A Tribute To President Phillip Shriver

Our Glee Club’s history has been inextricably wedded with Miami University’s Presidents since our conception.  Few if any organizations on campus can trace their origins to the specific vision and charter of the President as we do to Pres. Guy Potter Benton in 1907.  Future Pres. Alfred Upham collaborated with Raymond Burke to compose our Alma Mater and the Scalp Song in those earliest years.  And since 1959, four Miami Presidents and two Miami First Ladies have been distinguished as “Honorary Members” of our Glee Club.  But no Miami President can match the loving and fiercely loyal affection bestowed on Club by President Phillip Shriver for nearly half of a century.

From his youth, Phillip Shriver was a contrast in pedigrees.  On the one hand, Phil was always a simple Ohio boy who found history an enriching source for understanding the full gamut of experiences the gift of life presents us.  And it was this keen and insightful intellect that earned him a full scholarship to Yale University and further graduate training at Harvard and Columbia.  Thus young Phillips Shriver’s education was molded in the highest echelons of American intellectual thought—and all this as the whole world engaged in history’s worst war.  Following his graduation with honors from Yale in 1943, Phillip Shriver quickly found himself a Lieutenant in the United States Navy commissioned to the Pacific Fleet Destroyer, the USS Murray.  He saw action at both Iwo Jima and Okinawa.  And Shriver was present in Yokohama Bay during the signing of the Japanese surrender that officially closed years of bloody war.  These formative years—when a boy becomes a man—etched an awareness of history seemingly far removed from that of the eager young chap from Cleveland, Ohio.

The USS Murray in 1943It was during his days at Yale University that Phil pursued another great love of his life—Music!  While many basic bios will highlight membership in Phi Beta Kappa, Phil would tell you his true fraternity and source of deepest fulfillment during his college career was his beloved Yale Glee Club.  Should anyone ask him of his days at Yale—no matter the audience—Shriver was all but certain to drift into yarns stretching from harmless mischief to spiritual ecstasy burnt into fond memory from his days with his Yale Glee Club brothers. So many of us have heard Dr. Shriver tell us—both individually and in communion—that at every concert or every banquet, whether in conversation with the fuzziest-cheeked Freshman or our most venerable alumni, Phil always returned to those halcyon days through us.  From his arrival at Miami, Phillip Shriver was a true Glee Club Brother in Song.

Yale Glee Club in Rosario, Argentina in 1941.The love affair between Club and Phil Shriver began in his earliest days at Miami.  Club sang at his Inauguration.  Phil and Martha attended their first possible Glee Club concert.  It seems that neither hell nor high water would keep us apart.  Again, many of you are well aware that Phil Shriver was fond to say that he “missed less than a handful of concerts” during his decades in Oxford.  At the close of his first year as President, Shriver wrote a letter published in the Miami Alumni Newsletter pointing out the most enjoyable aspects of his job illustrated solely on the events of a few weeks in April 1966.  Among the highlights, Phil tells us that April 4^th “found Mrs. Shriver and myself at the Men’s Glee Club Banquet, where we helped to honor Conductor Richard Schilling and the 75 men of the club whose excellent singing thrilled audiences throughout Ohio and Indiana during the year.”  What Phil humbly failed to mention is that the Glee Club made him only our second Honorary Member after a single year.  Fittingly, in 2005, his eternal soul mate, Martha, was selected the first woman to receive the honor as well.  Phil Shriver attended many Glee Club Banquets over the years—none perhaps so joyous and meaningful as the one marking Glee Club’s 100^th Birthday on March 1, 2008.  There our brother Phil waxed fondly on the profound impact our little choir has had on countless audiences, the University, each other, and on himself in particular.  When finished, Club collectively exploded in a raucous loving roar.

The Shriver Family in 1970.

Club gladly shared him with the rest of the University.  Phil Shriver was a giant of a man with a heart enormous enough to embrace everyone who ventured into his presence.  His patient pondering demeanor bought wisdom and insight into his decisions as President.  He managed the doubling of Miami’s enrollment.  Forty-two buildings were built during his tenure.  And in collaboration with John Dolibois—Club’s third Honorary Member—they founded the Luxembourg Campus of Miami visited this past Summer by the current edition of Club.  But it was during the turbulent Spring of 1970 that President Phillip Shriver earned the respect and admiration that led to the affectionate nickname, “Uncle Phil.”

Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, John Dolibois, and Pres. Shriver at the 1979 Commencement.There was a revolutionary change in the apparent nature of the typical student across the days when Pres. Shriver arrived in 1965 to April 1970.  Shriver described the transformation thus:  “I doubt there will come a time when activism will be less a factor than today.  In comparison to say the 50’s, today we lack a sense of humor.  Back then students were able to laugh at each other, and at themselves.  But basically students are the same; young people, eager to learn.”  It was his remarkable instinct to put full trust in the innate goodness of college students that endeared Shriver to the students and calmed a tense Miami Campus. One such student was a very young Glee Clubber, Gary Goshorn (’73).  Here is his testimony of those difficult days:

“It was a dark period in the history of Miami University due to student unrest, war protests, and riots…At the time I was an eighteen year old freshman finishing my first year away from home, naïve about war and desperately attempting to hold on to my conservative values so engrained by strong Christian parenting.  I too, was being challenged by the events of the spring of 1970.  The single most important thing that helped me survive that spring was walking on campus and seeing Phil Shriver sitting under trees with groups of students, listening, asking questions, wanting to understand.  On campus he was visible, approachable, transparent, and sincere in his desire to heal the wounds of conflict.  Just seeing Phil on campus brought to me a feeling of peace, comfort, and normalcy in my unprovoked world of chaos.  From that time on, Phil became my hero and one of the men I have most admired in life.”

While many college presidents elicited harsh scorn for their confrontational styles during those troubling days, paternal Uncle Phil found a teachable moment.

Phil Shriver converses with concerned students during the stormy days of Spring 1970.

But then, all Phil Shriver ever wanted was to teach.  From 1947 to 1965 he generally pursued this vocation at Kent State University—not far from his roots.  Yet his myriad other talents got the best of him, and thus, luckily landed him at Miami.  But he insisted that part of the deal include his presence as a classroom teacher—unheard of since the nineteenth century.  Phil continued to teach until 1998—seventeen years after he turned over the presidency to Paul Pearson, and longer than his own tenure as President.  In those final years, the lighter side of Phil’s historic expertise inspired yet another young freshman Glee Clubber, Jon Kuehnle (’98 and my Club Big Brother).  I’ll let Jon tell the story in his own words:

“Dr. Shriver told me that I had actually seen the Ghost of the Formal Gardens!  I had a frightening experience one night in the fall of 93 behind Symmes Hall.  When I described it for a friend, she told me I needed to go see Dr. Shriver, ‘The Authority” on all things Miami.  I was able to walk into his office the same day without an appointment.  I told him why I was there, and he proceeded to meet with me for over an hour,  I got to share my experience and listen to the Venerable Old Man regale me with the stories and lore of Old and New Miami.  He inspired me years later as a teacher, when I incorporated historical storytelling into my social studies lessons every Friday and especially at Halloween.  These stories became the most popular part of my class, to the point where other teachers would bring their classes in and parents would request their children be assigned to me.  The old saying is true: ‘A teacher touches eternity.  He can never tell where his influence ends.’  Dr. Shriver, multiple generations of students thank you for your influence.”

History Professor Phil Shriver in his Upham Hall office. Indeed, Phillip Shriver has touched eternity!  For those of us who knew him, we will never forget the glowing radiance of his full moon smile.  Nor will we ever forget the lilting giggle that distinguished his distinctive voice and patterns of speech.  Despite his larger than life personality, one could not help but imagine the fascinated boy from Cleveland who joined the Yale Glee Club when surrounded by his history-worn aura.  In the Pantheon of important souls that influence the essential spirit of our Glee Club across history, we may never see his likes again.  I believe we should join with our brother Gary Goshorn, who sums up the sentiments of so many of us who were blessed by his presence.  He writes prayerfully:

“Thank-you Phil. You will be my hero forever.”

This Tribute First Published In The Fall 2011 edition of the Miami University Men's Glee Club Newsletter.

Reiley Story: A Few Notes And Extra Pictures.

 Downtown Reiley 1908.  In essence, this is a republication of the very first story I shared with the Miami Glee Club Community back in 2008.  As noted, I sent this tale out on both the alumni and current member lsitserves on the 100^th anniversary of this event.  I have endeavored to tweak the piece a small bit from the original, but overwhelmingly the text is identical from what I produced three years ago.Peaceful Street Scene In 1908.

I am particularly proud of this piece.  Indeed, this wonderful genesis saga was lost from Club’s collective memory for decades.  I rediscovered the story in 1998 while looking for original newspaper references to the approaching grand opening of Hall Auditorium and the first Glee Club Concert back in 1908.  In the three years since I first gave the story a narrative, I continue to uncover hints and references adding additional context.  Here are a couple of examples.The Local Store.

 The “Longfellow”:  Images of the Longfellow have long been a holy grail of mine for years.  Valerie Elliott—the head Librarian and Historian at The Smith History Library at the Oxford Lane Library—is responsible for sharing the two images I include; along with the images of Reiley—many of which are remarkably dated from 1908.  Both images of the omnibus depict the bus during the summer months, when it was open.  But other references indicate the wagon was outfitted with windowed sides for chillier weather.  An insufficiently small coal heater warmed those lucky enough to sit close by.  The Longfellow remained the primary mode of transportation for the annual dress rehearsal concert through at least 1916.  In that year, Club tells us that Club President, Gordon Balyeat, and a carload of Seniors left the omnibus in it’s dust on the way to a concert in College Corner.  In March, I will release a favorite tale told by Harold Hitchcock of Club’s dress rehearsal concert in Camden in 1910, in which the “Longfellow” plays a star role.The Covered Bridge In Reiley Leading To Oxford In 1908.

 The Weather:  When I wrote this piece, I could only conjecture the actual weather conditions of that day.  I have since researched the actual conditions and stand by my depiction.  It turns out that January and early February of 1908 had been particularly snowy.  The previous weekend a warm front brought torrential rains that swelled the Indian Creek to dangerous levels.  One bridge upstream was washed away.  The covered bridge that connected Reiley and Oxford (where SR 732 enters Reiley today) was barely saved due to the diligent cooperation of townspeople working through a dreadful night.  There was talk of canceling the concert at the beginning of the week, but more moderate weather that followed eased the crisis.  A light snowfall the evening before the trip left the landscape a mottled blend of brown and white for the trip there.  The road was likely a muddy mess. Partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low forties made the trek more palatable than it could have been.  The return trip was substantially colder with temperatures in the mid-twenties and occasional snow squalls. Likely the Location Of The Pizza Parlor At The Entry To Reiley Today.

The Press:  One of the more remarkable aspects of the story are the two entirely different takes reported in the Hamilton newspapers.  The Hamilton Daily Republic reacted with outrage over the incident.  But the Hamilton Evening Journal took the side of the ruffians suggesting the Glee Club boys deserved it.  I have included transcripts of both accounts below.  Later reports indicate the local businessmen of Reiley convened in a special meeting determined to bring the guilty to justice.  A later article indicates unwillingness by Miami to press charges.  The final article assures the readers that the perpetrators were issued a stern reprimand.Walter Zwick In The Spring of 1908.

 The Legacy:  How did the fellows react to this bizarre first experience together?  All indications suggest an air of defiance that regarded the incident as an amusing badge of honor.  My favorite reference in Carey Shera’s scrapbook is from fellow Clubber and Oxfordian, Walter Zwick, who cryptically wrote: “And the Reiley boys didn’t stone us!!”  The event was later memorialized in a favorite reference from the 1910 Tour as “the land of the heathen!”  I have often found myself musing when this fantastic story was last shared among Clubbers before it was rediscovered a dozen years ago. Reiley 1908.

_____

Boors Attack!

Stone Their Wagon as They Leave Reiley

PERFORMANCE ON SATURDAY NIGHT INTERRUPTED.

Residents Of The Village Indignant Over The Outrage And Will Cause Arrest Of The Disturbers.

            Reiley, O., Feb.24.—There is a great sensation here over an unfortunate episode that occurred on Saturday night when the Miami University Glee club gave a concert at the township hall.

            A number of young married men, about eight in all, came into the hall while the second part of the program was on and immediately started hoodlum business.  They hissed, yelled and talked and nearly broke up the performance.  Mr. Roll, custodian of the hall, finally partially quieted the disturbers, but they kept mumbling and making a nuisance until the end.

            After the performance, when the Miami boys got into an omnibus, the hoodlums stoned the vehicle.  They broke several windows and one rock struck Murray Sheehan, of Hamilton, in the shoulder.  Pierce, of Miami, was hit in the face, but neither was much hurt.

            It is said that the ruffians fancied that the Miami boys guyed them when they went to Oxford, and they took this as a way to get even.  There is intense humiliation here over the affair, and the good people of Reiley are taking steps today to have all the disturbers arrested and exposed.  Reiley people want it known that they are a civilized people, and that the community cannot be judged by the conduct of a few boors.  The fact that the men were married and old enough to know better, makes it all the more humiliating.

_____

WAR IS ON

 Between Reiley And Oxford – The Cause.

             There is a war between the cities.

            Enraged beyond expression at the attacks made upon them by people in Oxford the residents of Reiley are expressing themselves in no uncertain terms about the students and others who belong to the classic village.

            It develops that one of the citizens of Reiley took it upon himself to comment upon the way the Oxford students were treated when they gave a concert in the town hall in Reiley on Washington’s Birthday.  This did not please others who have placed themselves on record as being unalterably opposed to the students coming there and, it is reported, “showing up the town.”  They recite specific cases where the peace and dignity of the village have been trampled upon by students.

            So, therefore, be it resolved that the people of Reiley want to get back at the published reports that the boys from Oxford were treated in an ungentlemanly and boorish manner.  They deny the allegation.

            They do not feel that it is right that they should be walked over by the laddies who are ladening themselves with the contents of chemistry, physics, etc., etc., etc.

Glee Club's First Concert, or, Club Gets Stoned!

It was going to be a bumpy ride!  The roads by this point in February were frozen—if lucky!  The four-horsepower team plodded along the well worn, and distractingly rutted country lane that connected Oxford with Reiley.   Slogging behind the horses drug the Western College for Women’s aging, but venerable, “Longfellow.”  The lumbering omnibus had been Oxford’s primary answer to local mass transit since the time of the Civil War.Etching of the "Longfellow' from 1878 entitled, "The Fishing Trip."

Inside the carriage twenty-two boys—led by a man of boyish charm—were exuberant in anticipation.  For five months, Ray Burke had worked diligently with the fellows preparing for the coming week.  In early November, the new organization first publicly emerged by throwing a sumptuous Banquet.  Three examples of repertoire were debuted during a universally applauded social success.  In subsequent months the Glee Club was observed at regular Chapel services.  But predominantly, this eclectic group had been sequestered in the special sanctuary of Ray Burke’s musical world.  Tonight would be the penultimate step towards the official birth of the Miami University Men’s Glee Club, after many months of gestation.  There was excitement in the air!A Total of Nine Charter and Future members of Glee Club are members of Beta Theta Pi in this 1908 photo.

This was the embryonic group’s first venture into the world beyond Oxford.   By now they were a blooming blend of voices drawn from a myriad of backgrounds.  Clusters of the group shared the powerful bond of brotherhood forged in Miami’s dynamic fraternities.  Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, The Dekes were well represented in a choir that included other members of Greek organizations.  There were, as well a healthy smattering of personalities from the fringes of Miami’s college culture.  Over the course of the previous months, the many distinctions and commonalities shared by these college gentlemen had coalesced into something new and unique.The Man Who Conceived The Glee Club--President Guy Potter Benton.

It had been a full year since President Benton had approached Ray Burke during a train ride from Hamilton to Oxford and asked him to form a glee club.   What is sometimes overlooked is the insistence by President Benton that the organization serve as ambassadors, knights, or missionaries of the University.  In ways that no Miami President has faced since, Benton feared for the future of the University.  Through the new glee club, “the historic spirit of the institution” would spread beyond the relative isolation of Oxford.  The glee club would be a primary recruiting tool across the region.  The method of the message would be one of Benton’s very favorites—music!  Indeed, Benton understood the benefits of a glee club for campus life.  Benton embraced the group from its inception.  He commonly called them “My Boys!”  This weekend he would remain in Oxford.  Guy Potter Benton’s sights were set forward to the grand festivities planned for the next week.  After all, Benton would soon see to fruition two major projects designed to propel Miami further into the twentieth century—a beautiful new building and auditorium christened in song by Miami’s own new Glee Club.The Man Who Gave Life To The Glee Club--Prof. Raymond Hugh Burke.

One can only imagine Raymond Burke’s thoughts as the carriage rumbled across the winter-wrested landscape leading to Reiley.  Certainly Prof. Burke had done his homework. The program was set.  The boys were well rehearsed.  As he would do throughout his tenure as Director of the Glee Club, Burke had arranged for a dress rehearsal by the club shortly before the climactic “Home Concert.”   It would be a relatively small, but appreciative crowd where he could direct the group to focus built up excitement and anxieties concerning the coming week and channel it into a first formal performance.  Perhaps Burke’s thoughts traveled back a year to the responsibilities and confidence Pres. Benton had conferred on him.  More likely, Burke eagerly champed at the bit to see how the chaps would comport themselves in public. The Charter Glee Club In 1908.

For the boys, this was literally a holiday.  February 22 was Washington’s Birthday.  Well throughout the nineteenth century and deep into the twentieth century, Washington’s Birthday was the mid-winter’s festival of American patriotism.  No doubt, several complained that this year it fell on a Saturday—and thus no holiday from school.   But these young gentlemen were on a road trip—their first together!  Hey!  We’re not in Oxford!  We’re on a mission!   We’re the Miami Glee Club!!View Of Reiley Taken In 1908. The Steeple of the Town Hall Is Visible On The Far Left.

The precise details of the hours before the concert are long forgotten.  But based on similar trips taken during those nascent days, we can conjecture what happened.  What is now a quick ten-minute jaunt in a car was a lengthy ordeal in their chilly, clunky carriage.  The entourage was certainly afforded a chance to organize, clean up, and dress before the audience arrived.    Equally, it is likely that Club was treated to its first “tour meal.”  That they sang a song of appreciation afterward, one can only conjecture.  Surely there was great anticipation to finally perform the long practiced body of work upon which they had spent months to hone.  Certainly, many reflected. This Is It!  Something Special!  A First Taste!  So Close!Reiley Township Hall in 1900.

Reiley today is much a ghost town compared to the pleasant hamlet of 1908.  A host of small businesses served the surrounding rural township.  The political and social center of the community was the township hall.  Architecturally and spatially the building resembled one of the many small churches that dotted the vicinity.  In a village as tiny as Reiley the township hall was the best local source of “respectable” entertainment.  Lecturers, small musical groups, theatre troupes, and rudimentary vaudeville acts took turns with homegrown variations of community productions staging entertainment on a regular basis.  But now Miami University’s Glee Club offered high-class entertainment compared to the usual fare.  And on Washington’s Birthday to boot!  There is good reason to believe that many of the townsfolk of Reiley and the most gentrified of local farmers were enthusiastically caught up in the excitement of the moment by the time the concert began.Murray Sheehan stands haunched as the star of "The Quest Of The Quezarre."

Raymond Burke had designed a program divided into three sections.  The first section featured the most serious and technically difficult music of the night.  How those first songs were performed and received we may never know again.  They went off without notice.  The second act was designed to highlight playful buffoonery and comic farce.  A reviewer for the following week’s christening concert described the mayhem as “a burlesque orchestral program that made a great deal of fun.  Murray Sheehan, a Hamilton student, conducted a la Creatore, only more so.  Harold Hitchcock, as the clown, was a great fun-maker and costumes, instruments and music were all grotesquely funny.  The principals had to take many bows.”  It sounds like an early and extended relative of “Java Jive.”Reiley Residents Congregate in this 1908 Photo.

As the boys shifted into comedy mode, a group of eight young men drifted into the assembly, “and immediately started hoodlum business.  They hissed, yelled and talked and nearly broke up the performance.  Mr. Roll, custodian of the hall, finally partially quieted the disturbers, but they kept mumbling and making themselves a nuisance until the end.”  It doesn’t take an expert to understand that hecklers and comedy together are generally a kiss of death!  One can only imagine the tension that filled the hall as the Glee Club struggled to maintain composure in a room laced with venom.H. Doremus 'Jinks" Piercey in 1908.

Following the concert, and some awkward glad-handing, the fellows moved hastily to leave town and return to the safety and security of home.  They didn’t move hastily enough.  As the boys boarded the bus, the ruffians reemerged and pelted the carriage with stones.  Windows shattered!  Murray Sheehan, the intended star of the second act, was struck on the shoulder by a flying rock.  “Jinks” Piercey, club’s accompanist, took one to the face.  The four horses pulling the Longfellow could not possibly move swiftly enough up the long and winding hill out of Reiley for the stunned and disoriented passengers inside.  In Club’s first mission as ambassadors of the University, they unexpectedly found themselves knights in battle!  What a stark contrast the dark ride home must have seemed compared to the hopeful journey enjoyed earlier that day.The Reiley Cornet Band Use The "Longfellow" in 1887.

News of the incident spread rapidly across Butler County.  Hamilton’s Daily Republican expressed outrage over the affair.  The newspaper made it clear that, “Reiley people want it known that they are a civilized people, and that the community cannot be judged by the conduct of a few boors.  The fact that the men were married and old enough to know better, makes it all the more humiliating.”   The rival Hamilton Evening Journal, however, excused the actions of the attackers as just and overdue recompense for the consistent disdain locals felt from snobby students when in Oxford.  Miami boys were venturing onto their turf and thus some locals “placed themselves on record as being unalterably opposed to the students coming there and ‘showing up the town.’”  Furthermore, “they do not feel that it is right that they should be walked over by the laddies who are ladening themselves with the contents of chemistry, physics, etc., etc., etc.”1908 Cartoon By Hazlett Moore Depicts the Age-old Tension between Miami Students and local "Townies."

The University moved quickly to soothe ruffled feathers on all sides.  Nobody was arrested.   Miami turned its attention to the future—the “Dedication Weekend” and the arrival of hundreds of pilgrims on the campus.  Ray Burke certainly rallied the troops, and moved feverishly to refocus the energy of the group towards Friday’s Grand Debut!View of an unfinished Hall Auditorium taken a month earlier. Note the unfinished pavement in front.

The story of that night in Reiley surely played a major role in the lore of Glee Club’s founding fathers.  References to Reiley grace the inscriptions in Carey Shera’s scrapbook of those years, penned by those that were there.  Invariably, the remarks were intended to evoke a knowing chuckle in memory.  If “Bash” had existed then, there could be no doubt that the event would be memorialized in skit.

But over time the story died with the last clubber worthy to tell it.  I rediscovered this tale in the final years of the twentieth century.  I imagine it comes as a bit of a shock to many that the mettle and temper of Glee Club was so severely tested mere hours before the crowning event Club celebrated with such zeal and enthusiasm from February 28 through March 1, 2008.  The fact that the incident fades into memories with the first note of the inaugural Home Concert has much to say about the moral of the story.

On February 28, 1908, the Miami University Men’s Glee Club sang their hearts out—“with great sprit and sweetness,” as it was reported.  Several weeks later, Club embarked on a tour worthy of President Benton’s high expectations.  By the following year the men of Club began a tradition of documenting their successes and escapades in an effort to share their special bond with college mates and posterity.  To me, the events of those days established several core principles of Club that have endured a century:  Celebrate the past!  Sing in the present!  Give to the future!  We who follow must remain guardians to ensure that those principles should endure far beyond our own futures! 

Kevin Kuethe. Original version published as an email on February 22, 2008--the 100th Anniversary.

Homecoming!

Football Bench-Warmers Occupy The front Row As Miami Fans Revel In Red Spirit From The Stands. The Varsity Band Supplies Musical Inspiration In The Center-Left Of The Animated Fanatics.

This Saturday, October 23, 2010, Miami University will once again ask for alumni from across the nation to return to Oxford for Miami’s annual “Homecoming” football game and associated events.  The opponent this year is the hated Ohio University Kitty-Kats from Athens.  This promises to be one of the most meaningful football games contested in several years at Yager Stadium.  Miami football has fallen on some tough times since the glory years before and after Ben Roethlisberger’s memorable career.  Before this season began, so-called “experts” predicted few, if any, wins for the RedHawks and a last place finish in the MAC East.  Instead, Miami played competitively well against recent two-time National Champions, Florida; demolished Colorado State at home; and owns a 3-0 record in the MAC.  A win this Saturday would go a long way to conclusively proving the pundits wrong and placing Miami in the once unthinkable position of vying for the MAC Championship!  It will be a great game!

 The 1891 Football Takes A Break From Practice On The Original Miami Gridiron. This Is The Oldest Known Image Illustrating Miami Football. Note The Tree Stump In The Middle Of The Field..

It should come as no surprise that Miami football and our annual Homecoming celebrations should have a long and storied history.  After all, any Miami football fan knows that Miami boasts one of the oldest college football programs in the country.  The first game held on the campus grounds against the University of Cincinnati on a cold and blustery day in December 1888 began a rivalry that ranks among the ten oldest annual rivalries in the nation.  The two teams slugged it out to a 0-0 tie in that inaugural battle.  What is not as well known is that the first Miami “Homecoming” in 1914 was one of the first of its kind anywhere, and the grandest celebration of Miami’s football heritage to that date!  The 1914 Homecoming was a climactic tribute to twenty-five years of dogged and spirited persistence—often against tough odds—that resulted in one of the most successful football programs and universities in the region.

 Sam Richey Sits In The Far Lower-Left In This First Team Portrait Taken In 1891.

There was little reason to expect much Miami success on the gridiron in those earliest years.  The recently re-christened Miami was tiny compared to other schools fielding teams.  Every able-bodied student with the least amount of athletic ability was expected to play.  Several faculty members completed the squad.  The 1891 team may mark the low-point in Miami football history and the difficulties Miami football faced.  By sheer bad luck, the student body was particularly puny in stature that year.  Sam Richey was a runt of a boy who is still considered the smallest man ever to don a Miami Uniform.  And he was the primary ball carrier!  In a game against powerhouse Ohio Wesleyan, the opposing defense conspired to stop poor Sam, regularly slinging him over their shoulders and carrying him back twenty yards, before slamming him down to the ground.  Miami lost 104-0—easily the worst defeat in history!

 Gate To The Athletic Grounds In 1896.

The humiliating defeat did not squelch the enthusiasm for football at Miami over the following ten years.  The later 1890s witnessed several undefeated squads, although Miami rarely played over four games a year during this period.  In 1896, the football team moved from the undulating and pockmarked gridiron next to Stoddard Hall on campus and into a new “Athletic Grounds” at the corner of High St. and Patterson Ave. (where Pearson Hall now stands).  “Miami Field” remained the familiar home of Miami football until the completion of Yager Stadium in 1983.

 

As happened on so many levels upon his arrival, President Guy Potter Benton modernized and expanded the role of football in campus life starting with his first year in 1902.  Similar to his argument insisting Ray Burke found our Glee Club, Benton saw a vibrant football program as an attractive inducement to draw prospective students to Miami.  He insisted on the expansion of the schedule to include the best competition, spearheaded the formation of an organized conference of Ohio’s best football schools, and built the first “modern” grandstands on the athletic grounds to accommodate  several thousand spectators.

1908 Football Squad, With Jim Levering At Quarterback. 

The pinnacle of these early years was the undefeated 7-0 squad of 1908.  Jim Levering In 1908.The Red and White outscored the opposition 113-11, including a 24-0 thrashing of the reputed best team in the conference—long hated Ohio Wesleyan.  One of the celebrated stars for Miami was quarterback (a different kind of position then), leading scorer, and tenacious tackler, James Levering.  Jim was a four-year member of the Glee Club whose reputation as a singer was matched only by his athleticism, leading to him being the captain of both the football and basketball teams in 1911.  With the return of students each September, football produced a mania on campus that lasted until the annual Thanksgiving Day game in Cincinnati that traditionally closed the season (U.C. didn’t play Miami in Oxford during the 20^th Century until 1971).

Alfred Horation Upham In 1906. 

Another early innovative emphasis of Pres. Benton was alumni relations.  The coordinator of alumni affairs in 1914 was former student (1897) and English Professor, Alfred Horatio Upham.  Upham had joined the faculty with Raymond Burke in 1906.  Shortly thereafter, the two became close friends and soon collaborated on refining a poem written by Upham during his undergrad days and sung to “My Darling Clementine.”  The result is the Alma Mater we so revere today.  No doubt, Upham caught wind of the highly successful “Coming Home Weekends” first held independently at Baylor, Illinois, and Missouri in the fall of 1910.  Soon after, the term “Homecoming” was coined.

Hock Davis In His Red & White Homecoming Outfit. 

When students arrived for classes in September 1914, the prospect of an alumni “Homecoming” in November inspired the student body to do everything possible to highlight the tremendous advances at Miami over the previous dozen years.  No longer was Miami the miniscule University facing possible extinction.  Current President, Raymond Hughes, had continued the steady progress of his mentor and predecessor, Guy Potter Benton, in seeing that Miami was now at the cutting edge of modern college life.  Demonstrating Miami pride was the primary goal of the student body.  Glee Club members once again collaborated on organizing the marching band for the year.  Shortly after rehearsals began, one Glee Club band member withdrew for higher aspirations.  Robert “Hock” Davis declared himself Miami’s first official cheerleader—another new phenomenon at college football games.  Hock designed an outfit of rich red and pristine white, and enthusiastically leaped and yelled from the sidelines leading Miami partisans in the stands.  Later in the season, fellow Clubber, C. E. McFadden joined Hock on the field leading the cheers.  A group of other Miami students decided to form a group designed to work with Hock from the stands showing Miami pride.  While officially named “The Rooters Club,” they preferred to go by the nickname, “The Leather-Lungs!”  These are but a few of many examples of Miami students planning in anticipation of the Homecoming weekend, determined to showcase Miami pride.  Not all of the decisions made in preparation appeared to highlight Miami spirit.  Miami’s Dean of Women, Elizabeth Hamilton, decided it unlady-like for the female students to yell and cheer in public, and so instructed the co-eds to sit quietly in a separate section of the stands and watch calmly and in the most proper and genteel manner.

 The Lady's Section At The Football Game.

By the time Homecoming Weekend arrived, the campus was abuzz in excitement and anticipation.  Special trains from Dayton and Cincinnati chugged into the Oxford depot.  The Dayton “special” alone deposited 200 alumni with families in tow for the game.  In all, 500 former students swelled the little village of Oxford to bursting at the seams.  The athletic department sponsored a soccer game and cross-country meet for those arriving Friday afternoon.  A reception in the evening brought the festivities to an official opening.  The football team entered the game against a formidable Denison team with a 4-2 record—not as good as hoped, but certainly respectable.  Talk of prospects for the morrow and tales of football contests past dominated the Friday evening conversations.

 The Marching Band Leads The Homecoming Parade Into The Stands.

Throughout the next Saturday morning, Miami’s football grounds lay empty.  Instead, several thousand spectators and fans congregated Uptown in anticipation of the first Homecoming Parade.  No one watched the parade, per se.  Everyone was a participant en route to their seats.  The marching band led the procession, followed by Hock Davis and the leather-lungs.  Alumni groups from Dayton and Cincinnati displaying large banners marched close behind, followed by male, then female students, and common spectators.  The procession marched down High Street and into the stadium in a snake-like pattern, with men filling the south side of the grandstands with raucous cheers and primal yells.  The band congregated in the middle of the mob for maximum affect.  The ladies calmly filled the north end of the stands and quietly took their seats.

 The Halftime Snake Dance Parade.

At halftime, a second parade took place.  Even if the band were big enough, the tradition of a marching band half-time show anywhere was still a number of years away.  Instead, the male students leapt out of the stands, joined arms two by two, for a formal rendition of the Miami Snake Dance.  The students weaved across the field like a conga line until the whole entourage formed into a giant “M” in the center of the field.  Five miniature hot-air balloons were then released to put a punctuation mark on the activities.

 The Balloon Release Ends The Halftime Activities.

The game proved a disappointment.  Denison won, 40-33.  Many wondered later if the excessive hoopla leading up to the game distracted the team.  A victory over Cincinnati two weeks later healed any residual wounds.  Despite the disappointing outcome, the larger Homecoming activities were a resounding success.  A gala held on Saturday night in the Herron Gymnasium attracted a capacity crowd. Miami’s orchestra greeted the guests as they arrived, and the marching band added the couple of Miami tunes they knew.  But the headline entertainment of the evening was Miami’s own Men’s Glee Club!

The Overflow Crowd Presses Forward For a Better View. 

Alfred Upham basked in the success of his brainchild.  But Upham also felt there was room for improvement.  Upham barely tolerated the snake dance brought out for special games.  Often the half-time entertainment was the release of a greased pig chased around the field by rowdy students.  Upham detested this practice. 

_______ [Enter Name Of Clubber You Wish To Make Fun Of Here] "Cuddles" Closely With Date At The Homecoming Game! 

Over the following winter, Upham often visited a seriously sick friend—Raymond Burke.  Burke had contracted a particularly nasty version of ptomaine poisoning shortly after the beginning of the school year in 1914.  Rather than improving, Burke’s condition grew worse until he asked for a year’s leave of absence at the end of October.  Burke never did return to direct the Glee Club again.  Upham discussed his vision with Burke of a uniquely Miami musical number, performed by the Glee Club, that could replace the undignified halftime practices of the day.  At the Glee Club Home Concert in 1915, Club debuted “The Scalp Song,” with co-authors Ray Burke and Alfred Upham sitting side by side in the audience. 

Glee Club Performs The Scalp Song In 1921. This The Earliest Informal Photo Of Club In The Miami Collection. 

Until the close of the 1920s, Miami fans enjoyed the annual homecoming appearance of the Glee Club clad in Indian blankets and headdress, together dancing and singing a spirited version of the “Scalp Song.” But this performance took up only a portion of the allotted halftime.  Consequently, despite Upham’s best-laid plans, as Club left the field, on the other side of the grounds someone would release the pig!  It’s hard to stop a crowd pleaser!  With the arrival of Marching Band legend, A. D. Lekvold in the 1930s, the modern practice of halftime shows as we now know them took their rightful place.  Lekvold’s band arrangement of the Scalp Song became the standard. 

Glee Club Performs The Scalp Song During Halftime Of 1927 Homecoming Game. 

It is ironic that an attempt by a future revered Miami President to bringThe Controversial Lyrics To The Scalp Song. dignity to Miami’s football games should now elicit distaste from many in Miami’s administration and alumni.  There have been numerous attempts to remove the “Scalp Song” from Miami’s repertoire, especially since the retirement of the “Redskins” nickname.  The familiar tune is still played when opposing football or hockey teams commit a penalty.  But it is now officially referred to as the “penalty song.” Indeed, the lyrics have been deemed offensive to modern sensibilities for decades now.  Thus, it hasn’t been sung in any official capacity since 1950.  But the music is familiar and unique to Miami.  Let us hope the best intentions of Burke and Upham will not be discarded entirely any time soon.

The Marching Band In The 1930s. 

There is little to differentiate homecomings from the late 1930s until now. The parade, the homecoming court, the halftime show, the excitement have all been variations on a theme across the decades. Far from a critique, there is something homey and comforting in the consistency of this annual rite.

Clubber Bill Cromer Rides Triumphantly Into The 1937 Homecoming Game. 

In 1937, Glee Club’s own Bill Cromer was elected Homecoming King in a day when such honors were more important than they are now.  Otherwise, Glee Club’s once primary role in Homecoming festivities has settled into the sporadic participation in the yearly Homecoming Parade.  But it is also no coincidence that Homecoming Weekend often coincides with Club’s fall concert weekend in an effort to offer popular entertainment choices to visiting alumni.  As recently as 2002 Club marched a significant number of members in the annual parade.  But several years of the Fall Concert falling on the same evening as the parade, intertwined with one Homecoming Weekend that fell far too early in the year (even Pres. Shriver complained about it) lulled Club into a case of institutional amnesia.  Until this year!

Clubbers And Choraliers Await The Start Of The 1989 Homecoming Parade. 

This Saturday, Club will return to its rightful place as an important participant in the Homecoming celebration.  In conjunction with the Collegiate Chorale, Club will sing it’s way to Yager stadium during Saturday morning’s annual parade.  In an effort to bring an historical component to the proceedings, Club will sing the original verses that lead up to the chorus of the “Fight Song” as it is traditionally sung.  Recent comments from several Glee Club alums are responsible for this idea.  If you are coming to the game, watch for us in the parade.  And then please feel encouraged to join us in our musical march to the game.  It’s another wonderful Glee Club tradition!

Kevin

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Some Extra Pictures I didn't use! Remember, Imagine Colors That Look Almost Black Are Possibly Miami Red:

Hock Davis Leads Cheers At Homecoming Game. Clift McFadden Catches His Breath Behind Him.

Action From The 1914 Homecoming Game. Denison Won, 40-33. Closeup Of Band At 1914 Homecoming Game.

 The Pig Stands Poised For Battle.Snake Dance Into Stadium During 1920s.

1908 Football Team Photo.Closeup Of Jim Levering With 1909 Football Team.

Glee Club--Miami Music's Big Brother.

            Legacyfest is an evening away!  For all of you alumni on the fence about coming to Oxford for a jaunt down memory lane, I’m here to tell you—you’ll bless the choice to visit.  The festivities begin Uptown at 6:00 p.m on Friday night.  The Marching Band will lead the parade to the grounds outside of Millett Hall where a wonderful feast awaits.  The climax is a concert at 8:00 p. m. celebrating Miami’s two hundred years of history, certain to bring tears to the eye of every alumni!  Come join with us! Please, come!  You won’t regret it!

            I have no doubt that many alumni have difficulty getting beyond memories of weird concerts past in Millett Hall.  I still have nightmares about the last Glee Club Christmas Concert held there in 1999.  Worst Concert Ever!!  But I attended a dress rehearsal last night, and was more than convinced that Miami’s current techies have figured out how to amplify the musicians appropriately.  The Chorus is 300 voices strong.  Let me repeat.   The chorus is 300 voices strong!  The powers that be promise 900 musicians in total.  It will be quite the spectacle.  You can come back and blame me if it doesn’t live up to the hype.  This is the last major event in Miami’s celebration of it’s Bicentennial, and I am convinced that they are determined to do it right.  That this particular celebration highlights Miami’s musical heritage must be a beckon call to every Clubber.  After all!  We are the Big Brother to all of Miami’s musical organizations.  

 Paul Schlenck in 1908.           When Miami celebrated its Centennial in 1909, there was one single musical contribution to the ceremony—Glee Club!  Additionally, the student body was asked to choose one of their members to speak for one hundred years of Miami students.  They chose Glee Club’s own, Paul Schlenck.  Paul was not an officer.  Paul was no valedictorian.  But Paul was considered representative of all that it meant to be a Miamian by his peers.  Knowing Paul as I do, I would argue that Paul is indeed representative of all that it means to be a Miami student musician in the one hundred years since!

            The Miami musical heritage we celebrate on Friday did not take hold until the arrival of two important men—Guy Potter Benton and Raymond Hugh Burke.  During the decades of “Old Miami” history, music was certainly a part of the weekly “Chapel” service in the way of shared hymns.   The first “Recensios” of 1870 and 1871 list four-member Glee Clubs and a four piece orchestra that provided entertainment in a world with few other options.  With the reopening of Miami in 1885, the Miami Student regularly recognized the student organization of glee clubs, but also regularly lamented the lack of a true Glee Club like those found on campuses such as Harvard or Yale.  By the 1890s, Mandolin Clubs, like those found on other college campuses, were organized at the whim of students who loved music.  But all of these examples of Miami’s musical heritage were informal, and reflective of the internal spirit of Miami’s students, and without any formal sanction of the university itself. 

Mandolin Club from around 1890.            This all changed with the arrival of President Benton in 1902.  Benton Loved Music!!  One of Benton’s first acts was to hire Shiloh S. Meyers to bring music in a formal way to Miami. Ostensibly, Meyers was hired to train young women hoping to be teachers graduating from Miami’s new “Normal College.”First Madrigal Club in 1909.  But Meyers also organized an orchestra that included students from Miami University as well.  In 1904, Meyers conducted a concert that highlighted both his orchestra and a glee club.  But when Benton approached Ray Burke at the B. & O. Train Depot in 1907, both men wiped away this past and started from scratch.  Burke started with the founding of Glee Club—given birth on February 28, 1908.  The following year, Burke established the Madrigal Club—the direct progenitors of today’s Choraliers.  The first concert given by the Madrigal Club occurred on the precise 100^th Birthday of Miami University—February 17, 1909.  The Choraliers must be considered the “Big Sisters” of Miami music.  In 1912, Burke instituted The Arion Choir, whose descendents are the Collegiate Chorale today.  The names have changed along the way (even Glee Club’s name was changed for two years in the 1920s before an insurrection changed it back) but the lineages are undeniable.

 Raymond Hugh Burke.           While researching for my lengthy piece on the “Tower Rush,” I ran into an article in the Miami Student from 1949 welcoming Ray Burke back as a new faculty member teaching finance.  After teaching geography, geology, and music at Miami until 1914, Burke followed by selling insurance, restructuring the city government of Hamilton, serving for twelve years as Hamilton’s mayor, spent four years in Ohio’s Senate, and one term as a Congressman from Ohio!  The piece acknowledged Burke as the father of Miami’s musical heritage.   The article reminded readers of the Fight Song, The Alma Mater, and the Scalp Song, among others musical contributions.   The article also specifically mentioned the three organizations I mention above as his handiwork.  The conclusion of the Miami Student article holds as true today as it did sixty years ago.  Ray Burke is the Father of Miami Music!  And Glee Club is the Eldest Son!  I would like to think we were always his favorite! 

Joe Clokey with the Marching Band in 1908.            But the direct connection of Club to Miami’s most prestigious musical organizations goes further than this.  In 1909, Ray Burke selected a gaunt and geeky Joseph Clokey as Club’s new accompanist.  Following a wonderful Club career, Joe spent several years at Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music.  In 1915, Joe returned to Miami as an instructor of music in the Normal School.  He accepted Miami’s lowest pay as an instructor.  Although it was outside his pay grade, Joe organized a University Orchestra that enjoys an unbroken history ever since.  Joe eventually became Club’s third director, Miami’s second Dean of Fine Arts, and returned during World War II in order to shepherd a joint Glee Club and Madrigal Club back to their original individuality.  Joe was a founding member of Phi Mu Alpha at Miami, and his son, Art, is the creator of Gumby, Pokey, Davey and Goliath.  He was a remarkable man!  A plaque placed at the northeast corner outside King Library celebrates his contributions.

             The most curious sibling rivalry across the decades involves Glee Club and the Marching Band.  For years, the men of these two organizations have shared good natured teasing and competitive spirits.  For over three decades, these two groups chose to settle bragging rights on the football field.  The Glee Club Wolfpack holds a 31-3-1 advantage in these sibling battles.  But our organizations are closer siblings than we remember.  Indeed, the Marching Band is spawn of Glee Club's loins!

Nick Carter's Marching Band. Half were Clubbers.            Actually, the first Miami Band is one year older than Club.  It was organized to bring a musical spirit to football games.  More than half of them would be clubbers one year later.  In the fall of 1908, Club’s ubiquitous Solon “Nick” Carter decided to bring a bit more structure to the band.  For the following two decades, the Marching Band was an ad hoc organization recreated each football season.  With rare exception, the yearly band was always reorganized by a Glee Club member!  Even by the time The Band received formal status with the university by 1930, it was clubbers who led the fight.  Not to be too haughty, but the Marching Band owes its early history to the love of Glee Clubbers.  Lest clubbers laugh with glee, this should also serve as a reminder that the Band may be our closest relatives and deserving of our love and respect.  That being said, who better than us to give them the occasional noogies!!Club Member, "Hock" Davis's Band in 1916.

            Indeed, tomorrow night we will all join as one in celebration of the myriad  musical contributions made to Miami’s musical heritage.  Even the new kids on the block are embraced.  Gary Speck continues the tradition of the Campus Owls with his Jazz Band.  And who would guess a classic nerd boy like Chris Tanner could make a Steel Drum Band one of the most respected organizations on campus.  At a Miami, Yes!  At this Miami, No!  And although he just returned to India, Srini’s spirit of global sisterhood and brotherhood was imparted on Club this week, to steward until his return.  Fittingly, recent Glee Club alum, Andrew Goldie, has written the original anthem that unifies these disparate threads into a single voice of celebration.  Its World Premiere will be a magical moment that Guy Potter Benton and Ray Burke would both cherish.

            It could be easy for Club to be boastful tomorrow.  Far be it from me to say we should repress our sense of pride.  But being the eldest in any family is not a license to thump chests.  Being the eldest brings a responsibility of example and leadership.  Being the eldest and strongest means acknowledging the contributions of others and inviting them to share pride together.  Stand tall and stand proud this weekend, Glee Club!  Show your younger brothers and sisters on stage the way!