Cerulean SLUH

The history teacher — in his 27th year at the Jesuit prep school on Oakland Ave. — doesn’t remember the exact year it began.

“Probably about 12, 15 years ago,” Tom McCarthy says. “Students used to paint themselves blue and literally run down Oakland Ave. to the old CBC High School on Clayton — a literal ‘Running of the Bills.'”

The game outside the game at St. Louis University High School Sept. 9, 2011, began on the other side of campus about a half hour before kickoff  with seniors holdings gallon jugs of blue paint and 290 eager freshmen dipping their hands into the goo and spreading water-based blue paint over their chests, arms, legs and faces — willingly and eagerly while their parents stood by snapping photos and taking video.

Then, led by members of the senior class (also painted blue, willingly and eagerly) they ran in front of the Saint Louis Science Center, up Oakland Ave. and into the north gate of SLUH Stadium just as the first play from scrimmage was taking place.

“The Running of the Bills” is a SLUH tradition, as much a part of the campus culture as the Billiken and housing the state’s largest pool hall in the Backer Memorial basement. It’s the culminating event of Freshman Fun Day, held annually a few weeks into the school year to indoctrinate the school’s newest students into all things SLUH. After school, the freshmen participated in Bashball tournaments, a rock-paper-scissor contest, ate hot dogs and waited to paint themselves blue.

Once inside the stadium, they ran up into the student section and led the crowd — an estimated 4,000 on what turned out to be a cool September night — in cheers, giddiness, and school spirit. On the track, young ladies from area high schools elbowed past moms with cameras to get a good look at the boys in blue.

Nevermind that there’s a game on the field — a good one on this night, a contest between two of the area’s top teams,  SLUH and second-ranked Webster Groves, the defending state champion.

One of those Cerulean blue SLUH boys was Jack McCarthy, who finagled his way into the front row just as his brother, Matt, was helping turn Webster’s first play from scrimmage into a two-yard loss. That history teacher was on the turf as well, in his 27th year working football games on the “chain gang” holding the first down marker.

And me, the mom, who had looked forward to this night for years. Proud? absolutely. And happy too, since we had remembered to bring trash bags for Jack to sit on in the car on the ride home.

And there was the game, too. Matt’s first start at defensive end.

“Jack did you see that tackle at the end of the first half?” the older brother asked the younger brother the next day.

“Uh, no, sorry Matt. I didn’t see much of the game.”

I think I heard a punch to the arm, but who knows. Matt couldn’t really blame him. He remembers that night, too. The only way the boys in blue knew that SLUH had scored were the pushups they did for every point.

By the fourth quarter, the blue ranks had thinned and Webster had the game firmly in hand, a 49-28 victory.

But nothing could take away the spirit that night. Even the  Planetarium was lit — blue, of course.

Photos by Nancy Winkelmann. To view more (Blue) Men for Others, visit nancywinkelmann.zenfolio.com/sluhblue