Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 325

presentation annually to the member of the freshman class who should be adjudged to have done most for the Institute; the selection naturally was to be influenced by athletic achievements.

The dramatic association was reorganized in 1923, adopting the new name of "The Masque." A prize of fifty dollars was offered for an original play to be presented the following spring. None was found acceptable, so the vehicle chosen for 1924 was "The Dictator." In 1925, Masque presented "Three Wise Fools." The Tech Banquet, abandoned as an annual event in 1913, was revived in 1925. It was held at the gymnasium, with Prof. Charles J. Adams as toastmaster. Principal speakers of the evening were Dr. Hollis and Charles G. Washburn. To Dr. Hollis the student body presented a clock.

During this somewhat drab period the campus was occasionally enlivened by a sophomore-freshman fracas. The faculty, theorizing about the need for healthy rivalry, endeavored to dissipate animal spirits by some form of organized contest. A flag rush on Alumni Field was tried in 1923, with sophomores defending their class banner nailed to a fifteenfoot post. It was a lively scrap for awhile, but it failed to satisfy. Later a cage ball contest was substituted. The enthusiasm that it aroused was almost negligible. Even the privilege of selling caps to the freshmen, at a reasonable profit, was taken from the sophomores in 1923, when this commodity was taken over by the Book and Supply store.

An occasional athletic victory was sufficient to keep teams going on the field and court. There was exactly one football victory in 1922, one and a tie in 1923, two in 1924. The 1924 season was the first under the coaching of Ivan E. Bigler, who succeeded Fordyce T. Blake, head coach since 1914. Bigler had replaced Henry C. Swasey as assistant athletic director in 1921, when the latter went to University of New Hampshire. He had been a prominent athlete at Juniata and Springfield, and proved to be a capable coach in basketball and baseball as well as in football. The 1924 season was also

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