Oxers . ,Tau, Foot, Ear Await Body at Pacific
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When Boxer was flashed In public, hundreds of Pacific students would converge on the statue and fight for physical possession of It for sometimes hours at a time. Pictured Is one of the last "Boxer Tosses" before the statue's body finally disappeared In the late 1960s. Pacific University ArChives B ' .1 oxers- 11:".: ~"""'"..-. .., ...tau, ~ •. ,. foot, ear await body at Pacific By Deborah Bloom Forest Grove Leader .., • '411 he bronzed, grooved figurine tail might not look like much, but even after 45 years, Pacific Uni versity alumnus Don Metzger felt uneasy about giving it back. "You think people are just go ing to grab it from you and run with it, like they did in the '60s," Metzger said. "That was just the nature of Boxer." The tail is part ofthe larger Pacific Univer sity mascot: the Boxer statue, a highly coveted object that has been a part of university lore and a source of school spirit and raucousness at the campus for more than a century. Pacific University Metzger returned to the Pacific campus alumnus Don in July to give Boxer's tail back in person. He Metzger recently said he had attempted to return the tail back returned the tall of in 1970, when he sent it to a former class the legendary Boxer, mate who was working at Pacific's optometry which he won at a school. Seven years later, the post office con poker qame. Only tacted Metzger to inform him the tail had been a hoof and an ear sitting in a recovery station outside of Dallas, had been recovered Texas. The tail was then returned to Metzger, since the bronze who held on to it for decades. statue disappeared Metzger said he acquired the Boxer tail at a In 1969. The hoof Is on display In poker game when he was a student at Pacific be in the mid -1960s. After a night of drinking and Washbourne Hall. Michal Thompson Boxer In pieces, Page 2 Forest Grove Leader -~ J'I!!.ForesJGrove Leader is online at oregonlive.com/forestq.roveleader • I] facebook.com/fgl students play _comp~ter i~gt~; would have done createmapsanosometimes stuaents and empower • games or use s1mulat10ns during the Occupy Wall even to collaborate on tests. them to demonstrate what Deborah Bloom: 503-294-4015~ and websites that apply his- Street protests. Joye also uses a bevy of they know by what they can [email protected] front leg were broken off, gether." BOXER and the mascot's torso be The tosses ended in OCTOBER 31, 2012, VOLUME 1, NO. 3 came the most enviable 1969 after Boxer's body IN PIECES Published every Wednesday appendage among stu disappeared. Campus lore by Advance Publications. Continued from Page 1 dents. has it that a student group OFFICE ADDRESS Those lucky enough to took it, said university 150 S.E. Third Ave., cards, Metzger and a take possession of Boxer spokesman Joe Lang. The Hillsboro, Oregon 97123 friend were the last two - often the fraternities or statue's body has not been EMAIL ADDRESS Advertising: men standing. His friend clubs who managed to se seen on campus since. [email protected] went to a back room and cure the mascot through Though no serious in News: returned with the Boxer teamwork-would invent juries ever resulted from [email protected] Classified: tail, then put it on theta ways to flash Boxer while Boxer tosses, many alumni [email protected] ble. Once his friend passed still maintaining posses- reported seeing people Legal: , out, Metzger took the tail . sion. leave serums with the oc [email protected] FIND US ONLINE AT back home. Willard Bleything, class casional bloody nose or http:/ /www.oregonlive.com/ "I expected the next of 1951, now an optom bruise. forestgroveleader morning I'd have people etry professor at his alma Decades later, with a TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED Pacific University Archives knocking my door down," mater, described the most piece of Boxer still in his AD ONLINE: Metzger said. "But noth In this 1950s photo, students are struggling for the Boxer original flash he had seen. possession, Metzger knew www.oregonlive.com/placead statue after it fell out of a melting block of ice that was Click on the Forest Grove Leader logo ing ever happened, and A group of students froze he faced no risk of getting Classified Advertising Deadline: as time passed, I kept my suspended in a tree on campus. Boxer's body inside a tackled. Nonetheless, he Noon Monday, 2 days prior mouth shut." 50-pound block of ice and was conditioned to expect TELEPHONE NUMBERS Classified 503-640-2727 At the time, having the as 1911 in a class scrim hung it from a tree. Stu a brawl when the statue Circulation 503-221-8240 Boxer statue - even a piece mage for the Boxer statue. dents eagerly waited below appeared in the open. All other departments 503-648-1131 of it-in one's possession "I'm just happy it's back These fights, what stu for the ice to melt. "But they didn't grab it Advertising & News FAX 503-294-4191 meant a fair amount of there. And hopefully, if dents called "serums" "People would build from me," Metzger said of EDITORIAL TEAM risk. The statue has been a and "Boxer tosses" would human pyramids to try returning the tail to uni Tom Maurer Editor the body is still available, Alex Pulaski Assistant Editor hot commodity through last for hours, with hun to get it down," Bleything versity officials. "They Theresa Myers Lifestyles Editor out most of the school's somebody will be dreds of students scram said. were just really thankful I Dan ltel Sports Editor history. bling and piling on top of Once the ice melted, gave it back." ADVERTISING TEAM The tradition of stealing inspired to bring that one another, struggling for Boxer was retrieved and a The university is hold Display Advertising Monica Butler, Manager 503-294-4145 Boxer began in 1900, four back as well:' possession. serum ensued. ing Boxer's tail, along with Staci Rizzo 503-294-4145 years after the statue was Steve Dustrude, from the statue's foot and ear, in Cheryl Venneri 503-294-4005 Don Metzl)er In 1929, one serum given to the university by Pacific University alumnus lasted for nine hours. the class of 1973, de an undisclosed location. Leqal Advertlslnq the mother of an alumnus "They were serious scribed another antic that Metzger hopes his return Virginia Roberts 503-294-4006 who had brought it home about it," said Noel Eng, took place at a football of the tail will prompt oth ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP from China. The univer class of 1962. ''The Boxer game, at which Boxer was ers to do likewise. All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by The Forest Grove Leader sity displayed Boxer at the tradition was to wait a few tosses kept going for de lowered by rope from a he ''I'm just happy it's back become the property of Advance front of the school's cha weeks and "flash" Boxer in cades .... It was always a licopter. Students rushed there," Metzger said. "And Publications, and may not be pel, but a student swiped a public setting. Each time, big scramble." the field, but the helicop hopefully, if the body is reproduced for any other use without explicit prior approvaL it, claiming it belonged to this caused pandemo Different classes would ter flew off. still available, somebody his class. nium, as students would repeatedly weld the statue "It was very unifying," will be inspired to bring RECYCLING The Forest Grove Leader is printed on Boxer was returned, but clamor to gain possession, together, but with each Dustrude said with a grin. that back as well." recycled newsprint disappeared again in 1908. "It was a unique activ- often unsuccessfully. serum came another ap • COPYRIGHT Any time a campus group The tail was separated pendage breaking. In the ity for the student body. It Deborah Bloom: 503-294-4015; ©Entire contents Copyright 2012 obtained the statue, the from the body as early 1960s, Boxer's ear and definitely brought us to- [email protected] by Advance Publications. I \ w .