Snowy, with no chance of nudity

More than a decade since the last chapter of the Nude Olympics, some aspects of the tradition, such as its origins and development over time, are still unclear.

A number of alumni and campus publications recorded early gatherings, which were likely precursors to the Nude Olympics, during the first snowfall of the 1970-71 school year. The question of when participants decided to shed their clothing, though, is still under debate.

One event that has earned particular attention as the father of the Nude Olympics was the so-called “Snow Riot” of December 1970. As The Daily Princetonian reported on Dec. 15, 1970, under the headline “Christmas Carouse,” hundreds of students gathered in the courtyard of Holder — which was then completely occupied by men — and “romped across the campus.”

“Led by half-naked pranksters in flying caps, swim trunks, bathrobes, pajamas and even makeshift Santa Claus suits, the throng skipped from Holder courtyard to the Princeton Inn [now Forbes College] to the Wilson College and finally to Dillon Gym, stopping all along the way to sing Christmas carols and ‘Old Nassau,’ ” the article stated.

Though the story gave founder’s credit to John Pettit ’74, who apparently started the “romp” by skiing across the courtyard, Lee Kaplan ’73 maintained in an interview last month that he began the tradition.

“I lived in what was called the first entry of Holder Hall, the one that faces Joline and Campbell,” he explained. “Somebody started banging on a water pitcher [they had stolen from the dining hall], there’s various noise, and somebody starts yelling, ‘It’s the first snow!’ ” he said. “And one way or another, everybody starts saying, ‘Come to Holder Hall, come to Holder Hall.’ We were in the courtyard, it was snowing very lightly, and I was wearing cow slippers, some kind of pajamas, a Princeton scarf and a Snoopy helmet.”

Soon, the assembled students, who numbered roughly 250 according to the ‘Prince,’ began strolling toward Brown Hall. “We’ve got several hundred people, and people are hanging from the light posts,” Kaplan said. “[Eventually], we start to head up toward Nassau Green, and apparently the University thought we were going to have some riot.”

Though the group looked like a mob, however, Kaplan explained that it was a “tame bunch.” “People were sick of studying and working on their papers and were just looking for a frolic outside,” he said.

The University responded to what seemed to be an impending riot by luring students to Dillon.

At around 2:30 a.m., according to the ‘Prince’ report, Director of Security Allan Kornblum began shouting “Dillon, Dillon, Dillon” to direct students to the gym, where members of the administration had set up hot chocolate and donuts for the not-quite-nude crowd.

After the Snow Riot’s success, Kaplan said, “in subsequent years, some people tried to revive [it, and] a few years later, some people started streaking.”

Though the Snow Riot seems to be the first instance of a mass gathering at the first snowfall, a number of theories circulate in alumni circles about the introduction of nudity.

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In the early- to mid-1970s, streaking was prevalent on campuses across the country. In an interview last month, University Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee ’69 explained that he thought the Olympics were born out of that phenomenon. While he was a student, Durkee said, nothing like the Olympics occurred “except for the occasional streaker.”

Even in student government, nudity was an issue, if an amusing one. Princeton Alumni Weekly (PAW) reported in 2008 that Charlie “The Streak” Bell ’76 ran for Undergraduate Assembly with the promise that, if elected, he would streak from Palmer Stadium to Nassau Hall. His nickname was deserved, as he had earned it by running nude from Henry Hall to Chancellor Green earlier in the year for $20.

Bell did not respond to a request for comment, but runs like his do appear to have played a large role in the creation of the Olympics.

Ethan Warren ’76 wrote to PAW in 1999, proclaiming his role in the foundation of the annual antics. “On the first snowfall of the 1971-72 winter, Walter Haydock ’75 and I engaged in a bare-butted sprint around the inside of Holder Court,” he said in the letter. “The name and origin of Princeton’s tradition derive from a relay race held at Phillips Academy at Andover, where both Walter and I were students. If that is our legacy, God help us.”

Neither Warren nor Haydock could be reached to confirm this story.

In the comments section of November’s ‘Prince’ article about the 10-year anniversary of the Nude Olympics’ banning, commenter “1974” claimed that the tradition started in November 1971 “with a dozen or so guys playing touch football wearing a scarf, a belt and sneakers.”

Regardless of the origin of the nudity, which is still unclear, by the 1974-75 school year the event was a campus tradition, complete with annual events and customs. In January 1975, the ‘Prince’ reported, “The athletes, warmed only by the beer they downed between events, competed in two-lap runs, the 60-yard dash, a wheelbarrow race, a three-legged relay and jumping jacks.” At that point, the participants were almost completely nude, wearing solely shoes, socks and hats — similar to the most recent incarnations of the Olympics.

The disappearance of specific events was not the only change over the years. Having arrived at Princeton in 1969, women gradually began participating in the events, though not in the first few installments. In November 1977, the Olympics included its regular Holder crowd, but no females. “We were worried about the Title IX regulations, so we were hoping some of the women’s teams might have come out,” Philip Nappo ’81 said at the time. To Nappo’s dismay, the night’s participants were all male.

According to a Princetoniana Committee website devoted to the Olympics, women started joining in by the late 1980s, first in the role of torchbearer. Soon after, female students became regular participants in the antics, which by that point mainly consisted of naked students simply running around the courtyard.

Over roughly the next 10 years, the tradition evolved into a sophomore class-wide, co-ed event. By then, though, most of the runners had lost sight of how the revelry all began.