On a Monday morning in November of 1957, I, Bob Prall, was told, “Last night some Oregon State University Aggies used a chain saw to cut up our wooden “O” on Eugene’s Skinner’s Butte. They are going to burn it in their homecoming bonfire on Friday night.”
I was an officer in the Order of the “O,” and was asked, “What are you and the lettermen going to do to get even?” I decided to assemble a team of University of Oregon lettermen to kidnap their Homecoming Queen.
After I shared the idea with Bud Titus, a fraternity brother, we got our Dean of Men, Ray Hawk, to promise, “If you do not use any physical force, I will not kick you out of school.” Bud and I then drove up to their campus in Corvallis and determined where the Queen and two members of her court lived. When we learned there was nothing on their schedules after lunch on Friday, I looked up the phone numbers we needed, and we prepared maps for fast getaways.
Three members of the Order of the “O” joined my team: two from the track team, Steve Anderson and Jim Grelle (Olympian, Cross Country and Mile Champion, now in our Hall of Fame), and baseball player Ron Dodge. Bud, who was not a letterman, would stay in Eugene to spread any good news. On that Friday, we put on our coats and ties and drove to Corvallis. Steve and Ron (both from Washington) were in Steve’s car with a Washington License plate, and Jim and I were in my car.
I used a pay phone to call the three sororities, explaining that we were from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, and were doing a special on “Homecomings in the Pacific Northwest.” We had seen the sign Welcome to Corvallis, Home of Oregon State University, and wanted to get a picture with their Homecoming Court in front of it. The Queen and two princesses all responded “Come and get me.”
Courtesy of Oregonian Digital Archives
Knowing track fans would recognize Jim, and since I had just received media attention in June as a member of UO Golf team (for playing in the 1957 U.S. Open Golf Tournament), we hid in my car across the street and watched Ron go get the OSU Homecoming Queen. When she was in their car, both cars then went to get a princess, so we would have at least two of the homecoming court.
Jim picked up one princess from her sorority. As we drove off with her sitting between the two of us, she said to me “I think I have I met you before.” I replied “we met at a party last New Year’s Eve.” “You go the University of Oregon!” she said. I replied “I graduated, and now work for the Seattle P.I.,” and Jim asked her a question to change the subject.
A few minutes later, she said “I almost feel like I am being kidnapped.” About a minute later, I pulled up next to a car with two of my fraternity brothers, and they yelled, “The other car just went by. They have two of them.” As we sped north, she yelled, “Oh, no! I AM being Kidnapped!”
I responded, “Yes. We are Oregon lettermen. We are going to my home in Salem, where my mother will be the chaperone. But we will get you back to Corvallis for the bonfire, so we will not get kicked out of college and end up in jail.” She laughed, and by the time we got to Salem, we were good friends. The Stockholm Syndrome had set in! All three of the Oregon State Homecoming court were on our side now.
Courtesy of Oregonian Digital Archives
I called each sorority and told them about the kidnapping, but none would believe me until I put their Queen or Princess on the phone. Then I got a call from Bud in Eugene. He gave me some phone numbers for radio stations that wanted to interview them! All three women enjoyed their interviews, and being good sports, did not reveal our names or where we (their kidnappers) were currently located.
Steve and Jim returned to Eugene, because their coach, Bill Bowerman, would not let them skip any track team practices. Needless to say, the OSU Sorority sisters spread the news all over the Oregon State campus. But many students at Oregon State would not believe it until their Daily Barometer distributed a special issue with a bold headline, “NO KIDDING, THEY ARE GONE!”
I got another call from Bud, who let me know that a reporter and a photographer (Both loyal Ducks) from the Portland Oregonian were on their way to meet up with us in Salem. After an hour of interviews and clicking cameras, I got a call from Ray Hawk’s Assistant Dean in Eugene, and I told him we were about ready to feed our captives. With much anger, he said. “You put them in your car and take them back, RIGHT NOW, or I will kick your asses out of school.” (I later heard that a dean from Oregon State University frantically called Eugene and wanted to talk to Dean Ray Hawk, but nobody could find him. It was like “he had disappeared from planet earth”!)
Courtesy of Oregonian Digital Archives
On the way back (followed by the Oregonian’s car), we stopped by the home of one of the princesses in Albany to call an OSU Dean in Corvallis to arrange the transfer of the Oregon Homecoming royalty. As I followed her into her home, her mother yelled, “This is so exciting. I heard you interviewed on the radio, and this is on TV. You can tell your grandchildren about this.”
As we waited for the OSU Dean at a meeting place outside of Corvallis, we heard a police siren and honking horns headed our way, and I almost fainted. False alarm, as fortunately it was a caravan headed to a high school football game. When the Dean arrived, the Oregonian’s reporter and photographer then went to work for their story and pictures. As they were finishing later, Ron said to me “We can’t let them go back until we kiss them good-bye.”
Courtesy of Oregonian Digital Archives
I agreed, and the photographer took a picture for the article about our kidnapping. The article appeared above the fold on the front page of the Eugene Register Guard, in addition to a full page of pictures in Portland’s Sunday Oregonian to match their article.
After the photos, Ron and I drove to Corvallis, parked across the street, and watched the glorious entrance of the Oregon State Homecoming Court — just before the delayed burning of our “O” that they captured from Eugene. Many of my Aggie friends later thanked me for their having the most exciting homecoming ever.
While the Aggies may have won that year’s “Civil War,” it was our Ducks who won the Conference, and played in the Rose Bowl.
Bob Prall, M.Div.
Spring, Texas
Top Photo: Courtesy of Oregon State University Libraries and Press, and OSU Daily Barometer
Author of two books: www.amazon.com/s?k=Bob+Prall+e-books
https://www.histombisempty.info/bothpaperbacks.pdf
Audios from https://www.evidenceforskeptics.com/answers.pdf
Kidnapped originally published in www.fishduck.com
This can be downloaded and printed from: https://www.bobaudios.com/kidnapped.pdf
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I grew up dreaming of playing the PGA tour. As conference medalist, I lead our Duck Golf Team to the 1957 championship of the North division of the PCC. I played in the U.S. Open as a college student, and later one other PGA Tour Tourney (where I would have been in the money, if I had turned pro). But God had other plans for me. I trusted in Jesus, and six month’s later I enrolled in what is now Western Seminary, in Portland. I won Oregon’s State Amateur Championship, both summers between my three years in seminary.
After graduating, I joined the staff of what is now Cru. After eight good years (when the “Jesus People” awakening happened) I was called to be the pastor of Grace Bible Church in Bryan, Texas. As pastor, I led its relocation to twin-city College Station (near Texas A&M) and took the 27 member church to a weekly attendance of about 500. Many years later, it now has four campuses with an attendance of over 4,000.