PAGE THIRTY-EIGHT Brawn Over Brains— Frosh, 4 or 5 Brawn rather than brains was the principal asset of fresh man and sophomore students if they were to emerge un scathed from the class scraps that were part of the University during its middle years. Beginning in the late 1880's and lasting until the 1920'5, several hundred students four or five times a year took part in these mass brawls. From time to time rules were established to reduce the physical damage to participants, but abra sions, lacerations, and contusions were frequent and fractured bones common. Even one death—a stu dent who died when his lung was punctured by broken ribs—was re corded in 1907 in a scrap involv ing 500 students. 'The Rushes' Whitmore Won Fame As Chemist By NED FREAR Frank C. Whitmore, Dean of the School of Chemistry and Physics from 1929 to 1947, was one of the most famous and re spected men ever to work and teach at the University. Dean Whitmore was a valuable member of the American Chemi cal Society, hoPing almost all the offices of the organization at one time or another. He was respected far and wide for his invaluable research in in organic chemistry, especially in; connection with the war effort. One of his more notable accom plishments was winning the Wil lard Gibbs Medal through the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Societ in 1945. The Gibbs medal is the outstr , nding medal in the chemical field. Whitmore was Director of the! American Chemical Society. a di rector of the Second Institute of Chemistry at Northwestern, a fel-, low of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,; and a member of the American! Electrochemical Society. Whitmore, better known as "Rocky" to his. friends, has been described as vigorous, warm, lov able, inspiring to those under him, and always busy. He was the man who "got it done." He was extremely infltiential in the ACS, speaking at many functions and writing numerous papers. In one of his papers he set the entrance requirements for the society. Whitmore also received the Wiliam N. Nichols Medal for chemical research in 1938. Whitmore was born at North Attleboro, Massachussetts in 1887. He received his 8.A., M.A., and Ph.D. at Harvard by 1914. He taught at Williams from 1916 to 1917, Rice Institute for the next year, and at the University of Minnesota from 1918 to 1920. In 1920 he moved to Northwestern where he remained until 1927, when he first appeared at the University. In 1927-28 Whitmore was chair man of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the National Research Council. He was also a collaborator in the Bur eau of Chemistry and Soils in the Department of Agriculture. He was a member Vf the advisory board `) the chief of the Chemical Warfare Service, United States Arm. Du y ring World War 11, he or ganized and supervised a group of 35 instructors for Army Spe cialty Training and Navy Vsl2 programs. His personal wartime research related to aviation fuels, special lubricants, super-explo sives, anti-malarias, synthetic rub ber, p nicil l i n, silicone, and camouflages. 'Practicums' First With University Laboratory courses are common place in American universities, but the University is believed to be alone in calling them "practi cums." The term was derived from the manual labor requirement for stu dents established in the act es tablishing the school in 1875. As opposition to the provision of the act requiring students to do manual labor at least three hours daily, the labor detail was transformed into a "practicum" which finally became the conven tional laboratory. Sophs Battled Times Yearly As to the mayhem involved, there was little choice between the many events which included the cane rush, the picture scrap, the cider rush, the flag scrap, and the banquet rush. The cane rush was a "no holds barred" clash between the fresh men and sophomores to see which group could get the most hands on a cane. Held each year from 1888 to 1901, it was replaced by an interclass football game which was considered less dangerous. Rules forrnalized.in.l9o4 estab lished the cider rush in - Which the frosh were to sneak a barrel of cider onto the campus past the watchful eyes of the sophomores and deliver it to the juniors. The sophs of course were expected to discover the plot and foil it. Later the barrel full of cider was replaced by an empty barrel with padding around it to prevent injuries in the "ight for posession. 'Stop the Picture' The goal of the picture rush was for frosh to make arrangements for a class picture and for the sophomores to prevent enough of them from assembling for to be taken. It was replaced in 1912 by a pushball contest, involving a six-foot rubber ball, after class sessions were being continually broken, up with the cry: "Stop the freshman picture!" The early part of the second se mester was marked by the fresh man banquet rush. The aim here was for the sophomores to pre vent the freshmen from leaving town for the banquet held at Bellefonte, Williamsport, or other nearby towns. The last banquet scrap was held in 1910 , after a furious tussle at the train. The freshman-sophomore rival- THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA Congratulations Penn State I Frosh Raise Their Class- Fl FRESHMEN AND 3 engage in the freshman picture clash. the freshman ban the annual flag scrap, popular at the turn of quet clash, and the cider scrap. Few holds were the century. It was one of several rough and barred and as the scraps became more NOM tumble competitions engaged in by the two their popularity waived until all but the tug rival classes. Others included the cane scrap, of-war are nearly 'forgotten today. . ry was climaxed toward the close lass Numeral Painting Slogan Old Custom of the school year by the flag • racticed in Early 1900's "Get It at Metzger's" was first rush. First the frosh tried to fly their flag from the tower of Old Beginning in 1902, the class - of used by 5.4. K. Metzger in 1920. , Main and later the spot was the 1904 started the custom of paint- As one can see, only "You Can" tower of the Armory and finally ing class numerals on the tower has been added to what is prob the freshmen raised their own .f Old Main. ably State College's most famous it pole on campus. This practice continued for sev- slogan. -ral yeah with the classes trying Metzger started his 'store while Five-day Scrap o outdo each other in ingenious still a junior at the College in One year the flag scrap lasted ways of getting the numerals up 1914. from Friday night until 1 p.m. there. The danger ,of the practice - Tuesday, when the soptlomores, caused the scene of action to be a few years, and there it con outnumbered and outfought, gave hifted to the Armory roof after firmed for some time. • up the struggle. In 1919 the student body voted • to abolish all the traditional scraps ' as being too dangerous to life and limb. Only two scraps were al- Happy lowed—a tug-of-war and a tie-up battle. In the tie-up battle, both. versary sides were supplied with a length of rope and the class binding hand Anni and foot the largest number of , the opposing class was declared ' ' the winner. . to Penn State University Dragged Sand Bags • A sand scrap with each side on this your hundredth having to drag bags of sand across a goal line was tried in 1922, and . in 1925 a pants scrap was intro duced with each side attempting moRRELLis to tear off the legs of the oppo nents' trousers. However, both of these were short-lived, and after 1930 only the tug-of-war remained as the symbol of the struggle be- 112 S. Frazier tween the freshman and sopho- , more classes. . years young . . . . . . and still growing bigger and better. Clecafield's is proud to be a part of your celebration, and of the growing university community. Styles have changed greatly in 100 years, but like her grandmother, today's coed still likes to dress with all the smartness of the timely silhouette . . . And she finds her "timely silhodettes" at Clearfield's. The store that concentrates on you. One hundred years is a long time. We've been serving the coeds of Penn State for only five of this first hundred, but you can bet we'll be here for a second! arfield's Op Old Main TUESDAY. FEBRUARY 22; 1965
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers