St. Pete the Elf

I'd like to talk to you today about something that happened in the past, around about the time of the last government shut-down.

(While I'd like to talk about THIS government shut down, I won't.  Just know that it is affecting a lot of people, and no good can come of this.)

Back in 1995, almost 18 years ago, The George Washington University Basketball team went to St. Petersburg, Florida for a basketball tournament.  A few lucky souls from the pep band also got to go with them to support the team.  I was one of the chosen few, and off we flew to Florida.  My parents drove down I-4 to meet us, brought me some home-made cookies, and we all had a great time.  There was one or two things though that stand out on this visit.

One was that we had one of the tallest, and one of the shortest, players in the Atlantic 10.  Alexander Koul was supposedly over 7 feet tall, and Shawnta Rogers supposedly stood 5 feet 4 inches.  (Actually I bet that was in his shoes, cause I stood next to him once in line to get a burger, and he was almost a foot shorter than I was.)  On the flight home the flight attendant kept yelling at someone to sit down in the back because we couldn't leave until everyone was seated.  Actually in was Alexander (nicknamed Sasha) she was yelling at, because he was so tall it looked like he was standing even while sitting down.

The second was the addition of what at the time became a legend in the band.  The freeing of St. Pete the Elf from his bondage to the city of St. Petersburg.  I should explain.

It was getting closer to Christmas, and St. Petersburg had some of their decorations out.  While walking to get something to eat one night, we saw that there was a little Christmas wonderland set up in a public park.  There, in the midst of all the decorations, was a wooden elf nailed to a stake and stuck into the ground.  He looked as if he'd been around for a long time, and wouldn't have stood out except for the colors he was wearing.  While all the other elves where wearing green or red, this one was wearing a blue tunic with gold tights.  Buff and Blue, if you will.  The exact colors of The George Washington University!  Obviously we had to free our alumnus, so we hatched a plan.

There were about 6 of us that night.  Strangely I only remember Jeff, myself and Kim Ethier, but I know there were others.  I believe the thought for having Kim with us was that she could distract someone if we got caught so we could escape.  Luckily, this wasn't necessary.  Jeff pulled him out of the ground and we beat it back to the hotel.

St. Pete was given to the Tuba section, and became a bit of a mascot for us.  We had him at every home game.  Then something strange happened: GW started winning.  I think we went undefeated at home that year, and finished with a 21-8 record.  It was awesome!  At every game we would designate the Elf bearer.  They would hold him solemnly throughout the game, only putting him down to play the next song during a timeout.

For the next few years, St. Pete would make an appearance at all games where the pep band played.  The bearer was passed down to any new tuba player, including our female tuba player, Shorty.  St. Pete made the trip with the band to South Carolina when the Women's Basketball team knocked off the top seeded North Carolina team went to the Elite Eight.  He also came with us when I got kicked out of Rupp Arena during the Duke basketball game because the guys sitting next to me made some rather rude comments about the Duke cheerleaders and the lack of meat on their bones.  (I actually think OUR cheerleaders were the ones that told security on those guys.  I swear I didn't say anything!)

At the end of my college band career, we decided it was time to retire St. Pete the elf.  He was hung on the wall of the band office.  To be honest, I'm not even sure what happened to him, as I know he wasn't there the last time I went by the office.  If anyone knows, please leave it in the comments.

Still, it was a great year for basketball in 1995-1996.  I'm not saying that some band geeks stealing a wooden elf from Florida helped make it happen.  But then again, I'm not NOT saying that either.