Some thoughts by Brother Paul DiCorcia  …    

One of the most hallowed traditions of EBT was the annual tug of war, a monumental struggle between active brothers and that year’s pledges over a huge pit filled with cold water and mud.  The activity created a bond between all the men involved as brothers and cemented the individual camaraderie of the pledge class.

The activity also led to some strange and comic moments, such as when  Dr. Howard Didsbury pulled for the pledges during his first year as fraternity advisor, the year he was officially inducted into the brotherhood. At the end of the tug of war all of the losing pledge side were dragged unceremoniously through the mud with the single exception of Dr. Didsbury, who was then chased all over the campus by the brothers in an attempt to dump him into the mud. After 30 fruitless minutes of chase, the brothers were exhausted and Doc could be seen sprinting down Morris Avenue as spry as can be.

There were also moments of what might have been considered foul play, such as the time that Tony Corrizzi , fearing the strength and numbers of an especially large pledge class, tied the end of the brothers’ rope around the bumper of his car. After what seemed like hours of the pledges trying to pull a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 into the pit, the brothers easily yanked the pledges through the mud.

Perhaps the most unusual incident came about long after the tug of war was officially banned. When the school started the work on the expansion of the athletic building facilities, a worker rushed to Dr. Farahi’s office to let him know that they had found what seemed to be significant archeological artifacts. Farahi rushed to the scene with bated breath and witnessed the unloading of a 1962 Kelvinator refrigerator, several bicycles, cases of Rheingold beer empties, and John Berardo’s extra small Newark State soccer jersey. All were the result of the pledges filling in the pit with anything that would make the following year’s pledge class struggle when digging out the pit for the next tug of war.

The closest we came to disaster was the first or second tug of war in 1962 when, after the event the brothers were in the locker room. Brother Joe Placa, a part time barber, had his clippers with him and it was decided to leave the Tau imprint on this day. So, Brother Jim Hynes had an EBT shaved in his chest hair, brother Dave Rowlands had a large gap shaved out of his perfect duck’s tail, Brother Bob Conway had a certain area shaved that would inhibit his honeymoon which would take place in a few weeks, and finally it was attempted to shave Brother Richie Sepe’s goatee. As the brothers moved towards him, he moved to his locker and got his gun out. He was wrestled to the floor and the gun removed and it was decided to leave the goatee alone. 

Whoever said the tug of war wasn’t fun?