College Streaking - Part 35

 Princeton Nude Olympics

For years, Princeton had a tradition called the Nude Olympics.  It started before the 1974 nationwide streaking fad.  In 1969-1970, the first year of coeducation at Princeton, sophomore John P. Leidy, Jr. was known for streaking through the courtyard of Holder Hall, a dormitory quadrangle.  Other students joined him in races dubbed the Nude Relays.

By the 1980s it had become a tradition that on the night of the first measurable snowfall, sophomores would run naked around the courtyard of Holder Hall and would also throw snowballs and do calisthenics and pushups.  They called this the Nude Olympics.  The undated photo above shows students running in the courtyard, some painted with stripes to evoke Princeton's mascot, the tiger.

Above, students doing pushups in the snow in January, 1984.  These photos are all from the student newspaper The Princetonian.

Despite Princeton having been coed since 1970, only male sophomores participated in the Nude Olympics.  Apparently the women considered it too sophomoric.  Here's a group of Nude Olympians in January, 1987.

Here they are January, 1989.

The Nude Olympics bore no relation to the real Olympics.  This was not a contest or competition; it was just guys having fun.  Some more pushups in the snow on Jan. 8, 1991.

Over time, a few women joined in, though the crowd was still overwhelmingly male.  Also, it became an occasion for heavy drinking.  In the 1992 Nude Olympics, above, drunken naked students ran into town and broke a window at a restaurant, causing the police to get involved.

For the next couple of years, the Nude Olympics were much more restrained.  Above, students doing pushups on Jan. 4, 1994.

Nude Olympians in the Holder Hall courtyard on Jan. 9, 1997.

Eventually the rowdy behavior returned.  During the Nude Olympics in January 1999, above, ten students required medical attention for alcohol consumption and injuries.  Out of concern for student health and potential liabilities, the university banned the Nude Olympics, and it has not been held since.

We end with a video clip of the Princeton Nude Olympics, part of a "video yearbook" of the class of 1986.  The video is not great quality since it was taken at night.  We see the students in the courtyard doing jumping jacks and pushups, playing "wheelbarrow" with each other, and generally celebrating being naked.

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If you're an unashamed male and you have nude photos of yourself or your male buddies streaking that you would allow me to use in my blog, please email them to unashamedmale@gmail.com. I'll keep you anonymous if you want. Don't send photos that you found on the Internet. It's you I'm interested in! Thanks. -Larry