By Gracie Fairfax | Echo
Ever wonder what Taylor was like when you were just a little tyke? These Taylor grads share their fondest memories of their time before we invaded campus.
Skiing Across the Tundra
Craig Robinson ('84) (Penthouse, Old Sammy-connected to the Union)
Back before the music building existed, there was a giant plain between the Union and the DC. During the winter, students could rent cross-country skis at the student union. One very snowy J-term, Robinson decided he would to attempt to ski, because he'd been downhill skiing before.
He began skiing towards the lake, distantly surrounded by other hopeful lone skiers. But because the plain was so flat, most of the students got tired out took off their skis and began to carry them.
"I think I ended up taking my skis off when I almost got to the lake-you didn't have any kind of downhill, so everything was flat."
Robinson is reluctant to report he hasn't cross-country skied since.
One-Way Bus Ticket Home
Don Emery (Broho, Old Sammy) ('80)
Just before Thanksgiving break of Emery's freshman year ('76), an ice/food fight broke out in the DC between the men of Sammy and Wengatz.
"Even then, the Morris men would go down the DC stairs on the right and Wengatz Weenies would go down the stairs on the left," Emery said.
Sammy and Wengatz shared the middle of the DC's main floor, but everyone knew which tables belonged to Sammy and which belonged to Wengatz. Emery was sitting at a table with other freshmen who played football that year. The football players had been on campus since mid-August and were ready to head home for break.
Gator, one of the freshman football players, threw some ice over to the Wengatz side. A hailstorm of ice was returned from Wengatz, and tables turned on their sides became makeshift shields. Ice spewed everywhere, and soon after, food began flying. Emery believes it may have lasted only a minute, but it felt like forever.
A DC worker named Jerry called the Dean of Students, Thomas Beers, to tell him a riot had broken out in the DC. Beers showed up just as the riot ended. Students erupted-cheering, laughing and clapping, and then the cleanup ensued.
"I'm sure that today that would not be tolerated, but no one was disciplined and no one was really hurt. But we all received a note in our mailbox that said if it happened again, we would be given a one-way bus ticket home," Emery said.
Adventures in Middle Earth
Kathy (St. Cyr) Hughes (Second West Olson) ('09)
Kathy was heavily involved in the Theatre Department. During one of its final dress rehearsals for "The Hobbit," the department used a fog machine to set the magical atmosphere of Middle Earth. The fog machine generated too much magic and triggered the fire alarm in the middle of the show. The entire cast and crew had to evacuate the building immediately, without changing out of their costumes.
"So, for about half an hour, there were 12 dwarves, a hobbit, Gollum and several other creatures casually wandering around outside of Rupp (in the snow)!" Hughes said. "We received more than a few strange looks from people passing by, but it sure was memorable."
