Courtesy Michigan Technological University archives
A shipment of 500 pounds of Copper Country snow is sent on its way to the students of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos as part of the Michigan Tech Winter Carnival in 1973.
By Emily Bingham | ebingham@mlive.com
HOUGHTON, MICH. -- With an average annual snowfall of more than 218 inches, the students at Michigan Technological University no doubt had no problem parting with some of that powder.
Which is exactly what they did for more than a decade in the 1960's and '70s. They boxed up hundreds of snowballs with dry ice, put them on an airplane, and sent them to Texas where students at Texas State University would demolish the entire shipment in a matter of minutes in a giant snowball fight.
According to the University Archives at Texas State University, this tradition began with two colleagues who were faculty in the journalism department at the San Marcos, Texas school (then called Southwest Texas State University). When one of them moved to Houghton, Mich. for a job at Michigan Tech in the early 1960's, he noticed a significant shortage of female students -- about one for every 22 men on MTU's campus -- but also, obviously, there was a whole lot more snow than there was at Texas State.
So the two colleagues devised a plan: Michigan Tech would send south a hefty shipment of snowballs to Texas State, and Texas State would send north a co-ed beauty queen to preside over Tech's beloved annual Winter Carnival.
The tradition carried on for about 15 years.
While MTU no longer ships its snow south to supply ammo for a Texan snowball brawl, both schools have some artifacts in their archives about the former annual event -- including a news clipping from then Southwest Texas State University news service, allowing a live-action glimpse into the fun.
"While four teams of SWT students had been organized to exchange artillery fire in the annual fight, on-lookers joined the fighting, turning the occasion into an icy melee," the news service reported on Feb. 2, 1972. "The only sad thing about the annual 'sno fight' is that Michigan Tech could never supply enough snowballs for all the SWT students anxious to get in on the throwing."
Read on for more photos from this slice of Michigan Tech history.
Courtesy Michigan Technological University archives
Nate Ruonavaara, North Central Airline's station manager in Houghton, assists Michigan Tech Blue Key members Paul Hindelang (center) and Greg Licht as they load snowballs for airlift to Southwest Texas State in 1969.
Courtesy Texas State University
Texas State beauty queens gather in a chilly drizzle to greet the arrival of 500 snowballs sent from Michigan Tech's Blue Key National Honor Fraternity in 1971.
A photographer captures the arrival of some freshly packed Houghton snowballs in 1971.
Courtesy Texas State University
Texas State University President Dr. Billy Mac Jones prepares to hurl the first snowball of the 1972 snowball fight.
Courtesy Texas State University
Texas State students gleefully pelt each other with snowballs from Houghton. A 1972 article about the event said it only took about 20 minutes for the students to whip through nine boxes of snowballs.
Courtesy Texas State University
A student gets serious about his next shot while onlookers under umbrellas watch in the background.
Courtesy Texas State University
Another action shot from Texas State.
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