LSU's Unclaimed 1974 National Championship

I remember ‘Nam.

On college campuses, old-school larks such as swallowing goldfish and cramming people into phone booths or Volkswagens had fallen out of favor, and it was no longer necessary to protest the war. The sparse existing accounts of LSU's participation indicate that streaking made its debut at a concert at the Assembly Center in late February 1974. However, if memory serves, there had been isolated streaking of the Quad for several weeks prior.

University police chief A.L."Luke" McCoy was not entertained, and his unrelenting mission to stop the nude antics became a game of "cat and mouse". (Imagine this the time of "Animal House".)

"It was a crazy Spring. It didn't seem to be a protest or demonstration of anything. It just seemed like an enjoyment of springtime and freedom." - Darrel D. Colson LSU '77, president of Wartburg College. "A streaker would run through the library one night, and the next day Chief McCoy would be interviewed and he'd have some new plan to capture streakers. It was comical to watch."

Ray Stevens

On the evening of the record setting effort, I joined three other guys who were curious to see what would transpire. While grabbing burgers we picked up cardboard Burger King crowns and found some entrepreneur already selling bumper stickers declaring "LSU Streakers No. 1" over the silhouette of a nude runner. We affixed the bumper stickers to the crowns and put them on our heads, then filled a couple gallon milk jugs with orange juice and vodka and headed to the Parade Ground and from there over to stroll along Sorority Row. By that time I would estimate the crowd exceeded ten thousand. I saw a single campus police officer standing near the bridge between Sorority Row and the then women's dorms (McVoy?).

The event became a sort of loosely organized slow-motion nude Mardi Gras parade and party. Knowing how ingenious some of the Homecoming decorations had been over the years I should not have been surprised. Of notable impression in my memory:

- ordinary things such as slogans on butt cheeks - "The End", "WIDE LOAD", etc.

- sorority girls prepared with the new-fangled Polaroid instant cameras to take photos posing with nude guys (and we think of selfies as a rather recent phenomena);

- a squad of nude presumed ROTC cadets, marching along in formation wearing combat boots and helmets, and where the heck did they get rifles?

- a small motorboat cruising by on University Lake bearing a nude crew with one fellow standing at the front posing as George Washington crossing the Delaware.

How many people or animals have you killed?

Streaking continued elsewhere throughout the Spring.
On April 20, 1974 Michael O'Brien becomes the first known streaker at a public sporting event when he runs onto a rugby field in Twickenham, England, during a match between Britain and France. Ian Bradshaw's photograph of him becomes an iconic image, winning a photography award. And his run inspires a generation of streakers at rugby, soccer, and cricket matches in England and Australia.

The frick is this thread?

Just offering some lazy summer afternoon entertainment. Hoping someone else may have been there and will contribute their own anecdote. Or was it all just a dream?