OSU
Sports History Minute - October 26, 2000
Part
6 of 10: Fuel on the Fire
One
of Oregon State's oldest athletic traditions, the
Homecoming bonfire first made its appearance during
the years prior to World War I (the exact year is
not currently known) and has survived with periodic
interruptions to the present.
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Recent
History: OSU Student Alumni Association
members throw a cougar effigy into the flames
at the 2000 Homecoming bonfire.
Photo
by E.J. Harris, originally appeared in The
Daily Barometer.
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Some
500 students, faculty and alumni attended last night's
Homecoming Bonfire 2000 in anticipation of the big
game tomorrow against Washington State (see photo).
Generic wooden pallets are used today to send the
flames high in the air, stacked high in the middle
of a gravel parking lot on the southwestern edge of
campus near Reser Stadium. Bonfires in the old days
were much higher and examples of completed structures
pictured in back issues of the Beaver yearbook show
students standing atop bonfire piles that look downright
scary. Heights of from 50 to 70 feet or higher were
achieved during the 20s and 30s and the flames from
these piles could reach as high as 200-300 feet and
be seen for miles around the town of Corvallis.
Long the domain of the freshman class, the Homecoming
bonfire today is the responsibility of students who
are members of the Alumni Association's Student Alumni
Association.
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Left: A spirited student uses a torch
to get the 1941 bonfire burning.
Above: The 1941 Homecoming bonfire in
full blaze. |
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Above:
Students climb on the pile of fuel before
the 1930 bonfire. |
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During World War II, the bonfire tradition was dropped
for 1943-44 and canceled again during the 1970s when
student interest nationally in college customs and
traditions reached an all-time low.
In the old days, the bonfire pile had to be carefully
guarded the night before the game. On several occasions,
bonfires were touched off early by over eager Duck
fans wanting to spoil things for the Beavers.
The tradition was revived again at OSU during the
mid 1980s and seems to grow a little bit each year.
--George
Edmonston, Jr. |
