The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 14, 2004, Horseshoe Special, Page 5, Image 17
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BY TIM MCMANUS
THE GAMECOCK
America was in a state of flux in March 1974. The country
had yet to begin healing from Vietnam, Patty Hearst had
been kidnapped, The Godfather II was in theaters and
Richard Nixon was five months shy of resigning the pres
idency in shame and scandal.
In times like these, running naked with 500 people can seem like a
pretty rational idea.
It was neither too hot nor too cold that Monday evening in March —
Perfect weather for the 508 USC students who made their mad dash
across campus and into history books.
The 1974 Garnet & Black summed up streaking as “the art of shed
ding one’s clothes and making a mad dash from one part of campus to an
other.” For about two weeks in 1974, streaking was the ultimate colle
giate pastime.
u was jus i a naiunu, nuarious nigu, uso aiumnus aunon Sinclair,
49, said. Sinclair, a banking consultant, was a first-year journalism stu
dent when he decided to bare all.
Sinclair said he had heard whispered rumors of the plans in the few
days of naked fever that had been sweeping the nation. Streaking had be
gun in small doses months before and was beginning to seep into the
national conscience.
As legend stands, two USC students had been caught streaking at
the State House one Sunday and were told by police they wouldn’t care
about streaking as long as they kept it on campus, Sinclair said.
The next night they led USC students in an exhibition of over 100
USC students’ bodies—mainly athletes’. That very day, rumors spread
of a plan for an even larger streak. These rumors invited students to
meet on the Bates House ramp the next evening, March 5,1974.
Sinclair, his roommate, and 506 other students heard these rumors,
and before he knew it, he was carrying his shorts and glasses, running
from the ramp wearing nothing but half a woman’s stocking over his
face and a pair of tennis shoes.
Two students planted at the end counted the disrobed students as
they left the ramp. A student, bearing a burning broom and wearing
tennis shoes and a necktie, led them.
Their next destination was Greene Street in front of the Russell House,
k where a crowd of more than 5,000 spectators had gathered, including
f two well-dressed elementary school teachers who would not give their
names to the 1974 Gamecock student newspaper. They had just left a
cocktail party.
Sinclair said Greene Street was too crowded to run, and people had to
snake through the crowd.
“It was like being at the airport,” he said.
“After the crowd, you started running,” he said.
When the streakers started running, they dispersed into smaller
groups and made their way to various points on campus.
Sinclair and about 40 others ran over the Horseshoe to Barnwell
Street, where they ran though the lobby of Columbia Hall and, according
to The Gamecock, delighted the female desk assistants.
Four displeased female residents looked on at the spectacle in the
lobby, screamed and made for the elevator. One streaker joined them.
Sinclair recalled that later this young man told him the girls stopped
the elevator a couple floors up, kicked him out and made him walk
down the stairs.
Another group of students went to the Horseshoe where they made an
appearance at the president’s home. The next day USC President
Thomas F. Jones released at statement saying he “instructed law en
forcement officers to do whatever is reasonable to protect the majority
of our students from abuses or interferences within their basic rights”
and that it was time for the students who streaked to “return to accept
able values.”
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USC’s then-assistant director of public information Sig Huitt told
The Gamecock that he heard only four complaints about the streaking.
Eventually Sinclair and others made their way to what is now the
Thomas Cooper Library.
“Going into the library was kind of weird,” Sinclair said. “People
were in there trying to study, and naked people were running around.”
Streakers stood in front of the library’s glass windows to give on
lookers a view, he said, and ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” captured
the whole thing.
The next day, Sinclair said, such a large group of streakers climbed on
top of a Volkswagen bus that the roof caved in.
“The owner didn’t seem to be around,” he said, “Because nobody
seemed angry.”
Streaking continued at USC for the next few days but not to the same
extent as on that record-setting Tuesday. The record was broken three
days later with 1,543 streakers at the University of Georgia.
Sinclair said the record wasn’t the point.
“It just seemed like something fun and crazy to do,” he said. “It didn’t
really matter who held the record.”
FILE PHOTO FROM GARNET & BLACK
On March 5,1974, 508 students streaked their way from the Bates House ramp across campus to the Horseshoe.
Strict schedules, poor food,
BY MEG MOORE
THE GAMECOCK
lthough South Carolina College was char
tered Dec. 19,1801, the first students didn’t
enroll until Jan. 10,1805.
Maximilian LaBorde, an early professor
at the university and president during the Civil War
years, remarked later, “Most gratifying is... the first
person admitted into the college (was) one of the most
distinguished of its alumni. ” That first aspiring schol
ar was William Harper, who later became a statesman.
The first students at Carolina had to be skilled in Greek
and Latin, have a solid grasp of English grammar and
writing, and have a general knowledge of arithmetic.
All nine prospective first-year students had to take
entrance examinations their first day on campus.
Applicants were rarely rejected. Isaac Smith was the
first to be turned down by the acceptance committee
and, according to administrative records, was the
only student rejected through 1809.
By the end of the first session, USC had 29 students
and continued to grow. The school held its first com
mencement exercises in 1807. Most of the students at
South Carolina College hailed from the Midlands —
Gov. John Drayton attributed the lack of Lowcountry
students to their "general practice... of smoking and
chewing tobacco,” which was looked down upon,
Drayton explained, in “genteel company.”
Genteel or not, students were bound to a strict dai
ly schedule. At 6 a.m., students attended a prayer ser
vice in the chapel. The students returned to their
rooms to study until 8 a.m., when breakfast was
served. From 9 a.m. until noon, they were expected to
be studying in their rooms unless required to attend
a lCLliauuii -d Class
or lecture. Lunch was
served at 1 p.m., and the
afternoon was again ded
icated to studies and
recitations. Dinner was
| served at 5 p.m. follow
® ing prayer, and students
were free until their 9
p.m. curfew.
Instituted to provide
“good fare at the lowest
possible price,” the col
lege’s board policy
aimed to keep students
from venturing out to
town boarding houses
where they were often
overcharged. However,
the “commons” fell short
of student expectations,
and they often headed to
29 students: USCin 1805
the taverns for meals despite the compulsory policy.
In Daniel Hollis’ history, unhappy diners described
the meals as consisting of meat “so raw as not to be fit
for eating... worms have been seen in the salt meat.”
Greens were also served often — “these frequently
having worms in them” as well.
Student dissatisfaction during the early years of
ten resulted in uprisings. Faculty and staff property
was often damaged, animals were stolen, and in the
case of the Great Riot of 1814, students burned an ef
figy of hated professor George Blackburn. As
LaBorde noted at the time, “The relation of faculty
and students was not the relation of friends.”
Another important aspect of campus life was the
collection of oratory societies. Just weeks after the
school began its first session, the Philomathic society
organized, providing a forum for debate and literature
discussions. The group soon divided into the
Clariosophic and Euphradian societies as member
ship increased. According to HoEis, “No accomplish
ment was more respected in the South than oratory.”
The Clariosophics met in a room above the chapel
whEe the Euphradians occupied the thyd floor of the
Old North BuEding. The groups moved to Legare and
Harper CoEeges, respectively, when the buEdings were
completed in 1848. Group meetings usuaEy included
two speeches by orators and two or three debates.
PoUtical issues—namely slavery, high tariffs and nul
lification —were hot discussion topics. South Carolina
CoEege students in general were very aware of state,
national and world events and were expected to pre
pare extensively for their debates. One of the most re
spected honors a student could receive was to be named
the anniversary orator. The selected student would
then speak at the club’s annual anniversary meeting.
PHOTO COURESTY OF USC ARCHIVES
The Horseshoe, as it looked when USC was the South Carolina College,
was home to many fewer stuents and buildings. 1
PHOTO COURTESY OF USC ARCHIVES
Whenever snow hits Columbia, U5C students flock to the Horseshoe to play In the snow
before it melts.
Life comes to a standstill on the rare snowy day
BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL
THE OAMECOCK
’"T”! lake by flake through South Carolina's
jgJ unfamiliar air. mingling between tree
limbs and sparse leaves, falls the rare
’JL fluffiness that patiently turns bleak
greenery into photogenic winter scenery.
To an area so unaccustomed to white accumula
tions, snowfalls and their chilling temperatures
are greeted with warm excitement. It’s a chance to
see a real-life illustration of the scenery in “A
Christmas Story” or “A Charlie Brow Christmas.”
It’s a chance to feel crystallized water land on the
palm of a hand oV the bridge of a nose and instan
taneously change from solid to liquid. It’s a chance
to experience the present moment, knowing the
memory will evoke sweet nostalgia 20 years later.
And there are few places on USC’s campus that
capture snowfall with the same perfection as the
Horseshoe. It could be the contrast between brick
buildings and the whiteness of a snow blanket; or it
could be the neatly organized trees with their over
hanging boughs and snowcapped topsides; or it could
be that all the open space is appealing to the eye.
Either way, students flock to the Horseshoe to catch
a glimpse of "winter” before it melts away.
“You rarely get li chance to see the Horseshoe
covered with snow,” said Kimberly Hartig, a third
year marketing and management student. “So it’s
worth seeing, when it’s possible.”
Just as the Horseshoe’s aesthetic value varies
among sightseers, its effect is as different as each
flake of snow. Some feel compelled to take pictures:
others make snow angels; and some just sit and
watch. But overall, the mix of snowfall and the
Horseshoe’s atmosphere prompts free-spirited at
titudes and a desire for fun.
“We were just throwing snowballs — me and a
group of friends — and all of a sudden five or six
random people showed up and joined in,” second
year media arts student Chris Martin said. “It was
a Horseshoe-wide war.”
Unlike the pictures and memories of snow an
gels and snowball fights, the blanket of snow only
lasts a few hours, melting away and leaving a moist
ened version of the bleak scenery as the sole rem
nant of snow’s inhabitance.
For those who flocked to the Horseshoe and
caught a glimpse of USC’s white blanket, its return
would be welcomed. And for those yet to see the
Horseshoe in its winter’s finest, it’s a sight worth
seeing — and photographing, and snowball mak
ing, and watching, and a whole list of things only
seldom possible, and captured best on the
Horseshoe.