Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 270

This feature followed closely on the inauguration of Sunday At Homes by Dr. and Mrs. Hollis soon after their arrival. Clarence P. Shedd, who for three years had been an effective secretary of the Y. M. C. A., resigned in 1914 to become state student secretary for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. At about that time, Edward F. Miner, '87, on behalf of the advisory committee, secured from the Institute Trustees an appropriation of $500 toward the salary of the general secretary. The new man selected for this post was Gren 0. Pierrel, graduate of Penn College, who had been an Association secretary at University of Iowa. As soon as the gymnasium was ready for occupancy the Y. M. C. A. moved to quarters that had been designed for it there, an assembly and reading room, office, and billiard room. In 1916 the first Tech Carnival, a series of skits by various fraternities and the faculty, was held in the gymnasium, under Y. M. C. A. auspices.

The gymnasium immediately became the center for other social functions, assemblies, mass meetings, and dances. The Class of '16 held its senior ball there, and during summer practice there was a Shop dance. In 1913 and 1914 the interfraternity dance was a social feature of the spring; the following year it was converted into a junior prom, scheduled for the evening after the Tech Show. The Show continued to be regarded as a highly important event and Winsor R. Davis, '16, continued to be the favored playwright. He won the prize of fifty dollars offered for the best script for the 1914 play, "Lost a Fortune," similar prizes for his 1915 Show, "The House that Jack Built," and for his 1916 product, "The Cup and the Cop."

Athletic contests produced the usual modicum of victories. The 1913 football team had to be content with no wins. The following spring the baseball team had but two victories. Track athletes, by contrast, were making a glorious record. The indoor relay team, Reed, Warren, Moulton, Russell and Keith, started the establishment of a reputation for Tech in this event. The outdoor track team also produced a fine triumph over Rensselaer. In 1914, after another dull season,

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Last Modified: Fri Jul 30 11:15:25 EDT 1999