Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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was short-lived however, because after two meetings the Tech Council decided, on November 8, that ’39 should forfeit the rope pull because we took undue advan¬ tage of the Frosh. Some class had to be the “goat” to end unfairness in rope pulls and 39 was it, much to our disgust. Before this, the Frosh had also won the inter¬ class track meet from us, which only deepened our misery. Later our spirits were raised, however. The hard fighting Soph football and soccer teams defeated the corresponding fresh¬ man teams. In the latter part of Novem¬ ber, the Tech Carnival was again put on. This time Warren Keating again came through with a winning skit for us, “Charlie Chin in Worcester”. No more events of interest occurred until March, at which time the fast playing Soph bas¬ ketball team not only defeated the Frosh, but also won the interclass hoop title. In April the Soph-Frosh rivalry was tied E.E.’S ALSO MUST EAT by our win in the bowding matches. Things now r seemed more hopeful for us than at the beginning of the year. In May there was a little class strife all our own about junior jackets for which we had long waited. Very few r of us will ever forget that half-hour long class meet- PINKY’S MEN ing, after physics lecture, when dinners became cold and arguments became hot. Some wanted red, some wanted grey, some didn’t care. The final choice was red jackets, now long familiar. On May 24 elections were held for our next, or Junior year, with the following results: President, “Al” Raslavsky; vice- president, John Hoi lick; secretary, “Charley” Amidon; treasurer, Carl Lewin. The Frosh-Soph rivalry was now re¬ sumed. We won the rifle clash, but the Frosh took tennis and golf thereby gaining for themselves the Goat’s head. Our next event of the year was our first social event as a class, the Soph Hop, which was held at the Worcester Country Club. Soon after exams came and went, marking the end of our career as Soph¬ omores. The first event of interest to us as Juniors was the fall pledging of Tau Beta Pi at wdiich time several of our class were chosen. For a while, life as Juniors was uneventful with only the usual mid year finals to break the “monotony”. On Fri¬ day, April 1, an assembly was held which was of intense intere st to Juniors because at that assembly Skull “tapping” took place. When tapping was completed we 123 ]

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the halves of the Connecticut State foot¬ ball game on October 19, gave us our first inkling of this and the loss of the track meet gave further evidence of this fact. On Saturday, October 26, the much heralded rope pull was held, but for us it was only our third bitter disappointment. In the interclass soccer, November 16, we were again, much to our mortification, defeated by the class of ’38. We had one condolence, however: the strength tests showed our class to be the stronger, if that means anything. In the interclass football game our hopes brightened a bit as the game was hard fought to a scoreless tie. In the middle of November w ' e forgot our woes as a class for a while, when we became intensely interested in the fratern¬ ity rushing which was conducted under new and stringent rules. Studies became neglected to make way for the royal recep¬ tions received from the fraternities. After pledging was over and our work began as pledges our pride was brought down a notch or two. On March 14, that gala event, the Tech Carnival, was held at which time we had CIVILS TRY A NEW STRUCTURE another chance to try to defeat the noble Sophs. On that night, class of ’39 pre¬ sented Warren Keating’s excellent skit, “A Midsummer’s Nightmare” and raised the spirits of all freshmen by winning the Carnival Cup. Our Joy was not long-lived though. Only a few weeks later the Sophomores defeated us in swimming and later also in bowling. HEY! NELLIE Before school closed in June we decided to hold our election of officers for the second year. Those elected were “Dave” McEwan, president; “Ed” Roszko, vice- president; John Holliek, secretary; Carl Lewin, treasurer. Soon afterward the last assembly was held at which “Al” Raslav- sky received the Skull Trophy and “Dave” McEwan received honorable mention. Our second year opened with the usual onslaught by the Sophs on the Frosh, we, the Sophs, feeling much superior to the lowly Freshmen. Before the year finished, said Sophs discovered their superiority was purely mythical. Our first inkling to this effect came when ’39 was defeated by ’40 in the paddle rush. At the rope pull we redeemed ourselves by soaking the Frosh after only twelve minutes. The joy 122 ]

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found that our classmates thus honored were Rushton, Korolyshun, Hollick, Chand¬ ler, Lewin, Ljunggren, McEwan and Ras- lavsky. On March 15 the Tech News carried the first Junior Prom publicity, remind¬ ing us of that event of events for a third- year man, namely Junior weekend. The prom held in the Bancroft’s main ball¬ room with the scintillating music of “Tommy” Reynold’s Orchestra was an event to be long remembered. The “Show-Off” excellently presented by the Masque continued the festivities on Saturday night while the Round-Robin dances topped the joyous weekend. The last important event of this year came on May 24 at government lecture when class elections were held. The crew selected to guide the class on its trip down the home stretch were: Raslavsky, pres¬ ident; Hollick, vice-president; Amidon, secretary; Keyser, treasurer. The ordeal of finals then came and went and we broke up for the last time at which we could look forward to coming back in the fall. Some events are spoken of as having a “whirlwind beginning”. That phrase can be admirably applied to the Senior year of the class of ’39, the whirlwind being the now famous New England hur¬ ricane. All of us vividly remember the readily apparent change in appearance of the campus on return for the last year of our formal education. Later in the year the Worcester papers carried an official appraisal of the system of athletic scholarships, a practice begun with our class. The results were highly successful as evidenced by the now famous undefeated season successes of the ’38 football and soccer teams, both of which numbered many ’39 men among their players. Not so well known, however, was the also phenomenal success of these men MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING of ’39 as students with most of them on honor rolls time after time. At the first two assemblies of the year, eight men of the class were pledged to Sigma Xi and ten to Tau Peta Pi. On November 19 the Tech Carnival again “rolled around” with a tradition falling with presentation of a fine Junior-Senior skit in place of the justly famed faculty act. Just before Christmas recess many of us attended the interfraternity Ball which was an innovation in Tech history in having a “name” band, that of Glenn Miller, supply the rhythms for the evening. The Christmas recess was not long over 124 ]