By: Lydia Estes, Staff Writer
Here at Wofford College, students are fortunate to have a small community that is enriched by tradition and history. Part of joining this well-knit group includes knowing the difference between fact and fiction when it comes to Wofford trivia.
Many legends float around campus concerning the statues that stand before Old Main, the library and the student life building. Ben Wofford is someone all students should be familiar with, given
that his gravestone is an iconic statue on campus. Phillip Stone, Wofford’s own archivist and faculty member in the government department, confirmed the burial site of our founder’s remains: his and his second wife’s remains are located in the lawn in front of Main. According to Wofford’s website, “the gravesite is located 70 yards, 1 foot, and 13 inches from the center of the top steps of Old Main, because Wofford was 70 years, 1 month, and 13 days old at the time of his death.”
Another late member of the Wofford community is commemorated in front of the Sandor-Teszler
Library. Named “Light,” the bronze piece is a tribute to a William Light Kinney ’91 who passed away in 1989. Pay attention to Light’s relaxed right arm; once a year, his parents return to campus to slide a $20 bill inside his hand. The student who discovers the gift is expected to replace it with a $1 bill as a way to “spread the light” across campus. I myself was walking into the library one Sunday morning this spring when I saw a student approach the statue and retrieve a single bill from the hand of the statue, finally confirming the rumor I kept in the back of my mind.
The second truth concerns the start date of Wofford’s academic year. Most other higher-education
institutions begin a week (or two) before Wofford. While it is not written in the by-laws or recorded officially in any matter, the college—which welcomed residential female students starting with the Class of 1980—used to scheduled the academic year based on one particular demographic of its students: sons of farmers who were needed at home to complete the harvest of summer crops and prepare for the fall. It is true that Wofford has maintained this practice for its first day of class, despite the Labor Day overlap.
Many students have questioned whether Wofford does not have a pool because an important donor’s grandchild once drowned, and a large donation was given with the stipulation that Wofford never construct a swimming pool on campus property. According to records from Wofford’s archives, portions of the total cost to construct a pool had been collected or received via donation years long ago, but the plan for a campus pool never came to fruition due to the lack of funding—not a spiteful ban by an important donor.
Students interested in unearthing more truths and lies about Wofford can contact Phillip Stone in the archives at [email protected].
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