Virginia Tech Ring History (PDF | 1MB) - Virginia Tech Alumni ...

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class ring. The phrase “Beat UVA” also appears on this ring.Signets and women’s fashion rings had first appeared in the1970s, but the 1980s saw a large expansion of the class ringcollection with offerings of many different styles of signet ringsfor men and women, as well as women’s fashion rings. Jostensmade the bulk of the rings of the decade, with Balfour makingthree years and Herff-Jones making the 1980 ring. Held atSquires Student Center, Ring Dance continued to be a large,anticipated event on campus. Friday night was the formalnight with the ring ceremony and fireworks, while Saturdaywas a semiformal dance. Bands such as the Kings of Swing andVoltage Brothers were popular. Themes for the dances, suchas 1982’s “An Evening in Camelot,” 1987’s “Moonlight overManhattan,” or 1989’s “On the Rivera” reflected the desire tocreate a glamorous, escapist departure from the everyday inBlacksburg.Amidst the “me” decade and waning school spirit, the classring tradition at Virginia Tech managed to survive the 1980sintact with changes that are still in place today.The Centennial Big Ring located in Squires Student Center, 2ndfloor. A gift from the Class of 2011.changes, from the long-necked Gobbler of the 1970s to ashorter turkey mascot in 1982 called “The Hokie,” to thecurrent HokieBird, which premiered in fall 1987, the sameyear that Coach Frank Beamer ’69 took over as head coach ofthe football team. The now-familiar “VT” logo premiered in1985, and the use of “Fighting Gobblers” shifted to “Hokies.”After brief experimentation with changing the shape of thering housing in the late 1970s, the ring eventually returnedto a more traditional look. The 1981 and 1982 rings had notraditional chain around the bezel. The 1984 ring had a chaincleverly designed of evergreen needles around the bezel,representing class unity and growth with the planting of aspruce tree next to Squires. Traditional elements still had amajor presence, but the depiction of new campus buildings,mountains, a rising sun, or the Cascades reflected a shift tomaking the ring more personal to the group. A logo designunique to the class also became part of the ring design andtradition during this decade.With the addition of “and State University” to theuniversity’s official name, “VPISU” began to appear on rings,either on the shank side or on the bezel. Events that hadimpact on students were symbolized, such as the appearanceof Haley’s comet on the 1986 ring. Lives lost in the 1986 spaceshuttle Challenger accident are symbolized with seven stars onthe 1988 ring. On the 1989 ring, the word “STARK” appears aspart of the sabre handle, in memory of the 37 American sailorswho lost their lives aboard the USS Stark in 1987. Also onthe 1989 ring, a peach motif represents the 1986 Peach Bowlvictory-the first bowl game symbol to be depicted on a Tech1992Modern HokieBird firstappears on a ring.1990sEven with a steady decline in enrollment in the Corps ofCadets through the mid-1990s, the ring tradition at VirginiaTech stayed strong, thanks in part to stable gold prices and aprosperous economy for much of the decade.Competition was at an all-time high for the ring contract.ArtCarved, Herff-Jones, Jostens, and Balfour all made ringsin the 1990s, with a different company supplying rings foreach class year. In 1998, ArtCarved finished out the rings forthe decade and continued into the 2000s, eventually beingabsorbed into Balfour in 2004.In 1993, the advising of the class system, starting withthe Class of 1995, transferred from Student Activities to theAlumni Association, which hired student programming staffto specifically assist the ring design committees with themanagement of their ring contracts.Several new ring design conventions were establishedin the 1990s. A square-shaped bezel with a bold universityspellout dominated rings of the decade. The “honor point,” ashield-shaped emblem that could be customized with a Corpscompany letter or a variety of other choices, became standard.A stadium-top bezel was first offered by the Class of 1991,but it didn’t become a standard option until the end of thedecade. Although the traditional ring was still the top choiceVirginia Tech
among male students, it was overshadowed by the number andvariety of fashion class rings available for female students.By the 1990s, the purpose of the rings’ shank sides hadbeen firmly established. The university side, which did notinclude a class year, depicted the heritage of the universitywith traditional elements such as the eagle, flags, seal, BurrussHall, and the Pylons. The class side displayed the class year.Both sides of the rings of the 1990s are complex, bearingmany layers of elements. The class sides are full of hidden,humorous, or pop-culture elements. The 1994 ring, forexample, cleverly hides the word “MOO” in the grass. Thefront of a Blacksburg Transit bus appears as a window ofNewman Library on the 1995 ring. And a legendary Cokebottle—in reality, a marker light that was later removed—sitsatop Burruss Hall on the 1991 and 1995 rings. Gumby, thepopular claymation figure, appears next to Squires StudentCenter on the 1997 ring. Elements such as mountains, “BeatU.Va.,” and the Skipper cannon appear on the 1995 ring, aswell as later rings of the decade. Starting with the 1998 ring,the university shield was engraved inside the ring, a featurethat continues today.With the growing success of the Hokies football team,icons depicting bowl games started to appear regularly onthe rings beginning in the mid-1990s. The iconic HokieBird,which premiered as Tech’s mascot in 1987, was first depictedon the 1992 class ring and has appeared on nearly every classring since. During the decade, digital artwork and utilizationof CAD design for the ring molds transformed how the ringdesign was implemented. The Class of 1998 had the firstdigitally created class logo. Similarly, Ring Premiere evolvedinto a large, well-attended multimedia show held in BurrussHall, with computer animated video replacing carousel slideprojections toward the end of the decade.Marketing the ring using the most current trends becamean important aspect of the ring committee’s work. Free T-shirtgiveaways connected with the Ring Premiere began with theClass of 1998.During the renovation of Squires, beginning in 1989, RingDance moved to Cassell Coliseum for the classes of 1990-1992. Re-opening in 1992, the renovated Squires appears onseveral rings of the decade. In the early 1990s, a banquet nightreplaced one of the dance nights, with the formal dance onFriday and banquet on Saturday. By 1996, the dance night hadmoved to Saturday night.Beginning with the Class of 1991, a university president ordistinguished alumnus or alumna was honored as namesakeof the ring collection. Dr. Julian Burruss, who served asuniversity president from 1919 to 1945, was named the firstring namesake. Other university presidents recognized in the90s include James D. McComas in 1996 and William A. Laveryin 1997.Distinguished Corps alumni who were honored asnamesakes during the 1990s include Gen. Thomas D. Richards’56 in 1992; Earle D. Gregory ’23 in 1993; Charles Gordon Sr.’42 in 1995; and Henry J. Dekker ’44 in 1998.2000sBookended by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the GreatRecession, the 2000s have sometimes been called the “LostDecade.” At Virginia Tech, Gen-Y students—or Millennials—were team-oriented and civic-minded, enacting a shift from“me” to “we” against a backdrop of the wars in Afghanistan andIraq. As great numbers were called to service and profoundchanges occurred across the country, the Hokie Nation and itsring tradition flourished.Not surprisingly, the decade’s ring designs became notonly more serious in theme, but also less cluttered and moreunified. The consistent look of the traditional ring’s bold bezeland housing resulted from the university’s long-standingpartnership with ring manufacturer ArtCarved/Balfour.Commanding respect on the rings of the 2000s are theU.S. and Commonwealth of Virginia flags, the Pylons, 1872,Ut Prosim, Burruss Hall, and the sabres. In addition, iconicemblems of campus life, such as the HokieBird and its tracks,Torgersen Bridge, Lane Stadium, “Beat U.Va.,” the Skippercannon, and the Flaming VT—a tradition of the Corps’ HotelCompany—appear on nearly every ring of the decade.In a more unique depiction, the hourglass on the 2007 ringrepresents the playing of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” as thefootball team runs onto Worsham Field.The Class of 2009 ring was the first to depict the April 16tragedy—a VT memorial ribbon nestled in the Drillfield ovalon the class side; the words “We Will Prevail” on the universityside.During the decade, the explosion of new technology invideo and digital communications affected every aspect ofthe class ring design process, from design implementation,websites, email, animation technology, video-to-DVD format,and wireless Internet, to marketing techniques through socialnetworking sites like Facebook.Amidst the information-overload decade, marketingbecame a crucial part of the ring design process. The class logobecame a branding tool to uniquely identify each class and wasusually incorporated into the ring design. The Ring Premierepresentations added digital animation of the ring and morevideo. In 2001, ring brochure websites that could be easilyshared with parents and others were introduced. The Class of2008 was the first to include a DVD of Ring Premiere videoswith the hard-copy brochure.Dance weekends throughout the 2000s continued to beelegant, well-attended affairs held at Squires Student Center,utilizing newer technology, visuals, and lighting with eachVirginia Tech
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