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Queen's Grease Pole: Difference between revisions
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The idea for a grease pole climb apparently came to the Queen's engineering orientation committee from one of its organizers and originated in an old high school tradition.<ref name="Goulem">Brigid Goulem, "[https://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2016-08-01/in-focus/grease-pole-a-history/ Reaching for the tam: An almost-comprehensive history of the grease pole tradition]". ''Queen's Journal'' (August 2, 2016).</ref> According to those present at the 1955 Varsity Stadium football game and the first grease pole climb of 1956, the first grease pole used in 1956 was not from the goalposts from Varsity Stadium at all, but was a taller pole with a narrowing top.<ref name="Goulem"/> This is likely accurate, since Queen's was not in possession of the Varsity Stadium goalposts in the fall of 1956 as they were taken by Western students within a week of Queen's theft and returned to Varsity Stadium in November of 1955. The ''Queen's Journal'', which extensively reported on the goalpost incident in 1955, did not in its 1956 article about the first grease pole climb at all mention the provenance of the pole, although the photograph accompanying the article is not conclusive of the matter.<ref name="Journal_1956-10-16" /> | The idea for a grease pole climb apparently came to the Queen's engineering orientation committee from one of its organizers and originated in an old high school tradition.<ref name="Goulem">Brigid Goulem, "[https://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2016-08-01/in-focus/grease-pole-a-history/ Reaching for the tam: An almost-comprehensive history of the grease pole tradition]". ''Queen's Journal'' (August 2, 2016).</ref> According to those present at the 1955 Varsity Stadium football game and the first grease pole climb of 1956, the first grease pole used in 1956 was not from the goalposts from Varsity Stadium at all, but was a taller pole with a narrowing top.<ref name="Goulem"/> This is likely accurate, since Queen's was not in possession of the Varsity Stadium goalposts in the fall of 1956 as they were taken by Western students within a week of Queen's theft and returned to Varsity Stadium in November of 1955. The ''Queen's Journal'', which extensively reported on the goalpost incident in 1955, did not in its 1956 article about the first grease pole climb at all mention the provenance of the pole, although the photograph accompanying the article is not conclusive of the matter.<ref name="Journal_1956-10-16" /> | ||
After the Varsity Stadium goalposts were taken again by Queen's in October 1958, it may be that the following years' grease poles were made from parts of those goalposts. The first story connecting the Queen's Grease Pole and the Varsity Stadium goalposts was apparently recorded in the ''Queen's Journal'' in 1965, where Bill Dewar, chief vigilante (i.e. chief orientation coordinator) told the story of the Varsity Stadium goalpost incident and connected it to the grease pole. According to Bill Dewar, "Apparently the Queen's students heard about the new posts, and cut them through with a torch the night before a big game. The next day, after the game, they took off with the posts again."<ref name="Journal_1965-09-28">"To the Pole! (Again)". ''Queen's Journal'' (September 28, 1965), p. 5 ([https://archive.org/details/queensjournal93/page/n13 Archived]).</ref> While this retelling did not explicitly reference the year and implies the 1955 incident, the quoted story closely matches ''The Varsity's'' description of the 1958 events.<ref name="Varsity_1958-10-20_1"/> | |||
However, according to Jim Shearn, a Queen's Mining Engineering '59 graduate who was involved in the first grease pole climb, the Varsity Stadium goalpost story was a fable, and in fact the first grease pole, which measured 20 feet high and 6 inches in diameter, was welded together by the Mechanical '59 class.<ref name="Journal_1965-10-29">"The Grease Pole Climb: A Case History". ''Queen's Journal'' (October 29, 1965), p. 6 ([https://archive.org/details/queensjournal93/page/n65 Archived]).</ref> He confirmed this version of events once again in a 2016 interview.<ref name="Goulem"/> | However, according to Jim Shearn, a Queen's Mining Engineering '59 graduate who was involved in the first grease pole climb, the Varsity Stadium goalpost story was a fable, and in fact the first grease pole, which measured 20 feet high and 6 inches in diameter, was welded together by the Mechanical '59 class.<ref name="Journal_1965-10-29">"The Grease Pole Climb: A Case History". ''Queen's Journal'' (October 29, 1965), p. 6 ([https://archive.org/details/queensjournal93/page/n65 Archived]).</ref> He confirmed this version of events once again in a 2016 interview.<ref name="Goulem"/> | ||