Lynx to the Past Podcast

The podcast discusses two traditions at Rhodes College, white ball and freshman hazing. White ball is a game that originated in the 1940s and was popular among students. It was a simple game played with a tennis ball and a roof as a playing platform, and it could be played by anyone regardless of skills. White ball was inclusive and often played in different weather conditions. On the other hand, freshman hazing was a tradition where upperclassmen, known as the Sanhedrin, enforced rules and subjected freshmen to penalties. The hazing included activities like pajama races and straw hat burnings. The tug-of-war match was also a part of freshman hazing. Imagine it's your first year at Rhodes College and you arrive at a new place full of new faces and buildings as well as a strange game called white ball and strange hazing initiatives such as having to wear straw hats or bonnets, tug-of-war matches, or pajama races. All traditions are now considered things of the past. Welcome to Links to the Past, Professor Huebner's History 205 version. We are Lily Grace, Kieran Miles, and Gavin Nagel, here to tell you about the long lost traditions that have slipped through the cracks of time. As the years have passed since Southwestern's relocation to Memphis, traditions have formed and dissolved, leaving a lot of questions as to what Southwestern, now Rhodes College, students experienced during their time at the school. Some of these traditions that Southwestern students participated in lasted longer than others and can be considered friendlier than others. Come with us as we take a deep dive into the school's history through the lens of students who came before us. One of the biggest on-campus traditions that we found was the presence of a game called white ball. White ball was played by students located on the west side of White Hall near the refectory porch. It originated in the early 1940s and continued through the 2010s. White ball was so popular among students at Rhodes that they created an official white ball association in 1974. The association sponsored open tournaments for students to enter as a competition option. Although the sport was still played recreationally by students in the morning, afternoon, and evening outside of official tournaments. White ball was described by some students as a game that everyone could get involved in, regardless of athleticism or skills. Founding students emphasized how white ball brought diverse groups of people together. One of the elements of white ball games allowed for random people who were walking by an ongoing game to jump in and participate, even if they were not in the game from the beginning. White ball is similar to handball or wall ball. The only equipment required were a tennis ball and a roof as a playing platform. There's no restriction or requirements about the number of players on each team. Team size was determined by the number of participants at any given time. The play participants were split into two teams. Once teams were created, participants determined who was going first by throwing a ball into the air and spelling out Bob every time that it touched the ground. When participants finished spelling Bob, the first team to touch the ball won the first serve. The team that won the first serve would begin the game by throwing the tennis ball up onto the slates of the roof and then hoping that the opposing team did not grab the ball before it bounced twice. If the opposing team caught the ball, they won the right to throw the ball onto the roof for the next turn. If the team did not catch the ball, the serving team would be awarded a point and would get the ball back for a second serve. Games were played until one team earned 13 points, but the teams had to win by at least two points, so games could go much longer. If a team got to 12 points, they would give the ball to the other team to serve regardless of whose turn it was to give the opposing team a chance to come back and rally to a win. There were no out-of-bounds, so the ball was always in play as long as it didn't bounce twice. This likely led to acrobatic and athletic attempts to get some of the balls back onto the roof before they reached the second bounce. Because the game was simple, required little equipment, and had almost no restrictions on the number of players, it was highly popular. It could be played in most conditions, so white ball games have occurred during great weather but also in rain, storms, fog, and even snow, often making some of the bad weather games more chaotic and fun. Additionally, games that were played at night took on the name Nightball instead of Whiteball, although the rules of the game were the same. Whiteball is one of the longest-standing traditions at Rhodes and fits into the Rhodes ethos. Its simplicity allows anyone to play, and the management of the game allows students to jump in and try it out, becoming part of the community if they, even if they'd never heard of the game before, they left their dorms. It matches a lot of the aspects of Rhodes culture because it is so egalitarian. It is easy to see that even when someone who has never played a ball sport can manage to be an important player on Whiteball, so it is truly open to every person to participate. The randomness of Whiteball was part of the appeal because the rules could change based on who was playing, terminology could change, and the players took advantage of the loose aspect of the game to adjust it constantly. One of the best parts of the Whiteball tradition is that it ties into the idea of Bob, the fictional student and a name used throughout the late 20th century for various seemingly random things. As an example, Bob has appeared at Rhodes in 1989 honors papers, registered for classes because someone in student affairs created a file for him, and even appears in the Southwester, first in 1972 Halloween edition, then with an obituary a week later. Incorporating the letters B.O.B. into the game rules shows how important the character Bob was to Rhodes students in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Whiteball lost popularity and it's not clear why, even though the Southwester indicates it was popular with students and alumni for decades. It is no longer played often on campus. Recreating Whiteball culture should be possible with the current students because Whiteball incorporates so many elements of contemporary Rhodes student culture. It's fun, it's a great way to relax, and it allows for a wider community of players. A student who set up a Whiteball game near the Rat in the weeks before finals would likely get a lot of participation from fellow students looking to blow off steam, relax a little, and hang out with friends while keeping their body at least somewhat partially occupied. Whiteball is a much different tradition than the one mentioned for the rest of the podcast. Some may say Whiteball is a much friendlier tradition. The next part of our podcast revolves around some of the hazing that freshmen faced when they arrived at the then Southwestern Presbyterian University. When freshman students arrived on the new Southwestern Presbyterian University campus in Memphis during the fall of 1925, they were met with a mystic order of upperclassmen, the Sanhedrin, which is a Greek term for, Greek term meaning sitting together. The Sanhedrin was said to be composed of one member from each fraternity, one independent man and the editor of the Southwester. One member was elected high priest who was the leader of the council and the other members retained the title of elder. The society ran the freshman hazing, planning and overseeing the various freshman activities such as pajama braids, straw hat and their burnings, and the snake dances. The Sanhedrin would work side by side with the women's undergraduate board to ensure the good spirit of hazing. They would often hold meetings together during the hazing period. In the Southwestern yearbook in 1926, it was stated that the Sanhedrin was a council of upperclassmen, or upperclass people, that made sure that incoming male students observed and abided by the rules and traditions of Southwestern first year students. The date of the founding of the Sanhedrin is unknown, but the original group was founded in 1923. Not long after it was revived again by a group of upperclassmen in the fall of 1924 and made its way to Memphis in 1925. The Sanhedrin oversaw the hazing and application of restrictive and often nonsensical rules for first year students to follow, which was seen as part of furthering Southwestern traditions. The Sanhedrin also received the right to punish any first year student who violated any of their rules. The council would uphold traditions, traditional regulations, as well as enact new rules. The Sanhedrin and the women's undergraduate board would often have meetings to discuss things like penalties for the freshmen. When receiving these penalties, you would go into a room one by one and be questioned under an extremely bright light, like an interrogation. It was said that these meetings were conducted in a very serious manner. A couple of examples of these penalties that freshmen receive after their questioning would be having to skate to class, pull a wagon, or even wear a laundry bag around. Also, it was said that some of the Sanhedrin meetings, the council would sit at a table in black sweatshirts and in the dark with candles on the table lighting the room to intimidate students. The tug-of-war match had been constantly evolving over the years, dating back to at least 1941. With Cignu winning it over the non-frat team, the annual tug-of-war started as a competition between the frats with one non-frat team. Tug-of-war was not the only game they competed in. They competed in other games like boxing and ping-pong, sort of a frat olympics. Then, the annual tug-of-war match evolved into just the freshmen on campus. This match would take place in the mud as a form of hazing, while the upperclassmen and girls watched from the side for entertainment. When it was just freshmen who were involved in the tug-of-war match, they took one half of the freshman boys on one side and the other half on the other side. During the battle between freshmen, there was a lot of tension there. The tug-of-war then was characterized as a vital piece to freshman hazing. The match was also held at different locations over the years. One year it was held on the football field, but in other years it was held on the baseball diamond and many other locations around campus. At one point, the annual match was the freshmen versus the seniors. The seniors wanted to do this because they wanted to test their strength against the freshmen. The freshmen battles it out in the mud to see who gets pulled into it and intimidated in front of the whole crowd watching in amusement. One thing did stay consistent through all of the tug-of-war matches, it was always muddy and people got dirty. The freshman hazing was a staple in the traditions of the college. In fact, it was known as a season at the college. Hazing was also characterized as a key part of maturing into a southwestern man. One example of a harmless form of hazing that was done to freshmen at the college was that the freshman boys and girls had to wear bonnets and straw hats. They also had to wear name play cards. The freshmen would have to wear these hats all semester until the football team got their second win. After the second big win, they were able to burn their hats and didn't have to wear them anymore. The period would vary on how long they would have to wear them based off the performance of the football team. After getting rid of the old hats, the freshman men were given official southwestern colored hats that were to be worn for the remainder of the year. The harmless hazing did not stop there. A common phrase that upperclassmen would shout at the underclassmen was to get off the grass and to put your bonnet or straw hat on and stop laughing. Typically right after the freshman runoff, so it's the end of it. Sometimes when freshmen were confronted by upperclassmen, upperclassmen demanded the freshmen to entertain them. Although hazing is a crucial tradition and part of bonding the freshmen, it was not always liked by all. In December of 1962, hazing was voted to be abolished by the student council. Some students stated that hazing has had a lingering death over the last 10 years. It was said by students that hazing is on the decline because of the increase in maturity of freshmen and the disinterest of the upperclassmen. These claims were quickly met with resistance and many students were opposed to this decision because they needed to uphold the traditions of the college. Some students expressed their opinions that hazing was a vital piece of unifying and bonding the freshmen. Soon after, there was a very large survey done on the student body about hazing. The outcome of the survey was that many students were dissatisfied with the idea of hazing but did not want to abolish it. Some students attempted to plead the case for hazing and say that hazing was there to help orient and welcome new students to campus life. During the freshman fall, the upperclassmen take two weeks to get the freshmen acquainted with the campus and show them around so they become aware. Throughout the hazing season, the sophomores are the most helpful to the freshmen because they have all just gone through the same events. Also, the effects of hazing from the previous year have still not worn off yet. A group of students felt as if there should be some sort of compromise between completely abolishing hazing and keeping it. They came up with some alternatives and talked about how they just wanted to keep the good parts of hazing. That is where the birth of the Freshman Talent Show came from. Other similar, less notable activities were also suggested. The Talent Show is where the freshman class holds a show to show the upperclassmen their appreciation for making them feel welcome and becoming more oriented on campus. The Talent Show consisted of things like pantomimes, songs, dances, and skits that would entertain all the upperclassmen. It would also be for the embarrassment of the freshman class. There were two organizations in charge of the hazing program. The two groups were similar and called the Sanhedrin for the men and the Women's Undergraduate Board for the women. The two organizations were put into place and functioned together to ensure both freshmen and upperclassmen participate in good spirits. There was a time at the college when hazing was not widely practiced, but also condoned and was known as a tradition by the school at the time. Wearing our pajamas to class isn't something that anyone thinks twice about in 2023, but they did in the early 1900s. Not only would be wearing bedtime clothing outside of one's bed's chambers be socially unacceptable, but it was also a punishable offense. When put in this perspective, you can see how it would be mind-boggling as a freshman to march up and down Main Street or onto the football field during halftime wearing something like your pajamas. Especially when many Memphians were watching this migration up and down Main Street. This was also during a time when our opponents were schools that are now big-time SEC football schools like Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. The first mention of the pajama parade is in an article from the Sioux Western on October 8, 1926, titled, Bedlam Breaks Loose When the Frosh Parade in Pajamas. The article describes the parade as pure chaos. All of the hotels of importance were visited, clerks held their ears, bellhops popped, chambermaids fainted. The parade is described to have gone up and down Main and Madison, Union and Main, and Beale. The description of the parade is continued in next week's Sioux Western article, which explains that the freshmen also marched from Hotel Claridge to Hotel Gayoso, the latter of which no longer exists but was located at the riverfront. This explains as to which hotels of importance were visited. This parade was grand, seemingly undertaking a march of the whole city to haze freshmen. The pajama-clad march from the Hotel Claridge to the Hotel Gayoso was mirrored again in the fall of 1927 with the addition of a stop at Hotel Tisca and the Peabody Hotel. However, there is no mention of a freshman pajama parade in 1928, but it continued again in 1929 with freshmen parading around in scanty attire. The article with this title once again describes the freshmen going in and out of Memphis hotels and stores dressed in their best pajamas. Similar to 1928, there is no mention of the chaos causing the pajama parade in 1930. The tradition carried on in 1931 and 1932 when students would march down Main Street and spell out Southwestern. The parade seemed to shift gears from traveling around Memphis clad in pajamas to halftime shows in the 1940s. The halftime show described by the Southwestern in 1952 is the freshman boys dressed up in their pajamas will pile their shoes together at the end of the playing field to try to find their shoes and put them on. Naturally, they will be encouraged in their search by paddles wielded by the hands of upperclassmen. Shortly after this article was published, the freshman pajama parade came to an end, seemingly due to the negative response by the freshmen who were being hazed. The origin of this tradition is unknown, but its impact can be seen all around campus in pictures hanging up in the Barrett Library Room 051 or the hallways in the BCLC. The tradition represents a different time of the college and asks the question of the modern student, is this an unacceptable way to treat new students or a way to build student camaraderie? After learning about all of these unique traditions, we have been given a new perspective into the lives of the past students. Needless to say, we don't condone hazing that took place, but we do need to appreciate the insight that it's given us. I think we're all pretty happy that we don't have to wear straw hats, bonnets, or parade through Memphis in our pajamas, but maybe we hope to see a white ball revival. Thank you for listening to our Links to the Past episode. We hope you found it entertaining and informative.