a student newspaper of the university of tulsa
october 28, 2013 issue 8 ~ volume 99
Graphic by Anna Bennett
The current incarnation of Captain ’Cane is one of a long line of hurricane-based mascots at the University of Tulsa. Herc (far left) was TU’s first storm-themed mascot. When Captain ’Cane (second from left) was first designed in 1988, he was to serve as Herc’s fisherman companion. Eventually, the name Captain ’Cane was simply applied to a reworked Herc (upper middle to far right). The current Captain ’Cane dons a superhero suit (center).
A mascot rises, a goalpost falls
The University of Tulsa has gone through a number of Hurricane-themed mascots before settling upon Captain ’Cane—the superhero. Witt Womack Staff Writer
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very superhero has an origin story, and Captain ‘Cane is no exception. The story on the Tulsa Official Athletic Site tells of a freshman IT technician, Colin Cane, who, through the “cyber-athletic” forces of a “binary vortex,” transformed into the evidently balding superhero with a lightning sword. Despite the presence of electrocution, the mascot’s fictional inception would probably have been a less prolonged, painful process than ‘Cane’s actual introduction to the University of Tulsa. The creation of TU’s mascot was naturally preceded by and built upon the creation of a team name, though fifty years separated the two events. In 1922, Tulsa’s football team under Coach Howard Archer was in peak form. During practice, it is said that Archer heard his team described as “roaring through opponents.” With this comment in mind, Archer likened the gold and black-clad team to Golden Tornadoes. The name was in use by Georgia Tech, however, and Archer and
his team changed it to the Golden Hurricane and finished the season as the “undefeated and all victorious Intercollegiate champions of not only the state but the southwest” as a 1922 Collegian review of the season put it. After the adoption of the “Golden Hurricane” as the official school team name in 1923, TU’s clubs began to conform to the Hurricane identity. Starting in the late 1950s, the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane Band would annually elect a “Miss Tornado” as a batontwirling mascot for the band. An ad in The Collegian from 1961 called for girls four to eight years old who were “attractive” and had “a pleasing personality” as well as “a good sense of rhythm and the ability to perform in front of crowds.” But it was not until 1977 before a costumed mascot took to the field of the University of Tulsa. Citing “a need to improve general school spirit,” a few members of the University administration contacted Disney Studios about designing a hurricane costume and were referred to the costume maker Fantasy Forest. In a Collegian article entitled, “So this is what a golden hurricane looks like” the 6’3”, 75-pound costume, and its first occupant, Jim Hunstein were introduced to TU. The Collegian had only one concern: “He needs a name.”
See Cane page 4
On Oct. 26, 2002, students tore down the goalpost to celebrate the end of the Hurricane’s seventeen-game losing streak with a victory against the UTEP Miners. Morgan Krueger Walker Womack
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Staff Writers
t’s officially autumn but summer’s dying breaths have blessed this particular day with a cloudless, sunny sky and warm weather. In Skelly Stadium the University of Texas at El Paso’s Miners and Tulsa’s Golden Hurricane are lining up for the final play. It has been a rather unexceptional football game, yet the stadium is filled with an almost electric energy pervading the home crowd. Tulsa leads twenty to zero. Despite the fact that the vast array of seats are mostly empty, the small student population boasts a turnout noticeably larger than any other game prior in the season. Some force holds the students to their seats; by some common understanding they are determined to see the game to its conclusion. Chants of “goalpost!” fill the air, pre-empting some grand undertaking. It has been propagating since the one-minute warning. Almost before the ball is snapped, small movements can be detected in the stands, and by the time a referee’s whistle indicates
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the game’s end, it is apparent that the students are going to take the field. Small detachments of blue and gold-clad students stream onto the turf, ignoring the low wall separating it from the stands. Students join together on the field, quickly forming a crowd as more and more members of the audience join the fray. After some initial confusion, the mass begin to move toward the north goalpost. Soon the target is surrounded by the crowd. Some bolder students climb onto the crossbar of the goalpost itself. With a creak and a moan, like falling timber the post is felled, commencing a parade of delirious triumph from the stadium to the Old U.
This exultant response came on the heels of a big break for TU: the end of a long losing streak. “We were just awful,” recalled alumnus and then-senior Michael Grunewald. “ESPN used to do a bottom ten of college football teams every week, and were consistently there.” Patrick Cawiezell, who was the homecoming king at the 2002 game, agreed. “I don’t remember how many losses we had, but there were a lot. To my recollection, we hadn’t won a game since the first one of the 2001 season.” The beginning of the 2002 season saw hope that somehow Tulsa would defy expectations and
See Goalposts page 4
Collegian Archives
On Oct. 26, 2012, TU students stormed the field to tear down the goalpost in celebration of the Hurricane’s victory over the UTEP Miners to break their seventeen-game losing streak.
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For additional information on volunteer opportunities, contact Kathy Shelton in the True Blue Neighbor Volunteer Center at kathy-shelton@utulsa.edu or call 918-631-3535.