|
By James Dempsey
Ah, winter, when the thoughts of young men turn to stripping naked save for a necktie or so and running madly through the snows of Mount Pakachoag.
Streaking during the first snowfall of the season had a long tradition at Holy Cross. "I can remember being up on the hill, hurling snowballs at guys wearing nothing but ties," says Mark Hedberg '87. "If I can remember right, it was the freshmen from Alumni who ran all the way around the quad, past Carlin, then down in front of Kimball and back in again."
Richard Wareing '90 remembers the Alumni streakers being joined by "former residents of the dorm, some sympathetic Carlin brethren and a scattering of other brave souls.
"It was also part of the tradition that other students would sit on the hill between the quad and Fenwick … and try to pelt the streakers with snowballs," he says. Wareing was told the streaking originated in the 1950s when an Alumni resident studying hard for exams relieved his anxieties by sprinting naked around the quad. The tradition-loving residents of Alumni continued the run in his honor.
The streaking fad hit its apogee in 1974, when hordes of students disrobed and gamboled gleefully around campus. The event was recorded in cheeky detail by The Crusader.
History professor Ed O'Donnell '86 ran the streak of the first snow at Alumni every year as an undergraduate.
"We were told the freshmen guys were expected to streak around the quad at midnight in the first snow," he says. "The worthiness of snowfall, whether it was a light dusting or something heavier, was decided by the upperclassmen."
O'Donnell, who believes his class may have started the revival of the tradition, explains that the first year, just a handful of students participated. Two years later, he says, there were at least a hundred—and, in his last year, he adds, some women ran in their underwear.
Around 1990, according to O'Donnell, one streaker decided it would be fun to run at the head of the procession of ecdysiasts carrying a lighted torch. He tied rags around the end of a stick, dunked it in flammable liquid and led the peeled pack around the quad. However, naked flames and bare flesh don't mix well, and, not surprisingly, he burned himself. Incidents such as this, along with the burgeoning of the fad and the growing interest of the news media, finally led to the squashing of the tradition.
"The College decided enough was enough and put an end to it," O'Donnell says. Campus police officers were posted in the quad whenever the weather forecast threatened snow, and the fad came to an end.
As a teacher of history, O'Donnell appreciates the "the historical dimensions of this naughty behavior."
"Without question it's a bonding experience," he says. "We were all from somewhat sheltered environments in those days, so it was the most outrageous thing you could do that didn't involve hurting anybody. These things can be over-thought. It is what it is—a foolish, rowdy, ridiculous thing to do."
Read more Myths & Legends:
"The Fenwick Exorcism"
The Jeane Dixon Axe Murder Rumor
"Letters to Tomorrow"
The Cow That Came in From the Cold
The Plot Against the Greenhouse
The Naked Bunch
The Immurement of Father Crowley
The Lord of the Rings on Mount St. James?
More myths and legends...revealed!
|
