Morgantown is the home
of West Virginia University. Besides a good education, it is known for other
things, some not as impressive as others. Last week when I was in Colorado, my
friend Craig asked, “What is your alma mater?” I proudly said WVU and he
responded, “Don’t they burn the couches there?” I knew exactly what he was
talking about.
This rowdy tradition
started when I was in school in the late 1970’s. The football stadium was in an
area called Sunnyside along with numerous bars and beer joints. In the
beginning, students sacrificed their furniture building a bonfire in the
streets when our football team beat Pitt. In later years, fires were a symbol
of just finishing the game, regardless of who won.
Authorities were stymied
about how to stop the unsafe tradition. Then someone decided to try an
experiment—prior to football season they would orchestrate a citywide clean up.
Any student that had old furniture that needed disposed set it on the sidewalk
in front of their house and garbage collectors gathered it for free. For the
most part it worked. Some students, however, were wise to the plan and held on
to their old furniture so that they could literally add fuel to the fire.
Driving down Sunnyside
Avenue today surprised me. On one side of the road was new construction of
high-rise apartment buildings, replacing the old houses. On the other side were
houses with boards across the windows spray-painted, “Condemned.” Of course,
I’ll be the first to say that the houses should have been condemned long ago
when I lived there 35 years ago, but it still made me sad to see the tradition
of Sunnyside now overtaken by modern buildings.
The building that housed
Choosy Mothers, Pie Pizzeria and the College Inn bar were still there, but the
businesses had been replaced by an insurance agency along with some vacant
space. As we strolled down the street, my college roommate and I reminisced
about the good times we had listening to music, eating pizza and subs. Times
change, but we still have the memories.
Today’s gift was to make
a donation at Taco Bell to help a high school student in Morgantown buy needed
books and supplies so they can finish high school. Then they will be able to
create their own college memories and later walk down their own Memory
(Sunnyside) Lane.
In Giving,
Robin
No comments:
Post a Comment