r , December 19, 1960
e Progress
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THE NITTANY CUB
It really all began with the
Sproat family. Last year Henry
Sproat, a Behrend freshman, and
his family acted on an idea which
had been ten years in the incuba
tion stage and which was the cam
paign pledge that elected Hank to
the Student Council. The idea was
to finally complete construction of
a ski run on the hill behind the
dorm. The Sproat family planned
the course and dug a total of nine
holes for poles, which were donated
by the telephone company. These
poles would be used to mark the
course and to support a rope on
pulleys, powered by a motor, which
would provide a tow up the hill.
At the end of the Spring Semester,
1960, the project had not gone any
further than the digging of the
holes.
On a day in late November, a
group of students met at the bot
tom of the hill to renew the effort;
five poles having been hauled to
their respective holes by Ward
Goldsmith, a member of Behrend’s
Maintenance Department, earlier
that morning. Included in this
group was Mike the Red (haired),
Bill Swanson, Jack Schickling, Ken
Tracy, Gene Nutter, Mr. Thomas,
Andy Zawosky, and Bob Martin of
Martin’s Service Station who vol
unteered his tow-truck to help lift
the poles and set them in position.
The group worked hard and ' ■ ; - it - -
steady on each pole by first raising ' - v . - i * 'JO|
and propping the pole. Then, hav- . - /-V; y Jfc
ing lined the pole up with the edge
of a Ski Run
of the hole, a chain was tied se
curely around the upper portion of
the pole and, while the students
held on to guide ropes, the truck
raised the pole up, and down into
position. The hole was filled in and,
as a finale, Jack Schickling was
sent aloft to recover the chain and
guide lines for the next pole. So,
in like fashion, five poles were
erected that afternoon.
•Since that time, slow but steady
progress has been made. A shack
has been towed to the top of the
hill to house the three-horse motor
which is a battered but well
preserved veteran from the first
attempt to construct a ski run, and
pulleys have been attached to the
poles in anticipation of the tow.
All that remains is for the motor
MEM
and the rope to be placed and for
the copper wire, also donated by
the telephone company, to be in
stalled between the power house
and the hilltop..
Plans are now being made to
organize a ski club among the avid
skiers at Behrend to help complete
the ski run and support a petition
to get an instructor from one of
the ski clubs in the Erie area who
is only too willing to help any en
thusiastic college ski clubs, free of
charge. Let us get behind the stu
dents who have started this project
and, perhaps, by the end of the
Christmas holidays, the ski run
will be operative and will become
the newest attraction and diversion
offered the student at Behrend.