Normal girls.
After calling at all the houses, ending at Alpha's "Cobblestone Mansion" on Elm Street
[now A E Pi], the brigade of students snake-danced their way downtown along Market and
Maple Streets to the traditional bonfire location on the corner of Clarkson Avenue and Maple
Street [now the lawn in front of Hamlin-Powers Dormitory].
The freshmen had done yeoman service to provide the best bonfire seen in many years.
As the cheers and songs died away with the bonfire flames, students scattered to wait for the
free show to start. Promptly at nine o'clock, students-Techers and Normals alike- poured
through the darkened doors of the Rialto theater to watch
Stella Dallas
starring Barbara
Stanwyck. No one could hear the dialogue because of the constant noise as the party mood
continued in the theater. When the movie ended, everybody proceeded to their rooms or to find
a tall glass of liquid refreshment, convinced that this had been the noisiest, happiest, and
craziest pre-game show in many years. Despite this pre-game boost in spirits, Clarkson lost to
SLU the next day 6-0.
Weston Trophy.
Prior to the SLU game in November, the family of the late J.R. Weston
donated the J.R. Weston trophy to the victor of the annual Clarkson-SLU football game. They
established a simple set of rules governing this trophy:
1. The trophy was to be perpetual.
2. It was to be given each year to the winner of each football game between the Clarkson and St.
Lawrence varsity football teams.
3. If a tie was played, the trophy was to remain with the team already holding it.
4. Each winning team was to be engraved on the trophy along with the score and the year anywhere on the
cup; there was to be no set order.
5. The trophy was to be kept in a suitable trophy case constructed by each institution for this purpose.
6. The presentation was to be made at the direction of both athletic directors without involving the donors.
That first year, SLU won 6-0, in its first victory over Clarkson in six years, and retained it in
1938. However, in 1939, the trophy was returned to Potsdam when Clarkson "smothered" St.
Lawrence 20-0, and retained it the following year with an 18-6 win.
Minor Sports Letters.
In December, after the Clarkson Athletic Board of Control voted to
award Varsity and Frosh insignias to men participating in major sports, it voted to award letters
for members in the minor sports of tennis, golf, and rifle. These letters were different from the
Varsity letters. For these, the first letter was to stand for the sport, the second for Clarkson, and
the third for "team": TCT, GCT, etc.
Pilon Killed.
One of Clarkson's star hockey players, Paul J. Pilon, was killed in an automobile
crash on the Norwood Road on November 7, 1937. The car in which Pilon was a passenger was
returning from Cornwall, Ontario, where the hockey team had been practicing. Of the four
killed in the collision with a second car, Paul was the only Clarkson student. A brilliant
defenseman, Pilon was considered among the most outstanding athletes ever to attend Clarkson,
and one of the finest gentlemen ever to wear the green and gold.
Pilon Award.
In Paul Pilon's memory, Phalanx established an award to be awarded to the Most
Valuable Senior Hockey Player in ensuing years. In the 52 years up until 1990, the plaque had
been awarded only 27 times: in 1938 to Paul's brother, Maurice Pilon; in 1942 to Allan F.
