by Rob Strauss
Editorial Assistant
A 107-year history can provide many unusual facts with any institution. Such is the case with the University of La Verne. Digging deep into the attics of La Verne history can produce many interesting facts.
Expenses
·Tuition for the University of La Verne 1997-98 school year is $15,100, yet back in 1919, tuition for La Verne College was only $30 for an 18-week semester.
·All of the expenses for room and board in 1919 only added up to around $100.
·The Campus Times used to only be available on a subscription basis. In 1920, a subscription cost 75 cents. The price was $2 in 1958.
Sports
·One of the biggest victories by the LVC football team happened in 1923 when it beat Caltech 88-13.
·Dan Quisenberry, the former Kansas City Royals pitcher, attended and pitched for ULV for two years in 1974-1975.
·LVC used to have a rivalry with Caltech in the 50s in which they would compete for the “Old Oaken Bucket trophy.” Every sport would be worth a certain amount of points. A victory in a football game was worth five points, a basketball victory was worth three points and a win at a baseball game was three points. Track and tennis victories were both worth one point.
·The LVC football team actually beat the UCLA team in 1924. The score was 14-13.
·Bob Richards, a two-time Olympic medalist taught at La Verne. According to Dr. Marlin Heckman, head librarian at the Wilson Library, Richards practiced his pole vaulting for his first Olympics in the Old Gym. This was before the locker room was built. Richards would open the door to the gym, run down C Street and vault onto a mat. This is why there is a piece of wood that is a different color on the south side of the gym. It covers where he used to stick his vaulting pole down.
Celebrities
·Two KFI air personalities, Al Lohman and Roger Barkley, offered to visit the campus in 1977 as La Verne College was about to change their name to the University of La Verne. The duo offered a free Barry Manilow album, a KFI t-shirt and appearance on campus if the college would change its name. The only catch was that it had to be changed to the “University of Lohman and Barkley.”
·Baroness Maria Von Trapp, whom the “Sound of Music” was based on, spoke in Founders Auditorium in 1968.
·Episodes of “Barnaby Jones” and “Matlock” have been filmed on the ULV campus.
·Basketball stars Danny Ainge and Byron Scott filmed Reebok commercials on the ULV campus.
·A film entitled “Best of the Best,” starring James Earl Jones, was filmed on the ULV campus.
Landmarks on Campus
·The material that the Student Center was made out of is teflon coated fiberglass.
“It was an experiment by the Du Pont Corporation,” said Mark Bagley, development director.
According to Bagley, the material is now used in the Denver International Airport and some domed sports stadiums.
·The plans for the Student Center were originally to include a theater, a cinema and a post office.
·Sneaky Park got its name because it used to have a hedge all of the way around it.
“People used to sneak a smoke there when smoking was banned on campus,” said Bagley.
·The Spot used to be located in the basement of Miller Hall. When it was built in the late 1950s, it was described as “a bookstore, snack bar, and social center.”
Other Interesting Facts
·In the early 1920s, there was a class offered called “Hygiene and Sanitation.” It was described as “a study of personal, domestic, and public hygiene and sanitation.”
·Other classes have included a climbing class, a throwing class and a scuba diving class. According to Dr. Heckman, the climbing class was taught by Roland Ortmayer and involved students rappelling off what is now known as the Mainiero Building.
“I think insurance issues are why we don’t have it now,” said Dr. Heckman.
·According to Dr. Heckman, La Verne was originally going to be a part of the Claremont Colleges when the colleges were formed in the 1920s.
·There have been two ULV presidents under the age of 30. S.S. Garst (1891-1892) was 27 and E.A. Miller (1892-1899) was 29.
·In 1983, there were plans to have a Richard M. Nixon Institute of World Affairs on the campus. It was described as a place that would bring together ‘scholars from various academic disciplines…[and] internationally recognized personalities who would develop responsible, realistic solutions to world problems.’
The Institute was struck down by ASF and the Board of Trustees. According to the March 11, 1983, issue of the Campus Times, “discussion of the proposal centered on the divisiveness of the issue and the name Richard Nixon.”
·Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel, members of the infamous Charles Manson family, attended ULV through Educational Programs in Corrections (EPIC). David Werner, who is director of the program, described Atkins as being “quiet” and “a pretty interesting person.”
“By the time she was in my class, she was in her early 30s,” said Werner. “By that time, she had become a born-again Christian.”
Journalism operations manager at the University of La Verne. Production manager and business manager of the Campus Times.