An Old Tradition (Football)

By Perry Gattegno The Daily Northwestern 

Ah, Northwestern football. Jangling keys, the Claw, "Stacy's Mom", and … marshmallows?

If sophomore Evan Owski has his way, the jet-puffed confections will soon wriggle their way back into the list of NU football traditions.

Owski, along with fellow sophomores Michael Lanning and Elliott Fried, was researching the history of bleacher merrymaking at Ryan Field for fun when he came across an edict from former NU football coach Gary Barnett preventing marshmallows from entering the stadium.

Barnett, the coach who led the Wildcats to the Rose Bowl before leaving to coach at Colorado, came to campus with the mission of making Wildcats football a serious endeavor. He cemented and greased the goalposts to prevent them from being torn down by fans and banned marshmallows from entry into the stadium because he felt they were preventing the students from actually watching the game, according to hailtopurple.com.

Owski, a computer science major, started a Facebook group called "Bring Back the Marshmallow!" and sent out mass invitations to everyone in the Northwestern Facebook network he could reach. He said membership increased from 17 to over 500 in a week, all from the 20,000-plus Northwestern Facebook community. Eventually, the number had multiplied threefold to 1,809.

Lanning said he hopes the marshmallow crusade entices more people to come to games, the whole idea behind the Facebook group.

"Everyone says NU has no traditions," he said. "[We] want to give another defining tradition other than the Rock. We'd like to see so many marshmallows that after games, you'd have to wade through them."

 But not everyone is enthusiastic about the reincarnation of the marshmallow. Senior Brad Jepson, a drum major for the marching band, said he was concerned about the damage the sticky treats could cause to uniforms and instruments, not to mention his performers' egos.

"Nowhere in the Big Ten do students [embarrass] the marching band by throwing things at them," he said, a concern he also aired to Owski in an earlier e-mail.

Owski insists his intentions are not malicious.

"We want to have good, clean fun," he said. He told Jepson his goal was not to get students to throw marshmallows at the band itself, as was prior custom. Owski added a caveat to the Facebook page, writing, "…we strongly suggest marshmallow tossing not be directed at the band. Instead, just throw them up in the air en masse" after Cats highlights such as touchdowns and interceptions.

The "grassroots movement", as Owski labels it, has gotten a surprising boost from hundreds of alumni who have also joined the group. Most graduated in the early-to-mid 2000s, preventing them from having experienced the marshmallow days.

One, Erik Ipsen, who started Northwestern in 1992 and was part of the last generation to throw marshmallows in the stands - a practice he said students covertly participated in up to four years after it was banned.

"Marshmallows were definitely part of the scene," he said. "It was something to do out of boredom, and then all of a sudden, [the team] got good."

As for the problem of clean-up, Ipsen said he remembered that his club lacrosse team raised funds by scouring the stands for marshmallows on Sundays at then-Dyche Stadium - a fundraising practice that student groups still do today.

Owski said he believes that the confections are no different than hot dog wrappers or empty soda bottles, but he would not have a problem if another campus group offered to do the job like in Ipsen's days, if it would help bring the marshmallows back.

After all, he just wants some more support for his team - and who doesn't love some good fluff?

"Both the proletariat and the bourgeoisie can enjoy a fine marshmallow," he said. 

Reach Perry Gattegno at p-gattegno@northwestern.edu.