For several years back in the 50′s, the University of Detroit Spring Carnival held a beard contest. There were categories such as Full, Unique, Van Dyke and a Special Award to the best recreation of an historical beard. The prizes included Remmington Shavers and Grooming kits by Remmington. Afterwards (back on campus) there would be a shaving contest in which there was a footrace (20 yards) to the judges stand to line up for the smoothness test by King and...
At every commencement, the university invites alumni back for their 50th year reunion. Here is just a sampling of some of the events they would have experienced as students at the University of Detroit and Mercy College of Detroit. For UD students, some of the memories will include the Spring Carnivals and maybe being in the class taught by Mrs J.O. Smith, now better known at the novelist Joyce Carol Oates. There are the well known personalities that would be...
Back in the 1950′s thru 1960′s, the University of Detroit had a Spring Carnival and part of the festivities included the “Ugly Man on Campus” contest. Various fraternities would pick a member to run, with the winning student serving as the court jester on the King and Queen’s court. The winner was determined by the students voting by putting in pennies in a container, so the person who accumulated the most pennies won. The money was later donated to some...
As part of the 1954 Spring Carnival, Danny Thomas was awarded “American of the Year” by the University of Detroit. Danny Thomas was born in Deerfield, Michigan, one of ten children of Lebanese immigrants (New York Times obituary). (Just as a side note with the current events about Syrian refugees: Wikipedia notes that according to the 1930 and 1920 census, his parents are listed as being born in Syria.) He was honored for his charity work entertaining the troops with a...
In the archives, we try to keep at least three copies of everything like yearbooks, student newspapers, and just about any publication put out by the university. However, there are those items that are a one time thing and will never get duplicated. Here are a sample of some of those items: There may be lots of mugs with the 1957 Spring Carnival on it-but this one has a special designation: it has the President of UD name and...
I know I have already posted a couple of stories abut the Spring Carnival, but with the never ending winter we have had this past year, another one might help chase away the winter blues. The first spring carnival in 1949 was such a success, it became an annual affair for several years. The first spring carnival raised $23,000 for foreign student relief, the second spring carnival raised more than $30,000 toward building the student center. The fairs were held...
My initial thought for this blog was to see how students handled the stress of final exams. As I was browsing through some old Varsity News to see how students handled finals at the University of Detroit in the past, I began to notice other things that were not necessarily about taking final exams. In 1965-66 year, UD changed the academic calendar to tri-semester so class would run September-December, January-April and May-August. Up until 1966, UD commencement ceremonies were held...
There are races like the Kentucky Derby, Indianapolis 500 and Tour de France-but the University of Detroit had the excitement of the Turtle Derby! Turtle racing began at the University of Detroit tracks in 1935 under the auspices of Delta Pi Kappa, journalism fraternity as a local event, but within a few years grew nationwide, drawing more than 200 entries. A shortage of materials suspended the annual classic during World War II, but it was revived by the fraternity in...
For several years when U of D put on a Spring Carnival they would announce an “American of the Year”. Arthur Godfrey, a radio and television entertainer, was the first person who was given such an honor in 1952 for his continuous fight for racial tolerance. Some of the other personalities who were given the title included Danny Thomas, Ed Sullivan and Perry Como. There are many stories to tell about the Spring Carnivals the University sponsored for many years,...
