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A SALUTARY INFLUENCE sportsmanship, including participation in pep rallies, parades, bonfires, and cheering at the games. Gettysburg students did not boo referee decisions or treat visiting teams discourteously. They supported the home team in defeat as well as in victory. After every home football triumph they continued the old practice of ringing the Glatfelter Hall bell.*" Staff after staff emphasized that although one could not find these and other College traditions written down in any one place or ever formally promulgated, they were nevertheless real and compelling. "Just as the British Empire has her common law," declared the 1958 G-Book, "so Gettysburg College has her 126 years of deep traditions which, although unwritten, are faithfully kept by her students." Occasionally G-Book writers took the considerable risk involved in advising the freshmen to learn about these "deep traditions" by observing the actions of the upperclassmen. "Our traditions give a uniqueness to life at Gettysburg which causes us, both as undergraduates and later as alumni, to feel a special identification with our Alma Mater," declared the 1960 edition. "These customs bind us together and play an important part in helping us to achieve the goals of a liberal arts education." Although the 1951 G-Book was the first to establish a direct connection in writing between College tradition and freshmen customs, students had been associating the two for many years before that 261The Gettysburgian for October 14, 1954 reported what it called an "almost unbelievable legend" resulting from Dean Tilberg's recent accidental discovery of a letter in his files and subsequent communication with his Muhlenberg counterpart. According to the "legend," a farmer living near Allentown sent one of his sons to Gettysburg and another to Muhlenberg. Both made the football team. Fond of the game, the father brought to the 1911 contest between the two schools (it was played at Gettysburg) an old tin cup, described as a valued family heirloom, intending to give it to the son whose team won the game. During the first half, his Gettysburg son, then a senior, kicked a field goal, which registered the only score of the day and gave Gettysburg a 3-0 victory. Unfortunately, he was injured during the second half and had to leave the game. Upon graduation, he presented his tin cup to Gettysburg College with the understanding that it would be used as a feature of friendly Gettysburg- Muhlenberg rivalry, remaining with the team which had won the most recent game. According to the legend, the tin cup was forgotten during 1914-1920, when there was no rivalry, and in 1921, when play was resumed, it was not remembered. In 1954 the Gettysburg and Muhlenberg student newspapers mounted the tin cup, recently "found" at the latter school, on an attractive base, in a successful effort to revive the tradition, which remained in effect thirty years later. Even a cursory examination of the sources demonstrates that what the Gettysburgian printed in 1954, with the tacit support of two deans, was a legend not based on fact and that the two student newspapers were creating rather than reviving a tradition. There was a Gettysburg- Muhlenberg game in October 1911 and Van Buren Dayhoff did kick the field goal which gave Gettysburg a 3-0 victory. However, he was from Steelton; he had no brother on the Muhlenberg team; he was not injured later in the game; he was a student in 1910-1912 and was never graduated; and the Gettysburgians of 1912 and 1913 make no mention of any trophy passing between the teams. 95