“The Pull” At Hope College Is The Craziest School Tradition You’ll Ever Read About
Think about the craziest tradition your school has. At Auburn, they TP Toomer’s Corner. At ASU, they have the Undie Run. At the University of Michigan, they have the Mud Bowl.
But sometimes, the craziest traditions come from the most unexpected places.
Enter Hope College, a picturesque, Christian, liberal arts school in Michigan known for having the best attendance in Division 3 sports in the nation, for being very Dutch, and not much else. Not much else, that is, unless you count The Pull.
At one point, “SportsCenter” dubbed The Pull “the mother of all tug-o-wars,” a moniker that doesn’t even begin to describe the event, which started in 1898 and has been going on for more than 116 years. Today, The Pull is one of the most anticipated events of the year for the entire college, where there is even a special chapel service that is held the Friday before Pull Day.
The Pull started off rather simply: there were 23 sophomores on one side of the Black River, and 16 freshmen on the other side. There was a single length of rope between them and they wanted to make a game out it. Fast-forward a century and the two teams, Odd Year and Even Year, have uniforms, rallying cries, secret techniques, and a whole mess of bad blood for the other team.
That hatred stems from the insanity of the actual event, a 40- against 40-person tug-o-war that, since 1977, has been limited to ONLY three freaking hours. Beyond that, the rope that they use, which is longer than a football field, has an initial diameter of about six inches, which is stretched down to about four due to the force both teams use to pull it. It isn’t unusual for kids to break ribs, blow out their knees, or screw up their back during the event. Two years ago, three kids had to be taken to the hospital due to exhaustion and other physical injuries.
Practice starts Monday and lasts for three weeks until Pull Day, which is Sept. 27. During the next three weeks, I’ll come back with a few more articles about this whole insane tradition.
Up next: Odd Year.
Image via YouTube
So a bunch of kids at a tiny no name Christian college have nothing better to do than get way too into a tug of war contest. CRAZY.
10 years ago at 6:05 pmRight, because they are a small school they are automatically inferior in everything they do. Thanks for your input shithead.
10 years ago at 6:13 pm“Right, because they are a small school they are automatically inferior in everything they do”
Not inferior because it’s small. It’s a small, bible-thumping, overpriced school with low admissions standards, and no recognition outside of western Michigan.
10 years ago at 6:44 pmDon’t mind the laps, the hope college students are out in force today.
10 years ago at 3:06 amSorry, but your school’s tug of war game is about as exciting as my 6th grade field day. Maybe next year you could try out a real sport like football or talking to women.
10 years ago at 3:10 amAll your friends secretly hate you
10 years ago at 7:05 pmHard to believe liberals haven’t caused the end of this tradition with all the lawsuit potential going on here
10 years ago at 6:18 pmNothing on Tugs at NIU
10 years ago at 6:59 pmClearly you didn’t read the caption
10 years ago at 12:06 amEIU tugs is better the NIU and it doesn’t even come close to this Bruh.
10 years ago at 1:16 pmYeah no. EIU tugs is a fucking joke. If you don’t have kids sent to the hospital after matches, then don’t talk.
10 years ago at 2:41 amI don’t think there is anything about EIU worth bragging about.
10 years ago at 3:14 pmOther than it being the best teacher school in Illinois.
10 years ago at 8:05 pmPSK NIU Tugs. Damn Proud.
10 years ago at 8:00 pmHonestly this shit is weak compared to Tugs at NIU. No Hanging, no Hacking, no Downbacking. Anyone down voting this, look it up on youtube. You’ll actually see some type of movement and action as opposed to just guys ripping the skin off of their hands while laying down.
10 years ago at 8:18 pmAre you the same person as everyone else saying check out NIU? And you’re gay.
10 years ago at 2:07 amThe number of “I bet he pulls” jokes at this school must be mind numbing. God bless them
10 years ago at 8:23 pmI’m from Michigan and I’ve never heard of this school. I feel bad that I don’t
10 years ago at 8:38 pmYou must live under a rock then.
10 years ago at 12:50 pmchaser
10 years ago at 10:28 pmWhat a silly guy!
10 years ago at 11:21 pmFor all the people saying NIU tugs is weak check 5 minutes of this out to see how we practice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rfkaLDE3GI Also check this link out to see the championship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1XSJ_sHn5M and they practice for 3 little weeks, we start in January stop drinking in March and go all the way to the end of April, its hot when Hope does their pull, I have tugged in rain, sleet, snow, and mud. Lastly 40 on 40 try, 9 on 9 with 40 people if 1 person gives up its not a big deal, with 9 if 1 person gives up you let your whole team down and you lose also we have and have moves and hits. I watched the Hope video they only eat the slack and they are singing in their trenches if you have enough energy to sing during tugs you’re not working hard enough and Damn Proud Johnny but you’re wrong.
10 years ago at 9:21 amI’ve been to NIU. I’ve seen Tugs, Jesse Filadelphia is one of my friends, and both Tugs and Pull are awesome. That said, Pull has been going on well over twice as long as Tugs has. Three twenty minute sessions is nowhere near three hours. And The Pull is a campus wide event rather than a competition between Greek Life.
I love the fact that people are defending their schools traditions, but this is me defending mine, and I’m not wrong about this one bud. Damn Proud.
10 years ago at 10:05 amTugs is open to any group to be a part of the only reason it is Greek is because nobody else thinks that they are allowed to do it a coed service fraternity started it, you are right though the pull has going on a lot longer. The matches are 2 twenty minute matches the 3 match has no limit. Also since you know Jesse you know he bleeds tugs
10 years ago at 10:21 amThanks for the shout out guys! Just to clear things up, niether NIU or Hope college could beat one another at there own tugs/pull. Both are completely different. The important part is that we are both the best in an unexplainable athletic event that bring thousands of students to matches.
To anyone doubting the severity or difficulty to this sport at other schools, go fuck yourself! Don’t talk about your football team when clearly you didn’t make the team yourself. Do not downgrade the sacrifice it take to participate in this sport (let alone win) when you can’t even fathom a hard days work. Finally, don’t run your mouth until you tape up and learn what real brotherhood is.
Damn Proud
10 years ago at 6:52 pm-Jesse