Uf customs like the Gator Chomp and Gator Stompin' are still going strong, but some of the school's best traditions have faded into the past. Here, some UF alumni share their memories of bygone rituals.

UF all-male students held "Pajama Parades" the night before football games. The band's drum major used a toilet plunger baton to lead hundreds of pj-clad students.
Bert Reames, 1948

Boxes filled with money and apples were placed around campus for students to borrow from, with the understanding that they would shortly replace whatever they borrowed.
Bob McKnight, 1951

Freshmen could not walk across the Plaza of the Americas for the first semester of the year, unless UF beat Georgia in football.
Bob McKnight, 1951

Football games used to be formal events. Students dressed up for the occasion and brought a date. Sometimes, boys even bought their dates "pompom corsages."
Valerie Broderson Ginn, 1964

Female students were forbidden to wear shorts before 5 p.m. on weekdays unless traveling to and from phys. ed.
Sherry Lee Alexander, 1968

"Frolics," or concerts, used to be the biggest social event of the quarter. There was one for the fall, winter and spring. The school hired a major musical group to provide entertainment.
Kathy Lyn (Ford) Slayton, 1973

Read the most recent online edition of the Independent Florida Alligator at alligator.org.

The Alligator, which used to be run by the university, started a sort of pin-up of the day of a girl who exemplified UF's ladies. The picture included a blurb about the Gator Girl's hometown, major and dorm.
Beth Pagel, the first Gator Girl

Gator fans took copies of The Independent Florida Alligator to basketball games and held it up in front of their faces while the opposing team was being introduced. After the introduction, they would crumple the papers and throw them on the court, where giant brooms waited to sweep them away.
Steven L. Bailey, 1986

Mr. Banana was a guy who dressed up in a yellow banana costume with yellow shoes. He had no arms outside the costume. Fans would pass him around the stadium as the band played and everyone sang "Go Bananas, Go, Go Bananas."
Sharon (Berkebile) Printy, 1997

Story by Alison Krieg

Produced by Christie Kulavich and Michelle Villamar