Pumphandle 2010

Pumphandle draws hundreds of students, faculty and staff to the south lawn of Old Main on the day before the start of classes, a tradition that dates to the 1800s and by 1921 had acquired the name "Pumphandle."

President Roger Taylor, here shaking hands with junior John Cusimano, is the first to greet everyone, followed by his wife Anne, Dean and Vice President Lawrence Breitborde, and Vice President Tom Axtell.

The women's soccer team formed an arch.

John Williams, photo editor of The Knox Student

Members of Sigma Alpha Iota

Optional chest bump section

Mina Rathore, left, a first-year student from McLean, Virginia

The hand-shaking line winds through Old Main, under the watchful gaze of Lincoln and Douglas.

Not the first guy to ride a bike through the Pumphandle line... (see photo right from Pumphandle exactly ten years ago)

Norman Golar, a 2002 Knox graduate, shown here working his way through Pumphandle in September 2001.

Why does the line, shown here from inside Old Main, take a unique path each year? Is it random, predetermined, or perhaps chaotic? A collective choice, or a single person's decision? ...

... It's a question one might discuss over a picnic dinner, such as the one on the Gizmo patio that follows every Pumphandle.