My vast network of internet friends led me to Larry Fall who has way more memories of the Phi Psi 500 than any of us. Larry recently retired from IBM and returned to State College. As a friend of Pete Bortolotti and Charlie Maguire, he has enough bona-fides to make him an honorary PSU Track Alumni (Golfer). He may not be aware of it, but he's also invited to our Reunion and Golf Tourney in perpetuity! That's just how we roll.
Here's Larry speaking about the event:
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| Pete Bortolotti leads with Larry Fall blocked out in the back of the team. |
Pete Bortolotti is now a professor in Providence RI and adds this:
One of my more treasured findings in my foot locker. A shot of my team at the start of the Phi Psi 500 sometime in the late 70s. The only bummer is that I'm the fifth guy and am mostly blocked out of the pic.— with Dennis Gildea and Pete.
For those that don't know, the Phi Psi was a charity beer drinking race run through the streets of State College. Basically, it was a 1.1 mile race where you ran in and out of six bars chugging a beer in each bar. It started and ended at the Phi Psi house on Locust Lane. The race began in 1969 and lasted for about 20 years before it was finally shut down.
In it's heyday it had over 2000 people running and about 20,000 people lining the streets of town watching. Being able to run immediately after chugging a beer is a bit of a unique skill. Not everyone can do it. Those who try almost immediately discover it's a lot harder than it looks. I was fortunate in that it was a talent that seemed almost natural to me - and I got pretty good at it.
The route usually ran from the Phi Psi house on Locust, left onto Foster, right onto Pugh, left onto Beaver at SAE then onto the Phyrst, from the first you backtracked a few yards then turned down the Alley to Rita's (or the TomCat, or Brickhouse, whatever the now torn down bar would have been called that year). From Rita's you continue down to Calder Alley and the My-Oh-My (now the Darkhorse). From the Darkhorse, you continued on to the Skeller, ShandyGaff, then the Brewery. After exiting the Brewery you headed back down Beaver Ave to SAE where you turned back onto Pugh retracing your steps to Phi Psi.
I'm sure my team in the photo won the team division that year because we were stacked. Between the five of us, we probably had around 8 individual championships so there was no way that anyone was going to threaten us. From left to right in the photo: Dennis Gildea, Pete Bortolotti, the late Tod Jeffers, Jim Frye, and me.
Thanks for bringing back some fun and fond memories. I think that was the year I set the record (5:13). Have to make some time to find my way back to SC again soon.Pete did make it to one of our Reunions a few years ago.
I remember Charlie winning the 5000 meters at the Penn Relays in '74 or '75, then winning the Phi Psi the following weekend. He said he was more proud of the Phi Psi win than the Penn Relays one.This post would not be complete without a nice video from Larry Fall from 1982!
Though PSU rightfully takes pride in its history of the Beer Mile, the resultant police crackdown , and the what might have been had freedom of expression bloomed and flourished in State College, PA, I'm afraid the Nittany Lions must alas take the backseat, play second fiddle, or shovel the poop of their rivals to the northwest, those Wolverines of Ann Arbor when it comes to audacity, boldness, brashness and brazen I don't give a damn, in your face, look at me, Mom, willingness to celebrate Springtime, running , beer drinking, and natural beauty, with the one mile naked run that flourished and died in Ann Arbor much the same way the Beer mile died in State College. How is that for an opening sentence? I've pasted an account of those Ann Arbor follies below.
ReplyDeleteThe last day of classes for University students is typically a day of celebration. And, several decades ago, students revealed their joy — through the naked mile.
Starting in the mid-1980s, students began the one-mile run at the intersection of South University Avenue and Washtenaw Avenue, pass through the Diag and end at the Fleming Administration Building.
Initially, Ann Arbor police turned the other way, thinking it was a fraternity prank, according to a Sept. 19, 2006 article on the Ann Arbor Police Department’s website. While indecent exposure is a punishable crime, the police didn’t receive any complaints by people in the city.
Every year the group of runners grew from the original 15 students to hundreds, according to the article. Every time the runners gathered, a crowd of students lined the streets. In 1999, the number of spectators reached close to 10,000.
As the number of participants grew, so did the diversity of runners. When the run started, only males partook in the event, but over the years more females joined, according to the article.
After a few years of the run, the police began to give out citations for indecent exposure and disorderly conduct — mainly for alcohol-related reasons — which led to dwindling participation.
To combat the indecent exposure citations and pressure from the University to refrain from participating, students began to run while wearing underwear, bras, plastic cups and other articles to keep themselves “unexposed,” the article states.
But police continued to patrol the run, and in 2002, the run was also monitored by a police helicopter, according to an April 19, 2002 article in The Michigan Daily.
At the time, the University released a statement to the campus community dissuading participation in the run. “Students were discouraged to run because the event was unlawful, dangerous and an embarrassment to the University and participants,” the Daily article states.
After only a few dozen runners participated in 2003, due to pressure from police and the University, the event failed to return the next year, according to an April 15, 2003 Daily article.
Thanks, George! PSU also has a less organized history of naked running. Some of our members were quite prominent in their participation if not their endowment... There's also nothing wrong with a little nakedness, in moderation. For some of us it was the very first sight of the opposite sex. I'm speaking for a friend...
ReplyDeleteThat type of running allowed for the coining of the term,
ReplyDelete"I'll show you my heels."
We still have the Mifflin Streak and the Naked Woods of course.
ReplyDeleteAlums from the late 80s/early 90s will remember the time that one of our teamates stayed home from an away meet (maybe even Penn) because they were injured, only to have their picture on the front page of The Collegian the following Monday as the winner of the Phi Psi. Needless to say Coach Groves was not pleased.
ReplyDelete