Finally they broke away, sprinted through the Undergraduate Library, and “inspired a rash of disunified streaks in all directions,” according to the Daily reporter. But so many people had come out to watch- The Michigan Daily estimated the number at 10,000-that the streakers were reduced to standing around in the cold and urging more students to join them. The cloak of night brought out far greater numbers at 10 p.m., but the streak nearly stalled in the massive crowd of onlookers.Īt 10 p.m., some 70 streakers of both sexes shed their clothes at the center of the Diag and prepared to run. Running on emptyĪ crowd of a thousand or more gathered for the lunchtime event, but only five streakers-three men and two women-showed up, and two dropped out before reaching the Diag. The other-the “First Annual Lucky Streak”-was to start on the Diag at 10 p.m., with a course to South and West Quads and back.

at Eden Foods on Maynard Street and race through the Nickels Arcade to the Diag. One outing was promoted as the “First Annual Ann Arbor Streak-In” (which an organizer insisted was the “official” event) it was to begin at 1 p.m. This story appeared on the front page of the Michigan Daily on March 13, 1974.Ĭasting spontaneity to the wind, organizers announced plans for competing events on Tuesday, March 12, the second day back from break.

Now you had to do something different, and Michigan’s answer was the mass streak. By the time students returned to Ann Arbor, the spontaneous solo streaker was all but passé. Then, in the first week of March, streakers seemed to be everywhere, with dozens of episodes reported every day, across the country.īut that was the week of U-M’s spring break, so Michigan students missed the crest of that wave. The national press began to notice in early February. The first streakers of 1974 appeared at Florida State University in January, followed by imitators in Texas, Washington state, and Maryland. (See “Panty Raid, 1952”.) But this time it was late to the race. More than 20 years earlier, Michigan had set the trend in such affairs. Indeed, streaking struck some as an uproarious effort to cast off the grim preoccupations of the Vietnam/Watergate years. campuses in that year when Richard Nixon’s presidency was spiraling down toward impeachment. Lee, as president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee), was said to have given his blessing to naked runs as a rite of passage.īut the country had never seen public nudity like the phenomenon that overtook U.S. college campuses dates back at least to the 19th century, when Robert E. Scheerhoorn was also banned from Addington for two years.Īnd it's not the first streaker for an All Blacks versus Ireland test either.The streakers of 1974 were hardly the first American students to run through public spaces with no clothes on. She was charged with disorderly behaviour and later granted diversion. The woman is not the first streaker at Addington over the last 12 months.Īt last November's New Zealand Trotting Cup at Addington Raceway, Christchurch interior designer Hayley Jan Scheerhoorn, 32, jumped the fence, ran onto the racetrack, stripped to her underwear and showed her breasts. It's a deterrent - we don't want 10 streakers a game.' You invade a pitch now and you'll get a ban. 'Gone are the days when it is seen as fun. 'We haven't had it (a streaker) for such a long time,' Vbase general manager Russell Kenny said.

Temperatures dropped below zero during the match which the All Blacks won 22-19 after a last minute Dan Carter drop-goal.Įvents organiser Vbase, which manages AMI Stadium on behalf of charity Christchurch Stadium Trust, said it took a dim view of pitch invaders. The crowd roared when she was carted off the near-frozen pitch by three security guards rugged up in beanies, gloves and heavy-duty jackets. Police yesterday confirmed that she was left off with a warning. The woman was locked up and spent a night in the cells at the central police station. A streaker who braved sub-zero temperatures to run onto the field during Saturday's All Blacks test against Ireland has been banned from the new AMI Stadium in Addington for two years.īut the 21-year-old Christchurch woman who stripped naked in front of the sell-out 21,000 crowd during half-time will not face the courts.

Female streaker today