The story
of the Dr. Pepper machine
(It's not
a "Coke" machine!)
by
C. A. Quarles
UPDATE August 20, 2001
We have some new information from Greg
Westbrook who was the first person to actually load the Dr. Pepper machine
and tells us that Dr. Pepper actually once provided cans at a discount.
Greg's story
Many, many years ago TCU
would only allow Coke machine on campus. Maybe this was because some Coca
Cola people were major donors to TCU. In those days you would never find a
Dr. Pepper in a Coke machine. Due to the restrictions on access to Dr. Pepper,
some loyal Dr.Pepper drinkers (it's said that you have to be raised on Dr.
Pepper to appreciate it) were forced to go off campus to get their drink of
choice. As a protest, or as a symbol of loyalty and committment, some of the
Dr. Pepper drinkers within the Physics Department began to keep the empty
Dr. Pepper cans in SWR 324. This room had been used by SPS and undergraduates
as a place to hang out since the building opened.
As the years (maybe months
actually, they seemed to be big drinkers!) went by and the cans began to accumulate,
a tradition arose. Each year at the time of graduation, the graduating seniors
were allowed to knock down the carefully maintained stack of cans. The event
produced a special roar that was certainly worthy of the symbolic origin of
the tradition of saving the Dr. Pepper cans. The under class students were
then expected to rebuild the can stack for the next year. As time went by
the custom was extended to graduate students when they obtained their degree
and even to faculty who "graduated" into retirement. The last (and
so far only) record of the ritual that we have was in spring of 1989 when
Neil Koone, Chris Hardage and Dr. H. Miller Moseley knocked down the cans
on the occasion of Neil's and Chris's BS degree and Dr. Moseley's retirement
from over 30 years at TCU.
Somehow the ritual and
the devotion of the Physics department to free choice in drink on the TCU
campus became known to the Dr. Pepper Co. At some point during the time I
was chair of the department from 1984 to 1990, I was contacted by Dr. Pepper
and they told me that they were so impressed that they wanted to donate a
Dr. Pepper machine to the department. The SPS students could keep it filled
up and earn the profit from the sales. We would no longer be forced to go
off campus to get a Dr. Pepper. I'm not sure if the TCU administration ever
really knew about this. Of course, Dr. Pepper placed no restrictions
on the machine. (Isn't that in the spirit of what started it all!)
Things continued until
sometime in the early nineties when circumstances brought an end to the long
tradition of the stack of Dr. Pepper cans. There were several reasons that
the tradition died out. But that is another story.
Questions
that some of graduates may be able to answer!
- When did the traditon
of knocking down the cans actually begin? Who claims to be the first or among
the earliest to do this? Give us dates.
Greg Westbrook
suggests that it was Russ Campbell in about 1980 or so. Russ, can we hear from
you on this?
- When did the traditon
end? Who claims to be the last student to do it?
- Who were the first students
(or student, even) to begin saving the empties? There must have been some
time between saving the cans and the idea of knocking them down. How long
was it before the stack was large enough that the idea of knocking them down
developed?
Again, thanks to
Greg, it may have been Russ Campbell and the Rick and Rob Shepherd, c. 1980,
who just did it to "blow off steam"
- When did Dr. Pepper donate
the machine to the department? Who was the first student to be in charge of
filling the machine? (We don't seem to have any record of the date, only my
recollection) Was there any news report about the donation? A Skiff report
perhaps?
Greg remembers it
was c.1984. The Skiff ran a story on the stack of cans. The Dr. Pepper people
saw it and contacted me about donating a machine to the Department. Greg was
the first one to actually load up the machine and get the cans at wholesale
from Dr. Pepper.
We would really like to
hear from former students. Tell us what you remember. Maybe I am the only
one that recalls any of this. The pictures below are surely evidence that
the traditon was indeed real, but we don't know who started it or when or
when it ended.
Please help us out as
we try to reconstruct a part of department history.
Great news!
We have had a response from Greg Westbrook that really helps to shed more
light on the history (if you can believe any of this)
Pictures
of the ritual of "knocking down the stack of Dr. Pepper cans" in
1989
L
to R: Chris Hardage, Dr. Moseley, Neil Koone
Last
modified 01/17/01
Maintained by C. A. Quarles