STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE / 17
Tradition Born in the’ 70s
“ Stilly. Loyal and True. Theta Pond. Frank Eaton. Edmon Low. Pomping. The Walk. Orange Fountain. These words become part of you after joining the Cowboy family. Our traditions are the ties that bind us and keep drawing us back.”
Thus, Oklahoma State University’ s website introduces today’ s students to cherished campus traditions. Safe, honorable kinds of things. But for OSU students 50 years ago, a more raucous, untamed tradition emerged.“ Streakers Night” was born on March 7, 1974, the Thursday night before a week-long spring break.
Children, close your eyes. In a largely spontaneous and unscripted event, OSU students, sometimes alone and other times in packs, scampered and staggered naked down The Strip, three blocks of taverns, restaurants and retail outlets on Washington Street south of campus. Streakers were often emboldened by beer or“ weed” and always by a cheering mass of classmates and onlookers.
Nudity was not confined to the ground level. From the roofs of businesses on The Strip, revelers from above would“ moon” or“ flash” the crowd below. One man gained notoriety for sitting on top of a tavern sign for an hour“ clad only in a heavy beard,” the Stillwater News Press reported.
Some said the spirit of the night reminded them of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. One witness said it was like several blocks of“ Animal House” antics.
For the rest of the 1970s, Streakers Night returned to The Strip with various levels of nudity and intensity – but always boisterous crowds on the
Thursday Night before spring break. Crowds were generally estimated at 4,000 to 6,000, with a few dozen arrests each episode, more often for drunkenness than nudity.
For many students, Streakers Night was set on their calendars as surely as homecoming, Bedlam sports, finals week or graduation. But the tradition was short-lived.
INFUSED BY FREE SPIRITS
The arrival of streaking Cowboys and Cowgirls was hardly a surprise.
Streaking – or running naked in public for laughs, as a protest, or some unknown reason – had become a national craze in the early 1970s. It reached its peak in 1974 as a novelty song titled“ The Streak” by Ray Stevens topped the charts. A streaker bolted across the stage during a live telecast of the Academy Awards that year. Thousands of incidents of streaking, many on college campuses, were reported across the country.
On Sunday before the first Streakers Night, there were reports of seven streakers at OSU as 1,400 students roamed the campus, applauded streakers and ignited fireworks. Another nude runner was arrested near Theta Pond on Monday, and four naked men were photographed after sprinting
For many students, Streakers Night was set on their calendars as surely as homecoming, Bedlam sports, finals week or graduation. But the tradition was short-lived.
STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE / 17