2008 Woodie Awards
Former Jambar editor starts rock-painting tradition
Jeanette DiRubba, Reporter
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: News
"Sherwin-Williams must have become wealthy over all these years," said Dennis LaRue.
He's referring to the Youngstown State University Tradition Rock. The copy editor of The Business Journal who attended YSU at the time when Ben Hayek, former editor of The Jambar, wrote an editorial about regaining lost school spirit, and the tradition of painting the rock began.
"I was sitting in The Jambar offices, which were inside Kilcawley at the time, and I was watching all these students walking back and forth across campus and past this rock that was dug up while Kilcawley Center was being excavated," Hayek said. "I felt like it was a pity there was nothing for the students to rally around and then I just stared at this rock," he said.
Hayek's editorial ran in the March 17, 1967 Jambar, and informed students that "the rock in the student center courtyard … bears no special tradition on this campus — it does nothing … This monument to tradition has seen neither a drop of paint nor the head of a chisel. We have cheated this rock."
The editorial went on to explain that this rock might be "the only true campus tradition we might ever have."
Hayek said in a recent interview that the day after the editorial printed in 1967, students were painting the rock.
"It was an immediate response," Hayek said of the students acting on his editorial.
Since 1967, the rock has become so thick with paint that layers have been peeled off to get the Rock back to its original size.
Students who've painted the rock saw just how much paint their forbears slopped, sprayed and splashed to get their message across to the entire campus. Desmond Wallace, senior and member of Theta Chi fraternity, jokingly described how the Rock has grown.
"That thing used to be the size of my fist, I swear," he said.
Theta Chi painted the rock for their founder's day.
"While we painted the rock, we had a push-up contest," he said.
Senior and Sigma Alpha Lamda member Amy Rook has painted the Rock, too for a Relay for Life bake sale.
"Unfortunately it got painted over the same day," she said.
Rook also noticed how thick the paint is.
"There's a spot with so many layers of paint, you can dent it with your hand," she said.
He's referring to the Youngstown State University Tradition Rock. The copy editor of The Business Journal who attended YSU at the time when Ben Hayek, former editor of The Jambar, wrote an editorial about regaining lost school spirit, and the tradition of painting the rock began.
"I was sitting in The Jambar offices, which were inside Kilcawley at the time, and I was watching all these students walking back and forth across campus and past this rock that was dug up while Kilcawley Center was being excavated," Hayek said. "I felt like it was a pity there was nothing for the students to rally around and then I just stared at this rock," he said.
Hayek's editorial ran in the March 17, 1967 Jambar, and informed students that "the rock in the student center courtyard … bears no special tradition on this campus — it does nothing … This monument to tradition has seen neither a drop of paint nor the head of a chisel. We have cheated this rock."
The editorial went on to explain that this rock might be "the only true campus tradition we might ever have."
Hayek said in a recent interview that the day after the editorial printed in 1967, students were painting the rock.
"It was an immediate response," Hayek said of the students acting on his editorial.
Since 1967, the rock has become so thick with paint that layers have been peeled off to get the Rock back to its original size.
Students who've painted the rock saw just how much paint their forbears slopped, sprayed and splashed to get their message across to the entire campus. Desmond Wallace, senior and member of Theta Chi fraternity, jokingly described how the Rock has grown.
"That thing used to be the size of my fist, I swear," he said.
Theta Chi painted the rock for their founder's day.
"While we painted the rock, we had a push-up contest," he said.
Senior and Sigma Alpha Lamda member Amy Rook has painted the Rock, too for a Relay for Life bake sale.
"Unfortunately it got painted over the same day," she said.
Rook also noticed how thick the paint is.
"There's a spot with so many layers of paint, you can dent it with your hand," she said.
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