Slime-Soph War, 1924

What on earth is going on here? I scanned these images a couple of years ago then, confused, forgot about them:

The answer is in the 1924 Campanile, which I am still looking at today. This was an actual fight, part of a nearly week long tussle between the new freshmen and their would-be sophomore overlords. The freshmen came out on top in the end, led by their clever class president William McVey:

It’s hard to know where to start with McVey, one of the most interesting characters of this era. He was both a football player and an artist while at Rice and he went on to a long and productive career as a sculptor. Here’s his entry in the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (yes, that’s a real thing). I’ve got some good stuff about his pieces on the Rice campus which I will dig out for tomorrow.

Bonus: Fondren is closed as of this afternoon but I would like to say that we’ve been washing our hands in there since before it was cool.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Slime-Soph War, 1924

  1. Enjoyed this piece. Re: the last picture: What if you’re not just visiting, but live there?

  2. Nancy Burch says:

    William McVey carved the friezes on the exterior of the San Jacinto Monument.

  3. Galloway Hudson. Wiess '60 says:

    Very curious that an artist from Cleveland would choose to attend an infant institute almost on the frontier in 1923/1924. I surmise that either 1) he was recruited to play football; or 2) the reputation of W. W. Watkin had spread far and wide by that time. Once, at Homecoming, I asked Dr. Lebron how he liked living on the frontier. He replied, “Oh, Houston is not on the frontier. Dallas is, but not Houston”.

  4. Grungy says:

    Turnverein Hall: “In 1913 the club moved to into a large four story building at Prairie and Austin that had been designed by Sanguinet, Staats, and Barnes. This complex contained a gymnasium, a library, meeting rooms, bowling alleys, ballrooms, banquet rooms, and a theater which could seat between 300 and 400 people.”

Leave a Reply