With clumps of lard matted in their hair and water being pelted at their faces, hundreds of Naval Academy plebes slithered up a 21-foot greased obelisk Thursday to commemorate the end of their freshman year.
The Herndon Monument climb is one of the rituals plebes endure before their final week as freshman at the Naval Academy.
Firmly attached to the top of the monument is a white plebe “dixie cup” hat, which the midshipman replace with an upperclassman?s hat when they reach the top. The night before the climb, sophomore midshipman slather the obelisk with 100 pounds of lard to make the climb more difficult for the plebes.
This year, the plebes reached the top in one hour, 14 minutes and 15 seconds, earning the fastest time since 1981 and beating last year?s time by about two minutes.
The midshipman who exchanged the hats this year was an unlikely candidate ? a 6-foot-8 inch basketball player.
Brian Richards, 20, from Stevensville, Md., said it was “awesome” to be the midshipman who made it to the top and exchanged the hats.
“I can?t put it into words,” he said.
After the climb, Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, the superintendent of the Naval Academy, presented Richards with an admiral?s shoulder board because of the legend that the midshipman who replaces the hat will be the first member of his class to become an admiral.
“This is a symbol of our entire plebe,” Richards said, drawing a parallel between going up the monument and sliding down and life as a freshman at the Naval Academy. “Everybody finally came together. It was all about camaraderie.”
Naval Academy parents, many sporting T-shirts with the Herndon Monument that read “plebes no more,” watched as their sons and daughters struggled to build a human pyramid and gain grasp of the obelisk. Some shouted advice at the students as they locked arms and tried to hoist their fellow classmates above them.
Jeanette Vaughan, of Blue Ridge, Texas, said her son Ashton was planted at the bottom of the pile.
“I saw him at the beginning and he had his face smashed against [the monument],” she said.
But she said this event was easier to watch than the sea trials ? the 14-hour land and water obstacle course plebes completed Tuesday.
“That was grueling,” she said. “My heart was bleeding for them.”
