03/01/2018
Ollie Gratzinger | Features Editor
Spring cleaning at The Duke typically comes with a fair amount of questions, ranging from, “Can modern tech even read a floppy disk?” to “When was the last time somebody threw something away?”
But every so often, the hoarding spirit of journalists comes in handy, and we dig something pretty cool out from the depths of the back room. This spring yielded bins upon bins of photographs and papers detailing the life and times of yesteryear’s Duquesne students.
The Duke began publication in 1925, and celebrated its 50th birthday in 1975, with cake and cocktails.In attendance was Henry O’Brien, the first Duke editor.
Back in the day, Duquesne’s football and basketball teams were joined by a baseball team. However, the team was eliminated in 2010, along with wrestling, golf and men’s swimming to “strengthen other athletic programs.” The photograph above shows the 1964 team. It’s also an example of how newspapers were laid out before computers and digital programs such as InDesign were readily available.
Word of a murder swept across the Bluff in 2003 when two former DU football players and a friend with whom they’d attended high school were found guilty of killing a Ridgemont man, Andrew Jones. Craig Elias, Jared Lischhner and Jared Henkel allegedly lured Jones, along with another man, Anthony Brownlee, to a row house on Mt. Washington and accused them of stealing what amounted to $5,000 and drugs. Brownlee was let go when he promised to repay the trio, but Jones’ body was found at the bottom of the Ohio River in March of 2002. Elias was charged with first-degree murder aggravated assault and abuse of a corpse, and Lischner and Henkel were charged with second-degree murder. All three men received kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, robbery and simple assault charges, as well.
Before A-Walk was A-Walk, it was A-Drive. Traffic was banned from using Vickroy Street in 1968, creating the landscape we see today. This way, students are better connected to campus and less in danger of being plowed down by the passing Pittsburgh traffic known for its lack of mercy.
Father Henry J. McAnulty was the ninth president of Duquesne, serving from 1959 to 1980. He passed away in 1995 after suffering a heart attack on campus. College Hall bears his namesake.
History lives on for as long as folks remember it. Discovering relics demonstrative of times long past and often long forgotten brings to light an uneasy question: In the midst of the digital age, what will generations to come find buried in bins in the back of our closets? One may wonder what we’ll have to show for all the trials and tribulation of the 21st century, when SDHC cards and iPhones are just as outdated as floppy disks and compact cassettes.
Keep making memories, DU. Here’s to what tomorrow brings. Just don’t commit any murders, please.
