Drake University - Quax Yearbook (Des Moines, IA)

Page 16 text:

Like old soldiers, football at Drake nefuer seems to die, no matter how weak the pulse or how dark the prog- nosis. Now and then there is even doubt about its fading away, though the past two seasons have only occasionally cast doubt upon what would seem to be its impending demise. 'X However, when the unexpected does happen and the team turns in a resounding win, football becomes once again, as in former years, the autumn king. Such was the situation this fall when the limping Bull- J. K. 13-ROXYN dogs, victims of three losses in four starts, handed the short end to Iowa State. This in itself would have been amazing, but when the victory coincided with Homecom- ing ceremonies the results were simply uncanny, for Home- coming is usually not much more than a big buildup to an even bigger letdown. The alums congregate and gen- erate all sorts of spirit liberally upholstered with what is known alternately as rah-rah or ugung ho. They then shake their heads as the home team founders and they vow vengeance next year. This is the classic pat- tern. Last year they shook their fists and said, . . . 1953! And to everyone's surprise, it worked. Given a two-week idle stretch on their schedule, which they used for drills and scrimmages, Coach Gaer and the team finally synchronized Cswitched to a T for- mationj and, helped not a little by an amazingly inept Cyclone team, pulled a 12-7 victory from the final min- utes of the game. Pre-Homecoming publicity, apparently mindful of the record, had emphasized the non-violent aspects of the weekend: the convocations, decorations, the queen and her court, the dance. Suddenly these were only the side- show attractions, as they rightly should be, and the team emerged as Hero Number One. Almost at once the inevitably political remarks about the queen's selection and the complaints about the choice of band for the dance quieted and were replaced by the knowledge that Skip Day 1953 would be what it was supposed to represent-a genuinely spontaneous demon- stration.

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The academic midway . . . pifchmen af ev- ery rurn . . . you pays your money: you geis no choice finger in the collegiate pie, were chagrined no end at the lack of an influx of Korean vets, whom they fthe admin- istratorsj had previously expected to descend on Drake in droves. Recalling the hectic era of 1945-49, when swarms of G.I.s overran Drake, and when the six wooden temporary buildings were built to accommo- date the crowdg the moguls had expected a grand inva- sion. But no invasion came. Instead, low-tuition state schools picked up the majority of returned servicemen. Bewildered fresh weve an uncertain ' course through the maze of fables, 1 rarely emerging in less than four hours, offener in eight Blase faculty, having been fhrough if many iimes before, managed fo retain calm and poise

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TOM KEETON President Harmon, compefing with fropic fall weather, enhanced fhe befrocked faculty, sfaid upperclassmen and srill-malleable 'fresh- men ai traditional opening convocation af University church. The only thing that could ruin the lVIonday-after was the weatherg the spirit behind the event was real and not tinged with that something-for-nothing thought that lurlced in back of the demonstrators' minds in l952. But the weather, though in the morning chilly and cloudy, was benign. The cheerleaders had an easy job evoking the proper responses and weren't needed at all when the ollicial okay was given. The rest of the day followed tradition. The usual dancing in the streets, stalling traflie, angering some mo- torists and amusing others, took place in defiance of one- way-street signs. The customary minor property damage occurred and was indulgently laughed off by merchants who perhaps welcomed a little relief to the blue-llflonday retail doldrunis. The generally bad movie was worse than ever: I, the Jury, one of the year's ten worst ac- ' x IU?