Volume 26 · Number 1 · Fall 2008
Lost Traditions
Frosh Dinks
Freshman beanies began showing up on college campuses nationwide in the 1920s and at UC Davis by at least the 1930s when a California Aggie article listed this “frosh rule” No. 1: “Thou shalt wear thy Frosh hat at all times while on the campus, unless accompanying a lady to a campus social tradition.” That rule, and the caps too, got set aside by the time the nation entered World War II and the campus was converted to an Army Signal Corps training facility for two years, said University Archivist John Skarstad. But dinks made a comeback around 1955 for about a decade, and this time for women as well as men. During this period, freshmen were expected to wear the blue-and-gold beanies on campus until at least the Frosh-Soph Brawl and, if they lost, for another month after that until Homecoming. We’re not sure if the dink wearers pictured here are groaning about a football play or their hats.