the tournament are being actively recruited by prestigious colleges, just as colleges recruit athletes.

“Some of the debate you’ll hear here will be comparable to what you would hear in the classrooms of the top law schools in the nation,” Copeland said.

Copeland said that several teams are ready for a “brilliant and bloody rematch” because they were up against each other in recent tournaments.

Copeland, who has been named “coach of the year” six times by the National Forensic League, believes debating may be more taxing physically than football because debaters cannot work off their anxiety. His belief is backed up by a University of Minnesota study, he said.

The Superbowl of Debate will being at 11 a.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. Friday. The Superbowl playoff game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday. The public is welcome to attend the tournament, which will be held at the high school, 3401 W. Wisconsin Ave.

“Hold That Line!”
The Milwaukee Sentinel, byline Rick Romell, December 30, 1977

It has the tension of sudden death overtime, the drama of an 80 yard punt return and all the hard hitting physical action of an afternoon tea.

It’s the first annual Superbowl of Debate, and it’s happening this week at Marquette University High School.

It features 60 top high school debaters dressed in jerseys of National Football League teams as they argue the merits of government-guaranteed medical care. It’s a combination of the frivolous and the sober, with frivolity taking a back seat as each debate begins.

The football trappings, including matches modeled after this year’s NFL schedule and judges wearing striped referee shirts, are the brainchild of James Copeland, coach of Marquette High’s championship debate team.

The tournament will end on Friday with a championship match conducted on Astroturf.

William Isaacson and Martin Dowling, Marquette High seniors who recently won a 184 team tournament in California, are not debating this week. With the other Marquette debaters, they are helping to judge.

The absence of the host Marquette team should be good news to those competing. Marquette has won the last seven National Forensic League team championships, and six of the last eight championships in the Catholic National Forensic League. Copeland has been coach of the year eight times.

Because the 30 teams are among the best in the country, it will be no disgrace for a debater to leave Milwaukee with one of the little rubber footballs awarded to the lowest finishers, Copeland said.

“Football Influences Debaters”
The Milwaukee Sentinel, byline Jim Bednarek, December 31, 1979.

The brainy world of high school debating and the brawny world of professional football may be worlds apart, but they joined ranks Sunday in the third annual Super Bowl of Debate.

The three-day tournament brought together top high school debaters from cities of the National Football League and the defunct World Football League.

The tournament was hosted by Marquette University High School, 3401 W. Wisconsin Ave.

This year, the Oakland Raiders scored an 8-3 win over the New York Giants to win the Super Bowl title.

The Oakland Raiders were Eric Brandser and Kristin Kalsem, 17-year old seniors from Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, appearing in their first Super Bowl tournament.

Brandser and Miss Kalsem won last-minute seats in the tournament earlier this month, when the team representing the Oakland Raiders was forced to withdraw from the tournament, they said.

“I thought I would be spending my Christmas vacation at home with my family instead of here in Milwaukee,” Brandser said. “At first, I really didn’t want to come here because I had these negative feelings about spending my vacation away from home. But once I got here, my feelings changed.”

Miss Kalsem shared her teammate’s apprehension about coming to Milwaukee.

“I was a little leery about coming here, seeing as it was Christmas and everything,” she said. “But I guess it was all worth it. You know, I really like these national tournaments because I get to meet so many people from all over the country.”

The idea of combining the aura and color of professional football with debate belongs to James M. Copeland, the tournament commissioner and debate coach at Marquette University High School.

Two debaters represented each NFL city with each of the 60 debaters wearing the football jersey of his or her team.

Second place went to Richard Robins and Glenn Graham of Newark Academy in Livingston, N.J., representing the Giants.

Beth and Karen McGaffey from Homestead High School in Mequon lost to the Giants during quarterfinal competition. The two sisters represented the Minnesota Vikings.

Beth, a senior, finished sixth in the balloting for top-speaking honors among National Football Conference teams, while Karen, a junior, tied for eighth place.

Ben Koch and James Zwerlein, seniors at Pius XI High School in Milwaukee, represented the Green Bay Packers. They lost in the semifinals of the championship bowl.