Crowd at a Boxer Toss

Title

Crowd at a Boxer Toss

Description

A crowd of Pacific University students, mostly men, participating in a "Boxer Toss" on campus in April 1968. The Boxer Toss was a tradition where students who possessed the original bronze Boxer statue would bring it to campus so that a new group of students could battle to possess it. At this particular Toss, the student newspaper reported: "The Phi Betes [Phi Beta Tau, a fraternity], after five hours of a grueling, sweat and short-temper producing Boxer fight last Wednesday, won possession of Boxer, only to lose it shortly thereafter to the AZs [Alpha Zetas]. ... The AZ's became the mascot's new owners when the Boxer's get-away car broke down and several AZ's, who had been following, were able to take Boxer away from the driver." (The Index, Apr. 22, 1968)

Boxer is a bronze statue of a qilin which was the inspiration for Pacific University's mascot. There was a tradition of students stealing, hiding and fighting over the original Boxer statue since the early 1900s.

Identifier

PUA_PeoSlides_031

Date

1968

Date Created

Apr 1968

Subject

Student Activities

Pacific University

Mascots

Spatial Coverage

Forest Grove, Oregon

Format

Slide

Source

Pacific University Archives