TRANSCRIPT:
Rick Brewer: In the quiet stacks of Central Michigan University's Clarke Historical Library are fragments of a raucous tradition. Public services librarian Bryan Whitledge showed me some of the artifacts.
Bryan Whitledge: These here are some of the photos that we have...the original black and white photo and then we have the color photo that was shot at almost the same time...in this box here we have the original negatives and so Kodak ektachrome slides.
RB: Whitledge is referring to photos fro5m the 1987 toilet paper toss game against Western Michigan where thousands of rolls were thrown onto the court after the Chips scored their first field goal—a basket that’s not a free throw. According to photographer Peggy Brisbane, this photograph was her most requested print during her 28 years at CMU. It was also given a two-page spread in People Magazine.
RB: And this is where people think it all began. But it turns out the origin story dates back several years before this famous game. Whitledge says its origin comes from more than photographs.
BW: There weren't a lot of stories about it in 1982, or 83, or 84. So then we rely on people to give us those stories.
RB: And a lot of these stories have come from Grant Skomski, who says he was at the dorm where it all started.
Grant Skomski: We are sitting on a bench in the front lawn of Thorpe Hall.
RB: Skomski was the director of Thorpe Hall in the early 80s. In 1982, Skomski says the men’s basketball team wasn’t having a good season and the residents decided they were going to try and bring more life into the games.
GS: Back then they were probably called the instigators, but I'm going to call them the initiators.
RB: And why these “initiators” decided that toilet paper would be the path forward is unclear. But on February 5, 1983, against the Toldeo Rockets, it happened.
GS: The toilet paper flew, and only a few guys threw toilet paper as kind of like a test. Nothing really happened. It was picked up and the game went on.
RB: While not much happened at first, the Thorpe Hall “initiators” continued into the next game versus the Kent State Golden Flashes. And it worked.
GS: It ignited the fans. And it caught on for the students at the arena and on campus like wildfire. I mean, everybody was talking about it. I was getting phone calls. Hey, can we join in I said, it's not for me to say you really shouldn't be doing that. What it started was a run-on toilet paper and other residence halls.
GS: I had some friends that worked in athletics started when you go to the arena today the basketball game there why wasn't toilet paper in the bathrooms. Park Library was running out of toilet paper. The University Center was running out of toilet paper.
RB: For the next several years, tossing T-P came and went. That was until the 1986-87 season when the Chips had a great team—they had future NBA star Dan Majerle and were poised to make a run in the NCAA tournament—and right before the start of the MAC tournament, Western was coming to Mount Pleasant. Here’s photographer Peggy Brisbane talking about that game. She says that game was the perfect storm for a massive toilet paper toss.
Peggy Brisbane: We had photographed the toilet paper throws in numerous games. But it wasn't...just that right moment. And in this particular case, we knew it was going to be a big crowd, we knew people were going to be excited to play Western.
RB: But after the 1986-87 season, the CMU administration put a lid on the tradition—again Bryan Whitledge.
BW: One thing was people were soaking them, freezing them and then throwing them at the other team.
RB: And as students came and went through Mount Pleasant over the decades the tradition faded in and out of the campus consciousness—but it did come back for one game in 2004 to celebrate 100 years of Chippewa hoops— that was a sanctioned event like tomorrow night will be. Whitledge says the tradition is not just about toilet paper.
BW: The college experience is about the college experience. And so, this is part of the college experience, right? I mean, how many students have watched movies that show college antics and there's something like toilet paper streaming down onto the court, at some point, CMU had it and that's just a drive kids say I want to go to that looks like fun, I can picture myself there.
RB: In a way, the toilet paper toss created a unique identity for CMU basketball. It’s given them a competitive edge over their opponents—almost like soft power—a tissue-based soft power. I’m Rick Brewer, WCMU News.
