The unlikely history behind an unlikely Penn tradition

Throwing toast onto Franklin Field at the end of the third quarter of a Penn football game has become a beloved, albeit unorthodox, tradition among students at Penn. Unusual as it is ubiquitous in the eyes of foreigners to Franklin Field, the tradition does have historical roots which can be traced back to the 70s.

A New York Times article details how this symbolic act mostly originated in response to a ban on alcohol at the games. As they do now, the Penn band would play the song “Drink a Highball” at the end of the third quarter of every game, ending with the lyric, “Here’s a toast to dear old Penn!” At that point, the fans would gesture to the field and guzzle down some alcohol.

However, the toasting took on a more literal meaning after then-members of the band, including Greer Cheeseman, who led the Penn band in the Quakers’ title-clinching victory this Saturday over Cornell, attended a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show in downtown Philly. In one scene during the film, an actor onscreen offers a toast. Cheeseman recounts how that prompted the veteran viewers of the movie to throw pieces of toast towards the screen in unison. Cheeseman and his fellow band members were inspired by what they saw and knew they had to bring that experience back to campus.

“We thought if the band did it, everyone would do it,” he said. “Now it’s taken on a life of its own,” Cheeseman told The New York Times.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Read more at The NY Times.

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