Probably my strongest memory is the night we freshman (1st classmen?) organized a free-for-all up in the dorm above the refectory - and I think the guys in the barn did the same. 4th year students were downstairs watching TV or something. Anyhow, some guys were playing with miniature roulette wheels and others playing cards and we were having races on each side of the dorm, jumping from bed to bed. Someone was posted at the door. He suddenly let the word out that Fr. Ralph was approaching. Almost instantly the lights were off and everyone was under the covers, snoring away. It was so hard not to laugh!
Fr. Ralph, as I recall, shined a flashlight around and, after a pause, said something like "You guys are gonna pay for this."
I will never forget the next morning, as we stood in silence at our tables when the "Great Three" walked in. Fr. Martin, of course, was the Champion of staring, and I think he stared down a few guys. Long wait, then he laid into us and told us that we would be making retribution for this for a long time. We learned that we would be hauling those great stones up from the creek bed and constructing a wall with them. Then a long wait until the bell rang so we could finally talk.
Building the Great Wall...and so we did. When I returned to SAS a few years before it closed, I found Fr Nevin in a workshop making stained glass, He took my wife and I around - and pointed proudly to that beautiful retaining wall that we built. It really is amazing, as John said, that we could accomplish something like that! (And, even though it was tough work, it was well worth it for the fun that ONE evening!:)
Kevin J Belton '65