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The Campus Socialite has teamed up with TagWhat to bring you all the cool facts, crazy stories, and historic events associated with your campus. The 2nd annual Blitz & Beatz tour rolls into University of Maryland this week, so we figured, why not start there? You may not think so, but a whole lot of stuff has gone down on University of Maryland and we’re gonna give you a little taste. Check out what’s Taggable at Maryland and see what’s Taggable at your college with the TagWhat App.
Graduate: Larry David, Writer on Seinfeld and Star of Curb Your Enthusiasm
For those who have never seen an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, get to a TV now. For those who have never seen an episode of Seinfeld, go sit in the corner. Larry David has gone from being the man behind the curtain in the 90’s to being a comedic superstar in the 2000’s. Curb gets better and gains more fans with every season and with this past weekend’s 8th Season Finale, we can only hope there is more to come.
Larry earned two Bachelor’s Degrees in his time at University of Maryland: in History (1969), and then in Business (1970). Not sure how either of those things fit into a career in comedy, but hey, whatever works. Larry moved back to Manhattan soon after graduating and it’s unclear whether he has any ongoing connection to the University. Either way, I’m sure they’re more than happy to have produced him.
In The Spotlight: National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
Nicholas Cage might be broke, crazy, and have the acting ability of the lead in the High School Play, but when it comes to action movies, he just really seems to shine. Admittedly, I haven’t seen National Treasure: Book of Secrets, but the first one was actually enjoyable, and parts of it were apparently filmed right on University of Maryland’s campus. The movie stars Jon Voight as well, a living legend in Hollywood, and scenes were shot outside Holzapfel Hall and inside McKeldin Library. At a university so historic, in a state so ingrained in early American history, it makes sense that the director would choose U of M for the movie. No official reports available, but i’ll bet at least one student caught Cage paying for JD shots in change at the local bar.
Civil Rights: Texas Western Miners Become First All-Black Basketball Team to Win an NCAA Championship
Although Maryland’s own Basketball team had no involvement, University of Maryland played host to one of the most famous NCAA Championship games of all time: the 1966 defeat of the favored University of Kentucky Wildcats by the Texas Western Miners. This would have been just another finals match if Texas coach Don Haskins hadn’t been the first in history to start an all-black team, let alone win with one. His reasoning: I wanted to put the best 5 guys on the court. Seems silly in retrospect, but the decision caused a lot of controversy.
Civil Rights and Black-White equality was a relatively new concept and many hadn’t yet hopped on the bandwagon. Haskins and his players received death threats everywhere they went and a player was even jumped and beaten on the road. None the less, The Miners went on to beat the all-white Kentucky team 72-65. University of Maryland’s Basketball Arena, now The Comcast Center, will forever be ingrained in history for housing this monumental event.
Battle Scars: Maryland Plays Both Sides of The Civil War
Like most Universities, University of Maryland didn’t start out giving out degrees in Accounting and Graphic Design. In the old days, University of Maryland was an agricultural school called Maryland Agricultural College. During the Civil War years, MAC went both ways, playing host to Union Troops and Confederate Troops. In April of 1864, 6,000 Union Soldiers camped out on the grounds en route to backing up General Ulysses Grant in Virgina. Later that summer, 400 Confederate troops stopped on through before raiding Washington. The College President at the time was a huge Confederate sympathizer (probably a big racist too) and he threw the troops a giant party that has been nicknamed “The Old South Ball.” SPOILER ALERT: The confederate army lost the war and now spend their time giving Northerners wrong directions to the post office/town hall/liquor store building.
