Mud sliding, exploding fire hydrants, a flaming car drenched in gasoline -- all this while the majority of the 10,000 person crowd was, let's say, "not in the right state of mind." In the 1960s and 70s, this was the annual tradition of Easters at the University.
Easters has a long history, dating back just prior to the turn of the century. University alumnus Wayne Cozart, current director of Alumni Affairs, discussed this history.
At the time when the University was an all-male school, there were four main social weekends: Opening in the fall, Mid-Winter in February, Easters during Easter weekend and Finals around graduation weekend.
Easters was a time when University men would invite women from the surrounding female colleges to attend dances at the University. Two competing dance organizations hosted the dance portion of Easters weekend: The Pot & Kettle Society and German Club, which ironically did not relate to German culture.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the dances were the highlight of the weekend. Then in the 1960s, the University fraternities became more involved with the event by hosting dances, bands and parties in their houses. At the time, drinking was considered a violation of the honor code; however, this belief died quickly as the combination of Easters and alcohol grew more popular.
By the 1960s, drinking played a major role in this event. Drinking became even more influential when the legal drinking age for beer was lowered to 18 in 1974. Hence, alcohol became easily attainable -- a positive or negative change, depending on how one looks at it.
Easters eventually turned into a regional event -- students would invite friends from all along the East Coast to celebrate Easters weekend. Later in the 1970s, Easters became a much broader event, attracting visitors from other countries, according to Cozart.
Cozart described the sights tht characterized his first Easters experience in 1980.
"What I saw was a large number of people on Rugby [Road] with alcohol openly being drunk, trash cans with open alcohol punch and many open parties," Cozart said. "There were parties in the frats with things not ending until Sunday."
Tom Faulders, University alumnus and current president and CEO of the Alumni Association, remembered that there was always a dance held the Friday night of Easters, organized by PK German and the Student Union.
"They were able to attract popular music groups at the time," he said. "I was there during the psychedelic movement, and we were able to get a popular band called the Strawberry Alarm Clock to play at U-Hall. The rest of the weekend was filled in by frats -- the U.Va. officials didn't have to do anything with [the planning of] those."
Like any college tradition, Easters lacked national notoriety until it got the definitive stamp of approval -- that of Playboy magazine. A 1974 issue of Playboy magazine listed the top party schools in the country, but left the University of Virginia off the list. Why, you might ask?
According to University alumnus Peter Quick, "From the words of Playboy: 'Sorry, U.Va., we don't rate professionals.'"
"The fact that Easters was the best party in the country is probably an overstatement, but that Playboy quote made Easters a very important event ... it gravitated the number of people brought in for Easters," Cozart said.
A downpour of rain came during Easters weekend in 1975, creating an extremely muddy Mad Bowl field and quite a memorable scene for attendees and observers alike.
"In the Corks & Curls, there are pictures of people covered in mud from head to toe," Cozart said. "The muddiness was bad enough that the showers of the first-year dorms became clogged."
University alumna Crisler Quick said she could recall the Virginia clay staining her clothes, noting that this was a sacrifice she willingly endured; according to Quick, it was obligatory to take at least one slide down the side of the Mad Bowl.
After the muddy weekend, the University tried to move the event away from Mad Bowl to another location off-Grounds but failed.
Despite concerns from officials, the magnitude of Easters continued to increase until it culminated in 1982, the year that would mark the end of a nearly century-long University tradition.
"In 1982 at Lambeth Field, there were 7,000 people, who, over the course of four hours, consumed 204 kegs of beer," Cozart said.
In addition, there were an estimated 20,000 students plus visitors on Rugby Road between Grady Avenue and University Avenue. The gas main suddenly broke at Grady; though the situation was quickly contained, University officials realized it was not possible to physically control a crowd as immense as this, especially when the majority of this large crowd was inebriated.
"It was a pretty serious situation," former Dean of Students Bob Canevari said. "We were fortunate that the whole place didn't ignite up there."
Canevari attributed the ending of Easters to students' refusal to do what was necessary to minimize the dangers of the event.
Easters "was out of control, and students weren't willing to get it under control," Canevari said. "Once we got a planning committee of students for Easters, they became aware of the problems and how serious of a situation Easters was."
As a result, the Office of the Dean of Students decided to put an end to Easters because it became such an uncontrollable and dangerous event.
Faulders added that the citizens of Charlottesville were concerned by the large number of people in town for the event. In terms of security, Easters became too much to handle.
University Police Capt. Mike Coleman, who served while Easters was alive and well, agreed that the tradition got to the point where it was a dangerous situation for the University community and the individual students.
"At the time, numerous students would be taken to the emergency room for treatments, ranging from cuts to bruises to alcohol poisoning," Coleman said.
In 1983, the Inter-Fraternity Council created t-shirts in favor of reviving the Easters tradition. This movement died out quickly, however.
Since 1982, "there have not been any major weekend activities in the spring because it was feared that Easters might have come back," Cozart said.
From 1984 to 1985, an event now known as Foxfield, an off-Grounds, private affair not affiliated with the University, took the place of Easters as the new spring ritual at the University.
Even so, Easters holds a singular place in many alumis' hearts. Faulders looks upon Easters as a unique time in the history of the University.
"There were minor disturbances and people did crazy things," he said. "It was midway through the second semester, so it was a good time to blow off steam. It was a unique time when U.Va. used to be a male-oriented school -- today, pranks would be viewed as risqué, dangerous and unacceptable."
For example, there were sporadic car burnings, which Faulders described as "a typical boys' school prank ... a manifestation of the inebriated male."
Cozart noted that Easters gained its mythological status at the University in 1985, a status that didn't reflect the dangerous and uncontrollable nature of Easters.
Easters "was held up as an unbelievable, great experience, but in fact, it was an uncontrollable drunken party," he said. "No student at U.Va can imagine the Friday and Saturday nights of Easters. It's just almost unimaginable."
Crisler Quick added, "It was a fun party ... watching drunken races, heaped in mud ... It was a fun, crazy thing that you'll never get to do again."
Even though Peter Quick remembered Easters fondly, he said the University should not bring back Easters.
"In this time, place and moment in history, the frats certainly cannot have drinking in a legal fashion like how it used to be -- it would be politically incorrect," he said. "Tradition-wise, it wouldn't be the same because of the different generations. Each generation should establish their own traditions."
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