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

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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.

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Tl', L 53'w5'4-l'? er,fe.sf-+fAr,r-fs Hay toss Win gives Ag Club Western spirit Q nr- ,, ' okfiukiu, , . . , in I' Fambrough i l i f . Q . .r Q , Q I' H 1 -. .-.932 ' - vi ' Lx. gif , ., i Q- '-M. .W , .9- Qn,..'d'2,gg . 'x ' 'K 'lp fir l 5 fi 'tit .C ..,. u..Q3Q,4 Kenny Ortolano relieves another member ot his hay-tossing team after several failures to get the bale over. Several bales ot hay, and contestants. were demolished. The final roundup, Steve Stropolo stops one of two pigs in the greased pig contest, The pigs ambled freely around the quadrangle among viewers before they were caught, So prepared with plenty of muscle, the club was faced with a group of oppo- nents from the athletic dorm. Five-man teams of any origin were eli- gible to compete for the trophy. No mud bath was used, just an imaginary line on the grass. Through a struggle which lasted almost five full minutes, putting rope burns on several arms, the Ag Club failed to regain the trophy. Of course, the name ofthe athletic dorm is the Ponderosa. A tug-o-war was held for the women, as a group of female Ag Club members doggedly tried to defeat a nameless team, but lost on a sudden strong pull. In the hay bale toss the Ag Club met the same group of athletes, but the tug-o- war winners ran into a little trouble. The winning team is determined by the fastest time with each team member toss- ing two bales of hay over a twenty-foot bar. Running first, the Ag Club didn't have the usual problems, like having a bale come apart in the hands or throwing a