TGIF (1941, in Columbus, Ohio)

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 03:19 AM 10/13/2003 -0400, you wrote:

>    It's Columbus Day,  and it appears that "TGIF" comes from Columbus, Ohio!
>I never knew that Columbus discovered Ohio, but that's another story.
You'd be surprised.  There's even a statue of the Discoverer, right on the
banks of the Scioto River in downtown Columbus.


>    13 November 1941, MARION STAR (Marion, Ohio), pg. 19, col. 4:
>_OHIO STATE'S TGIF CLUB_
>_SET FOR HOMECOMING_
>    By CHUCK McKENNA
>    COLUMBUS, Nov. 13--I thought I'd heard of everything in the way of booster
>clubs, alumni organizations and the like, but this city, home of the Ohio
>State university Buckeyes, and correctly called the Brooklyn of the football
>world, has come up with one that tops them all.  It's the "Thank God It's
>Friday"
>club, composed entirely of undergraduates here at State.
>    This unique organization holds its weekly meeting from 5 to 6 every Friday
>afternoon in a campus hangout called Ben's Tavern, that is a throwback to the
>days of the Student Prince at Old Heidelberg with its huge organ in the place
>of a "juke box," and the nightly singing of old favorites in the stead of
>swing music.  The High Priestess and major domo of this weekly reitual is the
>organist, Betty Terry, a lovely lady who is worshipped by the students of Ohio
>State for the part she plays in their ceremony each Friday.
>    Every member of this strange group firmly believes that if they were not
>to meet each Friday preceding an Ohio State foootball (Col. 5--ed.) game evil
>surely will befall State the following day.  It was my privilege to attend
>their meeting last Friday, prior to the Ohio State-Wisconsin game and
>before they
>were through darn if they didn't have the writer believing their meeting was
>just as important as the daily practice sessions held by Coach Paul Brown.
>    A typical meeting of the TGIF club goes something like this.  From three
>to four o'clock on Friday afternoon, the members (almost every undergraduate
>belongs) flock to the tavern and when the zero hour approaches standing
>space is
>at a premium.  Ben, the jovial proprietor, usually has to lock the doors to
>conform with local fire regulations the crowd is that large.  Promptly ar four
>o'clock Miss Terry assumes her place at the organ and the familiar strains of
>the State song "Fight the Team" start the meeting with a bang.  Then through a
>series of fraternity songs that include at least one for every one of the 72
>fraternities on the Buckeye campus.
>    Midway in the festivities there is a short intermission that lasts for ten
>minutes and after which the stirring march the "Buckeye Battle Cry" is sung
>to start the second half of the meeting.  To end this strange hexing ceremony,
>as it is sometimes called, the members assembled rise with the first chords of
>their beautiful alma mater song, "Carmen Ohio."  As the alma mater is being
>sung you can feel the pride in the voices of these loyal students as they tell
>of the glories of Ohio State.  To them this a fitting climax to their unique
>ritual and a guarantee of victory on the gridiron the following afternoon.
>    Chances are if Bob Zuppke, great football coach of the University of
>Illinois team that meets the Buckeyes in a game that has been designated
>by Ohio
>State Alumni as being the homecoming game of the 1941 season, hears of this
>strange club he will be all for (Col. 6--ed.) kidnapping Miss Terry and
>prevent
>the sacred TGIF club from meeting this Friday afternoon, thereby insuring an
>Illini victory over Coach Brown's warriors.  Knowing "Zup" as a mentor
>that never
>misses a trick, the doughty sons of Ohio State had better keep a close watch
>on their lovely organist the remainder of this week lest disaster creep into
>the "hallowed temple," wherein lies the power and the glory and the secret of
>success of Ohio State University's football team.  The place is better
>known as
>Ben's Tavern.
Dennis might know about this.  Well, he wasn't there in 1941, but . . . .