WT’s Spring Break Is WAAAY Different From MTV’s!
I will admit to this, college in the 70s was a stone cold blast, my friend. In fact, it may have the best time, to be in college. I don't ever remember spring break at WT being a thing. It was a reason to go home.
WT was notorious for being a "suitcase college" meaning people were there for the week of classes and then the whole place emptied out of the weekend. People went home to Dumas, Perryton, Lubbock, and hundreds of places, within an hour or two of WT's campus.
My parents still lived near El Paso, and while getting home was not a problem, it was a 6-7 hour drive. Remember the speed limit was 55 mph in the 70s and it felt like hours and hours went by just to get home. I needed more than a weekend if I was going home.
I don't remember any of my friends mentioning South Padre or Fort Lauderdale as an option for spring break. A couple might mention a New Mexico or Colorado ski trip but not for a week. 99% of the people I knew were going home for the break.
And then MTV came along. I attribute college kid's knowledge of spring break traditions, mayhem, and the need to fight for the right, to party.
Had I known, that 14 hours away from Amarillo, lay miles of Texas coastline, with thousands of bikini-wearing college girts, Mom and Dad would have to skip the spring visit and look forward to summer. Oddly enough, nobody mentioned it.
I have a theory: the level of "party" was high in the 70s and was every night, and then Disco happened. Don't believe the anti-disco, stories, the bars and dance clubs around Amarillo, were packed, almost every night. Guys go where the girls are, and they were at the discos, wanting to dance. Of course, I didn't go out every night, but I knew some who did and their college days usually ended, after a semester or two of that.
No, I figure everyone at 1970's WT was worn out. The Paramount Club, Scotland Yard, Great Gatsby's and The Joker were part of our weekly landscape. Spring break meant a week off from classes, Mom's cooking instead of the cafeteria, clean clothes, and chance to see friends. We could get back to all that partying when school started again.
How did you "do" Spring Break during college? Tell us about it below....