It was 17 years ago today that then-senior Stu Abelson ’97 donned the Bobcat costume and waterskied across Lake Andrews.<\/p>\n
Looking back, Abelson says that “my strongest memory is that it was such a team effort.”<\/p>\n
The feat, occuring on the Friday of that year’s Senior Week, wasn’t a renegade stunt under the cover of darkness but a well-planned campus event by Abelson and members of the waterskiing club.<\/p>\n
In fact, Abelson sought and got full buy-in from various campus offices, including the 1997 equivalents of Facilities Services, Security and Campus Safety and Bates Communications. “And the President’s Office, including [then-President] Don Harward,” Abelson says. “It was Don who sent out the campus-wide email announcing it.”<\/p>\n
Hundreds flocked to the shores of Lake Andrews to watch. (The full backstory is explained in this “This Month in Bates History<\/a>” installment, including the semi-heroics of the SUV driver, Caleb Goodrich ’99.)<\/p>\n
\nVideo coverage of the 1997 event by the local ABC affiliate, WMTW:<\/h3>\n