Class Rush - Lake Rush & Bag Rush
Beginning in 1850, freshmen and sophomores battled for symbolic turf along Lake Mendota, usually ending in a harmless dunking for the members of the freshman class. The practice was discontinued after a particularly violent clash and a fatality in 1908, but it was soon replaced by the bag rush (1909–1927), where classes fought for possession of 16 straw-filled bags lined up on the campus mall.
Freshmen were on one side, sophomores on the other. At the sound of a gunshot, each side raced onto the field, trying to drag as many of the sacks as possible back to their side. Naturally, the other side tried to stop them, so students covered their faces and arms with grease so their opponents couldn't grip them.
Contestants ripped each other's clothes off. Players who found themselves nearly or entirely naked naturally fled the field, weakening their team and leading State Street neighbors to complain about indecently clad students.
Upperclassmen had other ideas and ringed the field, armed with clubs, to encourage the players to stay in the game.
In 1915, when the sophomores won the Bag Rush, they celebrated that night by literally kidnapping 250 freshmen, individually and in groups, and trucking them as far as 10 miles into the countryside. There the freshmen were locked into barns and other outbuildings until drowsy farmers answered their calls for help. Their long hike back is recorded in photos at the UW Archives.
