Every Person Has A Story

“The Walk” as remembered by Greg Peterson.

The 31-14 win against Amherst on a fall day in 1971 was the backdrop for a Williams tradition that Sports Illustrated dubbed “The Best Post-Game Tradition in America” in its August 31, 1992 issue. Many Eph football players had walked in uniform up Spring Street after beating Amherst or Wesleyan on Homecoming weekend before, but November 13, 1971 stands out as the first time the whole team made The Walk as a group. “For some reason, either due to the crowd being in the way or a mechanical malfunction, we sat there [on the school bus] not moving for what seemed to me to be too long,“ remembered Smith. Dave “The Tank” Shawan, a defensive tackle from Columbus, Ohio who is credited with urging the team to forego waiting for the bus, shouted out, “To hell with the bus, let’s walk back!”

“Suffice to say, we were giddy with our victory over Amherst and the first Little Three Championship for Williams football in a very long time,” said Smith.

Shawan, a big lug of a guy with a gregarious personality, was one of the leaders of the merry Ephs as they went right up Latham Street and turned right and proceeded up the middle of Spring Street, stopping traffic and being bathed in showers of cheers and applause as fans responded to seeing their team celebrate on The Walk back to Cole Field House.

“The story is that I was at the game and had my camera along,” said Gregg Peterson ’72. “After the game was over I snapped a few crowd photos, including a couple of my future wife Carter standing in front of the scoreboard.

“Then we just started wandering back up Spring Street toward campus. The team had gone into their shelter building after the game, but somebody decided to walk back to Cole [Field House]. I recall hearing that the bus was tardy coming to get them.

“Anyway, about the time I reached the post office, I heard this commotion behind me and looked back to see the team coming around the corner. I ran across the street so that I’d have the afternoon light to my back and got up on the steps of some store or perhaps the Williamstown National Bank for a higher angle and then snapped off several frames as the guys swept by up the street.”

The Walk (dubbed The Best Post-Game Tradition in America by Sports Illustrated (8/31/92)) was also the subject of an extensive article — click here to download.