Pranks, falling in love, or the painful glories of sports–Crown alumni share their memories from college that they will never forget.
1. Singing “Oh, Canada” by mistake
Carletta Lahn, a 1992 graduate, told a story about an open hymnal time in Chapel. “We were asked to pick our favorite hymn. I heard someone behind me constantly saying 591, but they didn’t want to say it out loud, so I yelled out ‘page 591’.” She continued to explain how the leader repeated back “491”, but she yelled back that the page was 591. “Everyone opened up their hymnals as it turned out to be ‘Oh Canada.’ After that, they never had an open hymn time again,” said Carletta.
2. Getting dunked in a tub of ice
Even Dr. Joel Wiggins, the president of Crown College and a 1976 graduate, and his wife, Kathy, who graduated in 1979, have a funny story about meeting at Crown. President Wiggins shared the story of what happened after his friends found out about their engagement.
“When my wife and I got engaged, they used to come to find the guy and do something to him,” said Joel. “I hid above the ceiling in the dining hall, and they would have never found me–but the longer they look for you, the worse the prank they do to you. When I let them find me, they took me and put me into a tub of ice. It was bad, but it was all worth it because I got to be with Kathy after that.”
3. Prank wars gone wrong
Jake Wattenphul, a 2012 graduate, told about one of his many prank memories from his college years. “We had this rivalry with the floor above us,” Jake said. “They decided to play a prank on us by running down and hogging up all of our showers for hours so we couldn’t shower. While they did that, we snuck out all of their towels and clothes into the second main lobby. It forced them to have to run out in front of the large windows facing the girls dormitories to get their clothing.”
4. Duct-taped cups on the floor
Mark Wiggins, a 2012 graduate, shared a memory from his time at Crown, telling about a prank that he and a few others completed. “We stayed up one night until about 2:30 in the morning, made sure all the girls were asleep and snuck into their building. In the Strohm second floor lobby we placed disposable cups filled with water, duct-taped together across the whole floor,” Mark continued. “We didn’t make a sound for the two and a half hours we were in there. We also stacked their furniture to the side so they couldn’t jump over the cups. Most of the girls were late to their class because they couldn’t get out of their rooms.”
5. Getting nine stitches in basketball
David Sundeen, a 1961 graduate, played basketball for Crown (then St. Paul Bible College). He was the first-ever Crown inductee into the Hall of Fame, having received the honor in 2000.
“I played all four years, and started every game except for one,” said David. “We were at Northwestern getting warmed up by shooting layups, and they opened the doors while we shot. I hit the door and split my head wide open. I needed nine stitches because of that. It was the only game I didn’t start or play in all four years.”
6. Love at first sight, or not?
Brady Griffith, a 2012 graduate, and Alyssa Griffith, a 2013 graduate, met at Crown. Their idea of how they fell for each other differed as Brady started by explaining, “It all started on the team bus. There was this cute little soccer defender who caught my eye right away. I kept my eye on her for a while until I later asked her out.”
Alyssa had a different memory of how it all first started. “Well, he remembers me but I don’t remember him,” she said. “Apparently, we had some conversations on the bus that I don’t remember. He later messaged me on Facebook where we would write long messages back and forth. Then we had our first not-fully-a-date meeting in the Chapel to talk.” What really matters to them both is how the story ended. “After a month of dating, we knew we were going to get married,” said Brady, revealing that how it ended up is more important than how it started. “It was what the Lord wanted, so we did it.”
7. Will you marry me?
Another alumnus wished to remain anonymous as he explained his story. “One day I was sitting in class looking out to a fresh powder of snow,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘you could write a pretty good message out there in that snow in the courtyard right outside the Chapel.’ Some of us went outside that night and made a giant heart with the words, ‘Will you marry me?’ signing it with the name ‘Sam’. They made an announcement in chapel congratulating Sam on the engagement, and some of the many Sams on campus got in trouble with their girlfriends.”
