Alumni:
Where did you hang out? Earlier this year, Ripon Magazine sent alumni an e-mail asking about their favorite “hangouts” during their undergraduate years at Ripon. We received an overwhelming response from alumni about favorite on-campus and off-campus places to socialize and special memories of those spots. Apparently, many of our alumni had very good times around town as students!
The Spot Friday nights. A pitcher of draft beer (12 glasses) was one dollar. A glass was a dime. Those of us from the less affluent backgrounds would buy one glass and tablehop all night, getting refills along the way. Then walk (escort for safety) the society gals home and get a quick kiss at the door. The bartender (Ray Schiefelbein ’60), our classmate, is now a retired pastor. Karl Piotrowski ’60 Aiea, Oahu, Hawaii I am fairly confident that during our freshman year, my beloved and un-Googleable roommate Danny Kimling and I set a record by going to The Spot every night from orientation through well into the second semester. It was no hangout. It was home. James Harris ’71 Great Barrington, Mass. The Spot was the off-campus spot where most of the college students hung out. And, while I can remember going downstairs to the beer bar and having been seen by Darrel, the bartender, who had my beer poured for me before I ever got to the bar, my personal favorite memory of The Spot has to do with a homework assignment I talked one of my professors into giving. I was taking a class titled “Voice and Diction.” The class had been working on the phonetic alphabet. The assignment: go downtown to The Spot and practice our knowledge of the phonetic alphabet by
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RRIIPPOONN CCoolllleeggee
[phonetically transcribing] conversations of patrons who had overindulged! I don’t think anyone ever turned in homework from that assignment, but it sure was fun. Steve Illich ’73 Crystal Lake, Ill.