Nicholls State University - La Pirogue Yearbook (Thibodaux, LA)

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T... 2 Grit the teeth, close the e es and ive a ull is Y Q D the combination put together by Carolyn Landry as a group ot women from the Ag Club com- peted in the tug-o-war Keeping the little fingers extended to increase the sound, Regis Bergeron gives his call in the hog calling contest. Contestants were iudged on quality, Ioudness and authenticity, Bergeron won u Weslr rn Week Ag Club rounds up the herd Wednesday dawned with the cowboys armed and ready. Stetsons were pulled low as the heat grew and the stampede came. A tale ot the Old West, an Indian attack on the dusty prairies? No, just the Agriculture Club preparing for their annual Western Week Roundup in the quadrangle. The three days of festivities included enough ot music, food and contests for anyone to enjoy. One of the oldest events on campus, Western Week was originally hosted by the Clod Busters, the forerunners to the present-day Agriculture or Ag Club. With a stereo set blaring out a combi- nation of rock and countrywestern sounds, the large bar-b-que pit worked overtime. As noon approached on Wednesday, students leaving the buildings surround- ing the quadrangle knew Ag Club mem- bers were hard at work. The bright sun and warm April day brought out many students who lounged in the grass, soaking up a tan or tossing an occasional trisbee. l-low long do I hold him, seems to be on the mind of Danna de la Cruz' mind as she readied one of the chickens for the scramble for women contestants. .QA 'ia

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ru U C cu 3 U Members of the Ag Club came out dressed for the occasion, sporting boots, bandanas, Stetsons, rugged shirts and bronc bustin' jeans. Ranching, farming and country styles were present as the workers kept busy selling and the pit grill kept busy cooking the burgers. Special Western Week burgers Cspicy or regularj, double-beef burgers, hot dogs and drinks attracted the hungry. The main fund-raising project for the year is the money collected from the sale of food, and small entry fees for the con- tests. The contests. The second half of West- ern Week begins on Friday each year and includes a list of contests which would test the endurance and skill of any cow- boy. Endurance was needed in the beard growing, tobacco chewing and spitting contests. The beard growing contest began four weeks before Western Week to allow entries to show with reasonable growths. Not only were the beards judged on length, but color, texture, feel and other items the judges felt like throwing in. The tobacco endurance contests pro- voked the most nausea from the audi- ence. To eliminate the contestants, judges made them do various excercises includ- ing sit-ups, push-ups and running around in a circle until they call it quits. The winner's face contrasted with the shiny gold trophy by being a light shade of green. One mistake was made to schedule the tobacco spitting contest right after the chewing contest. Most of the participants had gotten rid of their load before the spitting started. The contest which drew the most entrants, for only 25 cents, was the greased pig chase. Last year no pig was available so a goat was substituted. This year, two very large C75 lb. +3 pigs were coated with 40 weight motor oil and released. At first just strolling around the quad- rangle, they moved at the sight of over thirty partially dressed guys running full steam at them. 52 Western Week Front man for the Ag Club tug-o-war team, Regis Bergeron applies his muscle, but the Ag Club lost out. The tug-o-war battle dates back to the Clod Busters. One decided to make tracks through the audience, while another nearly made it to the administration building, Elkins I-lall. It was assumed the Ag Club advisor, Dr. Robert Falgout, would explain the porker's presence there. The hog calling contest was held, although the hogs were safely penned up and recovering. Human judges provided the opinions that gave Regis Bergeron the prize. While not necessarily the loudest, the judges leaned toward the quality of his call, whatever that was. Bergeron, a senior in agriculture, won last year's goat calling contest, proving he had something in his voice. For the women, a chicken scramble was set, with chickens which had been bound and caged most of the day. The chickens agreed to their part. It took flying tackles, high jumping and bruised egos to bring in all of themf The duo-contest of Western Week was the egg-toss, which pitted a team of two persons twenty feet apart tossing and catching an egg back and forth. With each toss judges made them back up several feet until the only way to reach a partner was to throw the egg high and hope for a good catch. ' 'T 15' :ff .V gi: fi, Q .j 1e?xqs.pg.-- . - .2.ff,?- . ,Y - 'ylg-'x-. The elbows are the last resort in preventing the egg from dropping in the egg toss contest. Contestants were allowed to catch the egg any way they wanted, but not break it As the distance increased, several uni- que catching forms became obvious. One pair tossed the egg high, then fol- lowed it down with their hands until it almost hit the ground. At this point they palmed the egg mak- ing a large loop, bringing the egg up and softening the landing in their hands. This maneuver helped them be one of the two final teams, when both teams broke their eggs on the same toss. The last two events were important to the Ag Club members. Until two years ago the Ag Club was the undisputed champ of the tug-o-war and hay bale toss. In 1974 they lost both events and failed to regain either last year.