Southwestern College - Moundbuilder Yearbook (Winfield, KS)

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I his remarkable record was kept up for 14 succes- sive years. Sometime the odds were ,so great that it seemed Southwestern couIdn't win, but, in the nick of time + often in the last few minutes of play - a mysterious change oc- curred, the tide turned, and Southwestern was saved again. A Then the black cat came to be called the Jinx. . 2 Q jginally, the Fairmou ers got suspicious a superstitious, They c cluded they couldn't against the invincible which really was the querable Southwestel Spirit that prevailed those days. In fact, so one conceived the noti that if Fairmount had t Jinx it might work for hers it had for S.C.

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The 'irjghttnadfitions least Ahalloirof ,reverential awe whic h, Qadided. to the of the facademic ofsprhere, Jmake it .a ap,art.'where one can and dreamf and hold, A A with the- great Soul-S, gOff-feairth,. Four years spent in such at sacred place .createa 'love for' alma ma- iierjinailas like nothing else. CFI eafiilflg f ' - in 'fA -Southwestern tradition that has fallen into-disuse is tfheograveyard..The idea was to loiuryy-our..defeate'd toes. T-his was always done -with pro rrtzere m'ony,,.but' t-he the CamDuS,3nd b.Uild-- ' n idea 'ofuarcemoetery orfour ca miprus is udistastefulll We have room hyer'e1fo.rarn,othing dead! .Let our rivralsf bury their own deadlon their own campusesi Q , l if ' Q 'Qutof the graveyard eer- emony, however, ,grew up and developed onelof the rnost unique co,iiege'tradif tions in America, afbsolutely' original with Southwestern - the' story of-the Jirix.-' . 4 when 'Hold Fairmount College P- ' 'Wichita State U niversitlys 'to a you - .4-f -was defeated in affootba ll. ga me to thie .tunefrof 41 1l0'j3,'a Southvvesterng e-student pre- y i feat-fSouthwesterno!' Ocea- ' ! g ifbR:'LERoY1ALLEN- pa red j at tohib'stone with the figure, of a, black scat, the word' '?Hoodoo ' at the top, and the score underneath. g. A ' This f -stoneg ' Jreposed pea cefu I ly' ,enough aim oinfg 'fithie ghosts. of it-he 'burial ground-fuontilg. it began to be noticed that from that time on, 'Fairmount couldn't- ,de- Saionally s. C.'sTrivals would rnavnage :to tie ftheiisoore, but they, Could ' never ewizh, ,whereas Sout-h'wesiternfa'IQ ways--won, or ,at 'least -tied the, score. Then the black' ,cuaipa-m'e args be' pa-lied me J,anx.fv g 1,

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night visit to our grave- rd' followed and the Jinx is gone. lt wasconcealed Mirrison Library on the irmou-ntca-mpust. ' ' The idea was to bury our 'feated-foes, 1 Q V ne falla former South- estern student enrolledlat irmount. He- then ask-ed .bye shown the sightsof eftgamipus and evinced -a' reat interest in the library. airmount thought it had? cqiuifred ta real student.. nd -so iitihad!fHe got all the nowledge he wanted in ne Adayfandfreturniedq to outhwestern. y g QA few nights later a group rom SO-u'thwestern,1 in- .pi-red by the example ,of heir fellow y bookworm, vis- ted the same repository of earning. and brought- the linx,-back home and locked t up in an- underground 'afult an Richardson Hall. The football 'v-ictories-con- inued. Fa'irm.oun't became tesperate. Something had To be-done. F ' The students were atumpedq They sought the :uperior strategy of a facul- ty- member and a? mostdas- tardly plot' was prornulfgat- ed. A fair coed from Fair- rnount, rin lher-turn, regis- tered at Southwestern - and did the Southwestern boys go foriher? A dozen far more beautiful and gra- cious' S.outhw.esternY girls seemed commonplace and dull tothe poor dupes-who flocked to, the standard 'of ' the charming stranger. To all 'who came, the lovely deceiver was most friendly and kind, and the-poor fools -pouredout their hearts to her and told her all they' T knew f which wasnftvery m'uch'! Butqit was enough! ln' a fewdays she cancelled her registration and went back to Wichita' with her tale. - - , i F ' few nights later the Fairmount professor of physics and 'his minions appeared, lifted the iron grating of a ventilating duct that led to the vault where the Jinx reposed. sent one of the smaller students into the -vault, where-he tamp- ered with the lock in such away that the professor could- work the combina- tion. The Jinx -was carried away out on the Cannonball highway, :placed in ia ditch with la stick of dynamite and blown 'to bits: The pieces were ,gathered up and-used as charms in- the pockets-or fists of Fair- mountfootbalfl players! y- ' 3-. T At least this is the story the raiders told. But. its' truth is-'d'is.p'roved .by-A the fact that three or. four, stones with the 'figure ofthe Jinx are known to survive concealed in various places on o'r near the-'Southwest .ern campus, and' by the still more convincing evidence,- that, ,every now' and then, .the -Jinx appears onthe gridiron-, sometimes in the formtof -a jlivin-g cat, and a.wards W.S.ll. a telling de- featg as it did only lastliyearl u Th.e'Jinx stilllives and fights for old yS.C'.,- and for her alone! .- , - T ' - Taken from a history of SC,traditions which appeared in thfe .campus newspaper in the l94O's. ' v r . ' . and theipoor fools fpoured out -their hearts. to her andgtoldg her- all -they knew., Q s ,