My mother made me wear that coat, I swear

Villanova University 1966 - Orientation
Originally uploaded by Brite Lights photos.

VILLANOVA, Penn. - It was the fall of 1966 and I got unceremoniously dropped at Villanova University by an uncle who I had never met until I stepped off the plane that morning. He deposited me on the corner in front of the campus with a trunk full of badly out-of-style clothes, a worse haircut and not knowing a soul.

And no one, no one had warned me about Freshmen Orientation.

Villanova was steeped in lots of tradition, one of which was that upper classmen could pretty much torture you at will for the first four weeks of school. You were required - by the university - to wear bow ties, roll your pant legs up well above your ankles and wear a beanie.

I am not kidding, a goddamned beanie.

In this photo, which I found today in a box full of stuff from that era, my socks are rolled up and I'm wearing a purple, plaid sports coat. Not many game show hosts in that era would have had the guts to wear that coat. I stuck out just a little among my much-more wealthy classmates who were mostly decked out in suits or blue blazers.

Still, what an exciting day. And I can still remember wanting to take a poke at the pudgy upperclassman who ordered me to roll up my socks. The beanies and bow ties we were given inside when we picked up the little index cards that said what our classes were for the entire year.

By the end of the first week, the beanies, the bow ties and socks all disappeared. And so did the worst of the bullying upperclassmen, mostly because a few of my classmates lost their sense of humor and bloodied a few upper noses.

What I remember most about that first day was sitting with about 1,000 other freshmen in the Villanova gym and hearing the president of the University tell us to stand up and shake hands with the boys (and it was 99 percent boys) on either side of us.

Then he said, "By January, one of the young men you shook hands with will have flunked out."

I made it halfway through my sophomore year before a combination of deteriorating study habits and developing social habits collided, and my GPA slid to where if I had not bailed out, I would have needed better than a 3.0 to move from sophomore to junior.

And the coat?

I left it as a souvenir for the next occupant of my dorm room. I wasn't going to ever need it again, unless there was a vaudeville revival and John Rupp and I worked up an act.

Today's song is from that fall term and it played over and over and over and over and...:

What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
Jimmy Ruffin


As I walk this land of broken dreams
I have visions of many things
But happiness is just an illusion
Filled with sadness and confusion
What becomes of the broken hearted
Who had love that's now departed
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
Maybe

The roots of love grow all around
But for me they come a tumblin' down
Every day heartaches grow a little stronger
I can't stand this pain much longer
I walk in shadows
Searching for light
Cold and alone
No comfort in sight
Hoping and praying for someone to care
Always moving and going nowhere
What becomes of the broken hearted
Who had love that's now departed
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
Help me

I'm searching though I don't succeed
But someone look, there's a growing need
All is lost, there's no place for beginning
All that's left is an unhappy ending
Now what becomes of the broken-hearted
Who had love that's now departed
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
I'll be searching everywhere
Just to find someone to care

I'll be looking everyday
I know I'm gonna find a way
Nothing's gonna stop me now
I'll find a way somehow
I'll be searching everywhere