Dating the Crucifixion

In the “Reed Almanac” entry for the Columbus Day Storm (1962), you correctly note that the mock crucifixion (in which a student dragged a cross along the field during the halftime show) did not occur that year. It occurred on either October 3 or October 24, 1959; the journalistic standard of two independent witnesses verifies that it occured during a football game against Columbia Christian that year, and those are the dates of the two games against that august institution. Although Foster Boys Incorporated are the usual suspects, all of them that I could round up (over half a dozen) deny not only culpability but also even awareness. That said, a 3 x 5 card from the momenteaux of FBI leader Peter Scheiber ’61 provides what the acolytes were chanting during the event—a Latin phrase that translates, “We have brought rain; break out the wine casks.”

—Jim Kahan ’64

Portland