T-Shirts?

rocki · Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:45 pm

Yep. I was there in '73 - it was an awesome time. The game was the place to be every Saturday, and the student stands were packed shoulder to shoulder.

I think having been a part of that is one of the reasons I'm baffled at student attendance now.

Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:50 pm

Yea, I've seen photos and heard stories about the game atmosphere from the early '70s and I'd completely believe that number...especially considering we (and many schools) were having record enrollment numbers at that time due to baby boomers going to college. We had what, like 15k-16k students then?

rocki · Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:58 pm

Yes, around that number.

leatherface · Wed Nov 25, 2015 7:32 am

Yes, enrollment was at an all time high during the late 60's-early 70's, student engagement with the school seemed high, and everyone seemed to have pride in what was going on at WESTERN. I even remember having a "card section" at a few of the games. When I look at a game program and see the largest game crowds, it's amazing how many were set during that time period.

Things change. More off campus apartments, fewer students, possibly less involvement in student life activities.Yes, even the Peach Blossoms don't appear to have the "intensity" as years ago. Oh, well, an old alum speaking.

rocki · Wed Nov 25, 2015 8:00 am

I think, at least in part, the Peach Blossoms have been thrown under the PC bus. No more balloons under their shirts, no un-PC names on the back of the shirts, that type of thing.

I find it sad that we have lost our sense of humor.

From another old alum.

sealhall74 · Wed Nov 25, 2015 8:10 am

Just for the hell of it, I got on Amtrak to see what it costs to go from Macomb to Chicago. Regular daily route is between 70 and 90 dollars roundtrip. However, they offer packages of 10 tickets which can be used anytime within a 60 day period for only 200 dollars. That is damn cheap even for a college student. I wonder how many students hit the rails every Friday and return on Sunday. I saw a while back that one student apparently missed the train on Sunday coming back and took a cab all the way. Of course, when they got to campus, they could not come up with the $675 cab fare. Maybe herein lies the attendance problem.

Wed Nov 25, 2015 8:37 am

leatherface wrote:Yes, enrollment was at an all time high during the late 60's-early 70's, student engagement with the school seemed high, and everyone seemed to have pride in what was going on at WESTERN. I even remember having a "card section" at a few of the games. When I look at a game program and see the largest game crowds, it's amazing how many were set during that time period.

Things change. More off campus apartments, fewer students, possibly less involvement in student life activities.Yes, even the Peach Blossoms don't appear to have the "intensity" as years ago. Oh, well, an old alum speaking.

It was really kinda a "perfect" storm of the time period.
1. Record high attendance - including large amounts of students that were vets returning from service (hence the popularity of the Peach Blossoms)
2. Good football teams - between '69 and '76 we didn't have a losing season
3. Pride in the school
4. Minimal "easy" distractions - If a kid wants to sit in their dorm room or apartment with their TV and laptop (or even just laptop), how many college football games can they watch on a Saturday? I've had 6 going simultaneously at my house before...2x2 screen on WatchESPN (that's 4 games), one on my TV, and another one streaming on my iPad. If you're into football, it's VERY easy to watch a ton of games all over the country in a typical Saturday. In the early '70s, the internet didn't exist, nobody had computers in their own room/apartment...and what was the TV situation...one TV in a floor common area maybe, and you'd get what....2-3 games broadcast on a Saturday? Not saying there weren't distractions, but if you were someone who enjoyed football in the 70's, you didn't have many options for how to spend your Saturday.
5. And as sealhall74 mentioned, it's easy and fairly cheap to get to and from Chicago on the weekends now. The train up on Friday nights are always packed....ALWAYS...as are most trains back from Chicago/Suburbs on Sunday evening. And if you don't have classes on Friday or something and are able to buy your ticket further in advance, it can be even cheaper. I just checked...if you wanted to take a train from Macomb to Naperville (most students get off out at the suburbs) leaving evening of Thursday, January 28th (if you don't have classes on Friday) and coming back Sunday morning, January 31st....round trip...total price is $38. You can take the free bus from pretty much anywhere in town to the city center bus station across the street from the train station, hop on the train and in a few hours, be picked up in Naperville (or Plano if you're in the further out fringe suburbs...or LaGrange if you're in the closer suburbs). I'm taking my daughter up to Chicago and back on December 19th (graduation weekend....very busy weekend) and total for both of us round trip was under $100. Macomb just wasn't as easy to get to or out of for the weekend as it is now.

So, you had more students in general, more students living on campus, more students sticking around town with nothing (or not much) to do on a weekend. Why not go to a cheap (or were they free for students back then too) football game and spend a few hours with your friends hanging out.

wiu712 · Wed Nov 25, 2015 9:07 am

ST_Lawson wrote:Why not go to a cheap (or were they free for students back then too) football game and spend a few hours with your friends hanging out.

Back in those days (60's and 70's), we were given an Activities Card for each Quarter. It was a "punch card" that you would use to get into the games.

As previously mentioned, most students lived on campus and fewer students had cars. This was before ESPN. TV was just a few channels.

Tailgating did not exist. People showed up for the game--not for the pre-game eating and drinking. Hanson Field would be packed with people sitting on the hillsides and standing everywhere.

One of the highlights of every game would be the arrival of the Peach Blossoms at the game. They would show up sometime after the game had started and drive their truck around the Hanson Field track. You know that would not happen these days!

The Peach Blossoms also were more active in organizing cheers and chants from the crowd on both sides of the field.

sealhall74 · Wed Nov 25, 2015 9:13 am

wiu712 wrote:
ST_Lawson wrote:Why not go to a cheap (or were they free for students back then too) football game and spend a few hours with your friends hanging out.
Back in those days (60's and 70's), we were given an Activities Card for each Quarter. It was a "punch card" that you would use to get into the games.

As previously mentioned, most students lived on campus and fewer students had cars. This was before ESPN. TV was just a few channels.

Tailgating did not exist. People showed up for the game--not for the pre-game eating and drinking. Hanson Field would be packed with people sitting on the hillsides and standing everywhere.

One of the highlights of every game would be the arrival of the Peach Blossoms at the game. They would show up sometime after the game had started and drive their truck around the Hanson Field track. You know that would not happen these days! The Peach Blossoms also were more active in organizing cheers and chants from the crowd on both sides of the field.

And the Peach Blossoms' plungers actually were functional (schnapps vessels) and not just ornamental in nature. Those were the days.

Wed Nov 25, 2015 9:21 am

sealhall74 wrote:And the Peach Blossoms' plungers actually were functional (schnapps vessels) and not just ornamental in nature. Those were the days.

They did still do that a bit into the late '90s. They had to be a bit more discreet about it, but there were certain occasions where....um....certain band members....may or may not have been allowed to......um......partake. There is, however, no visual evidence that this ever occurred and I can neither confirm nor deny what may or may not have happened.

Speaking of other non-PC things we used to do...my section used to be relatively well-known, not just locally, but among other college marching bands, as the Western Illinois University Famous Jumper-Bones. The band had songs that we'd all sing, both dirty and clean, but the trombones had a couple of their own pretty dirty songs that we used to sing (as well as our own theme song), our own stands song (that we'd play), and a couple of traditions that still exist to this day. Most of them are either "clean" enough to do/sing in public (at games), but a few are only done "behind the scenes" now.