Auburn University - Glomerata Yearbook (Auburn, AL)

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little annoying when she started to squeal. Here's a picture of Auburn's first football team. Look at the Flush, it hasn't changed a bit! My voice was starting to rise a little. The students sure have! Look at this picture of the KD's. They were the first sorority here at Auburn. Boy, the pledge classes don't look like that anymore. And look at those girls in those horrible bathing suits! People at other tables were starting to look at us. Betty calm down! Oh! Look, these guys are the first ones to have their cars registered! Betty! People were really starting to look at us now. I took the book away from her. After all, indigestion is easy enough to come by at War Eagle, no need for us to help it along. old lnHm 3 1

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Old Traditions I was trying to force feed myself in War Eagle one afternoon when someone snuck up behind me and slapped me on the back. ''Hey! Wacha-up to? It was Betty, who always seemed to walk around with a happy but confused look on her face. As soon as I finished choking I asked her, What took you so long? You were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago! I was looking up some information for a class at Ralph, down in the Archives. Take a look at this book I came across. Auburn, A Pictorial History of the Loveliest Village. C'mon, since when have you been such a history buff? Hey, the key word here is pictorial. Even can handle a few captions. Look at this! Betty could be a

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Happy Askew An Auburn Tradition I talked to Happy” Askew today. Actually, his name is Mr. William K. Askew, but that sounds a bit formal for one of Auburn's oldest living alumni. The reason for the nickname is clear — the man finds great enjoyment in life, and he's had a lot of it to enjoy. He told me that I shouldn't wait until I'm an 87-year-old to write my autobiography as he did. That is too much time and life to put into one book, he said. Then he questioned me about my life and decided I had not lived enough in my years. He said he was going to buy me a train ticket to life. Already a slight generation gap was evident; I would buy someone a plane ticket to life. We tried to bridge this by comparing the one thing we had in common — Auburn. But even that is not the same. When he attended this University it was still known as A.P.I. He graduated with the class of 1917, a special class. When war was declared April 8, 1917, the seniors were released to enter military service. Many returned for graduation exercises that spring. To benefit the school they loved so much, the graduates took a collection and built the entrance gate at Toomer's corner — the same gate that is rolled after every Auburn victory. He told me his class has a special feeling of togetherness that can't be found today and proved his statement by saying A.P.I.'s class of 1917 has had more reunions than any other class in America. I asked him about his years as an undergraduate. He paused and then said his classmates did not roadtrip to away games as we so commonly do now. On special occasions, such as the Alabama game, approximately 30 students took a $3 train ride to the city and returned to Auburn the same night. He expanded, saying that the normal means by which A.P.I. students followed team progress differed. He said that the students devised a more economical method that allowed them to stay at home, a method called football matinees. On away game days a telegraph wire was strung from the railroad office to Langdon Hall, where students would gather, and the individual plays of the game would be relayed. The students set up a blackboard marked off as a field and when messages were received, the game would be replayed. He then forged ahead and asked me if I had heard of the Hobo club. I told him that I had, but I didn't know what it was, so he explained. Back in Happy's college years the young men would go into the back woods and purchase some moonshine. The young men would use this wonderful liquid as a gift to the engineer, the fireman and the brakeman of the train passing through Auburn bound for Atlanta. In return, these three would slow the train and leave some car doors open. The boys then had transportation to Atlanta. The students would return at the end of the weekend on the same train, but this time the train would come to a complete stop. It seems that the passengers would be unable to walk, much less jump off a moving train. Fraternity brothers and friends would be waiting to unload the precious cargo. Happy said. He told me these stories and many others in such vivid detail that I could almost see myself in such situations. And as he talked about the spirit and tradition of his class, I realized that our years were not much of a separation after all. We are not the same, but our spirit is shared. 32 MMfctKWn