Ask a current Biola student about the Egg and they will either stare at you blankly or else tell you it's a tradition that no one except the Spirit Board cares about anymore. Ask a Biola alumnus about the Egg and he or she will brighten up and regale you with stories of dorm competitions, the egg drop, and the poor ol' chapel speaker.

The Egg first came to Biola's campus sometime in the 60's, though no one seems to know exactly which year. It was a school distinctive, a 300-pound creation of railroad steel and cement, introduced as a catalyst spirit-booster.

Three rules accompanied the Egg: 1)The Egg has to make an appearance in each semester to at least 50% of the student body. 2)The goal is to be the class or group that owns it. 3)The Egg cannot be taken outside of set area around Biola's campus.

The Egg was considered an incalculable commodity, inspiring hundreds of midnight searches and general buzz. It peaked in popularity (and altitude) when it was flown over the Biola campus, dangling from a helicopter (as alumni
Rich Lackey and Mark Struck recount).The Infamous Biola Egg[ But when the Egg took wing, it flew away, and for several years befuddled students wondered if their precious Egg had been destroyed.

One day in 1975, a "gang of eight" Stewart] guysBiola Connections, Fall 2002, page 10. http://www.biola.edu/news/biolamag/downloads/Fall_2002.pdf including Galen Borden (’68) and Baxter Swenson (’69) discovered the egg in a garage of a Biolan who had gone off to fight in Vietnam and did not return. The guys brought the Egg back onto campus and smuggled it into their quad in the dead of night.

Now that the Egg was back, the gang in Stewart had a problem. You see, back in the 70's there used to be a yellow line painted in the parking lot in front of Stewart Hall, and ladies were not permitted to cross that line and enter the men's dorm except on Open House nights. So the only way that at least 50% of the school could see the Egg, per the rules, was to display the Egg at Open House. The quad-mates decorated their quad for the grand revelation and set the Egg right in Rick and Scott's room for all to see. Scott also published a picture in the Friday Chimes newspaper with Jeri (Ladd) Cress, seated on top of the Egg.

The Egg was now out of the carton and needed to be moved for the dorm competitions to begin. That night, the quad mates who lived on the top front floor of Stewart Hall dropped the Egg over the balcony, expecting it to hit the lawn below and sit there to be moved. No...not quite. The guys watched in horror as the Egg tumbled along the grass below and rolled into the parking lot toward the parked cars. The Egg didn't stop moving until it met a car, rolled under the bumper, and lifted the car. The gang of eight had to hoist the car and roll the Egg back out.

Another time the Egg disrupted campus life was the time someone pulled it on a cart behind the chapel speaker in the gym and the whole gym emptied in pursuit of the Egg (poor guest speaker)!

Today the Egg seems to have lost some of its luster and the students seem to have lost some of their hide-and-go-seek powers. But one day, if the three rules are followed again, maybe Biola will get back to some of those fun days when getting Egged meant something good.

If you have an Egg story, please contribute. Thank you.

References