Huskiana

The place: the Fenway, near the Museum of Fine Arts. The scene: a phalanx of students tightly massed around a twelve-foot greased pole while another horde storms their ranks. The goal: for the marauders to somehow scratch and claw their way to the top of the pole to seize the class colors flying on top. This "pole rush" was the climax of a series of events each fall in the annual Freshman-Sophomore Rush, a highlight for students of the 1920s. The Rush featured other challenges, both physical and psychological. A tug-of-war placed student teams on opposite banks of the Muddy River, each intent on sending their adversaries into the drink. The night before the Rush, class presidents were routinely abducted. The Rush was finally abandoned in 1932 because of the growing size of the freshman and sophomore classes; the increasing number of abrasions, contusions, and other mishaps during the tug-of-war and pole rush-and the tendency of some pole-rushers to strip their opponents naked.