BOWLING GREEN — At first glance, it has all the markings of an unsolvable mystery, like undecipherable hieroglyphics.

The premise: Who, 50 years ago, would have envisioned an ice arena located in northwest Ohio?

“I can see where you might think that was a mystery,” Jack Vivian said. “But there were a lot of people who worked together to make it happen.

“It’s not a mystery. It’s a love story.”

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The 50th anniversary of that love affair between a town, a university and an ice arena the two shared will be celebrated this weekend. Once known as the BG Ice Arena, the Slater Family Ice Arena will feature two hockey matches, two open skates, and a number of events primed to take a loving look back at 50 years of fun on ice.

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But the story begins with a bit of mystery: Why build the arena?

According to a Blade article written in 1992 about the building’s 25th anniversary, Sam Cooper, chair of the health and physical education department during the late 1950s, chaired a committee formed to develop a long-range plan for athletics and intramurals for the college.

“We had an awful crunch of students in the 1960s, and we needed more facilities,” Cooper said in the article. Cooper noted university officials laughed when an ice arena was proposed, but, “I was convinced we needed something like an ice arena for indoor needs.”

The committee originally recommended an outdoor rink, but Vivian said then-university president William Jerome had other ideas.

“He told that committee, ‘Think bigger,’ ” said Vivian, who eventually came to the school in May 1967 to coach the club team. “He wanted them to think about building the ultimate ice arena for a college campus.”

So the university built an arena that housed more than hockey. It had an ice sheet dedicated for curling, one of only two located at an U.S. university, as well as a studio ice patch built for figure skating instruction.

Vivian, who also served as a P.E. instructor during his early days at the school, saw both facilities explode in popularity.

“I would help teach the learn-to-skate classes for the college, and we would have from 100 to 125 new skaters every hour — from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day,” Vivian said. “And we had a number of learn-to-skate classes for the community as well.

“And the curling? My mom was an avid curler, and she loved it here. She loved coming here and helping me teach the classes.”

Vivian remembers one of those learn-to-skate classes featured a local boy who was suffering from a hard-to-diagnose illness that stunted his growth. The youngster, BG native Scott Hamilton, eventually showed so much talent he won four consecutive U.S. and World Championships from 1981-84 before winning a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.

Another championship skater with Bowling Green ties is Alissa Szisny, who won U.S. titles in 2009 and ’11.

Meanwhile, the BG Curling Club continues to teach the obscure sport in this area, although the club has moved to its own Black Swamp Curling Center, located about eight miles south of Perrysburg on Route 25.

But Jerome’s “think big” mantra eventually touched one of the ice arena’s primary tenants.

“Dr. Jerome asked me to meet him in his office while I was the club coach, and I thought it was a meeting that would only last 10 minutes,” Vivian said. “Instead, we talked about how the success of the skating and hockey had ‘cooled off’ some of the faculty that wanted to wring his neck for building the arena.

“Then he told him to draw up the ideal program, and make it practical for BG. And think big.”

Vivian did, and the Falcons hockey program has reaped the benefits since.

The Bowling Green program became a varsity sport in 1968-69, and the program was ranked No. 5 in Division I when Vivian left to become general manager of the Cleveland Crusaders of the World Hockey Association.

His replacement, Ron Mason, lifted BG to its first 30-win season in 1977-78 as the “Ice House Gang” of the late ’70s rocked the arena, which became known as the “Madhouse on Mercer.”

When Mason left to become coach at Michigan State, Jerry York took over and led Bowling Green to the 1984 NCAA Division I title after a 5-4 four-overtime victory against Minnesota-Duluth in Lake Placid, N.Y.

That remains BG’s only national title in any sport.

The program also has produced two winners of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, the hockey equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, in George McPhee in 1982 and Brian Holzinger in ’85.

There are a number of former Falcons who enjoyed long and successful NHL careers, most notably Rob Blake, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.

All that history will be celebrated this weekend, and Vivian said he relishes the opportunity to take a loving look at what was built.

“I take a lot of pride in my role in helping start the arena and the hockey program,” he said. “But there were a lot of people, working together, who helped grow the arena.

“And that’s why I think it’s a love story.”

Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.

First Published February 10, 2017, 5:38 a.m.