University of Idaho - Gem of the Mountains Yearbook (Moscow, ID)

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TRADITIONS steneeenesenerenprenetnrererarenetersr ent ti sauaveUNteRENA AEH t mit 1 nanenaTeredet with r vin sree HE glamour of college life cen- ters in traditions. It is the many happy memories of all the stu- dents of all the years that makes our Alma Mater so powerful in holding us long after we have gone from her doors. It is these same traditions that are the glowing, living spirit that is called the University. Whether that spirit is good or bad, whether that influence is for the building of better citizens and nobler ideals rests in the hands of those who attend and add to it their contributions—mental, moral and spiritual. Idaho alumni do not love their Alma Mater so much for what she has done for them as for what they have done for her. The richest of her gifts can be utilized only by those who contribute unstint- ingly. One of the most firmly established of these traditions is the Bonfire and Pep Rally the night preceding the Pullman game. For two days the Frosh have the honor and privilege of collecting a great pile of rubbish to be burned as incense to the great god PIGSKIN. The same Frosh jealously guard the pile to prevent any Pullmanite with incendiary proclivities from igniting the pile too early and thus bringing down the wrath of PIGSKIN upon the Silver and Gold team next day. The bonfire is not the only event that takes place on the night before the big game. Any citizen of Moscow will tell you that the “Pep Rally” on that night is as wildly exciting as a three-day Fourth-of-July celebration and the battle of the Marne rolled into one. Late in the night the incense fire is lighted, the medicine men give speeches that would put fight into a wooden Indian and the pajama-clad snake-dancers do a barbaric ring-around-the-bonfire far into the wee-sma’ hours. Page Ten

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th —Kedsins Harvard Contest Gf bee not thoroughly established as a tradition as yet the Harvard Contest may well be considered as such. In no other way is the true spirit of a school expressed so unmistakably as in its rooting at any ath- letic contest. Is the school behind the team? Are its members true sports- men? Are they big enough to take defeat and smile? Can they win a vic- tory without becoming arrogant? All those questions are answered by the way in which the rooters conduct themselves and are conducted by the yell- leader at a game. [or any school to win a prize for its rooting is a com- pliment to its ideals. On the afternoon of October 15, 1920, when Idaho and Washington State College lined up for the kick-off, no Idaho student present felt that Idaho would win, but they were there to put all the fight they could into the men who wore the gold jerseys and when the Cougars went home they felt they had tasted all the blood they wanted. The score was 7-14 in their favor, but Idaho won the Harvard contest by a wider margin than that and proved herself broad-minded enough to root for a victorious team’s players that were knocked out. The Pullman game is never a milk and water affair— it is a battle to the finish and brings out everything that a school stands for. When Idaho roots for a man she doesn’t do it merely because her yell leader asks her to, but because she admires fight even in a Pullmanite. The fair-minded, cheerful attitude, the loyal support of the team and the old “Idaho fight” won for us the Harvard contest in the fall of 1920, Page Eleven