ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The lard was back Monday for first-year students at the U.S. Naval Academy who celebrate the end of their "plebe" year by creating a human pyramid to get a classmate to the top of a 21-foot obelisk. One student was taken to the hospital for treatment after participating.
Matt Dalton, of Safety Harbor, Fla., replaced the first-year student's "dixie cup" hat with a midshipman's cover on top of the Herndon Monument in 2 hours, 41 minutes and 32 seconds. That compares with a climb that took only about 2 minutes last year, when the monument was not greased due to the safety concerns of a former superintendent.
A female midshipman was carted away on a stretcher in a neck brace after participating in the climb. She was treated and released from a local hospital a short time later, said Cmdr. Joe Carpenter, an academy spokesman.
For the first two hours, the students climbed on top of each other and wiped away the grease with T-shirts. Dalton described it as an exhausting exercise, but he said once his classmates focused more on working as a team, they quickly made progress.
"When everybody started getting tired, we worked more as a team, and that's what did it," he said.
Many students appeared to revel in the challenge. Students could be seen gritting their teeth, as classmates offered their shoulders and even their heads for legs to stand on. Scores of family, friends and alumni gathered around to watch.
Vice Adm. Michael Miller, the superintendent, said he decided after careful consideration to restore the tradition of greasing the monument.
"Conducting the ceremonial climb in the same manner as so many previous classes helps to instill spirit and camaraderie among plebes and better links them to the many classes that have gone before them," Miller said in a statement. "The Herndon Monument climb serves as a useful event in reinforcing teamwork, organization and leadership."
Once the hat was replaced students chanted: "Plebes no more! Plebes no more!"
Students have sustained minor injuries in past climbs, prompting Miller's predecessor, Jeffrey Fowler, to hold the greaseless climb last year.
Miller said he was mindful of the risks. An area near the monument was set aside with water and medical staff, who promptly attended to the injured student.
The superintendent also noted that students are athletic, in good health and accustomed to challenging physical activity.
Furthermore, the climb is voluntary.
Students began the yearly event in 1940. They added the symbolic placement of the cap on its tip seven years later. In 1949, upperclassman began smearing as much as 200 pounds of lard on the monument to make it more difficult.
Records are incomplete on how long the climb has taken each year. The longest time is believed to be a span of more than four hours in 1995, when upperclassman glued down the hat. The shortest on record is 1 ½ minutes in 1969, another year the monument wasn't greased.