Pigs vs. Freaks

[Jim Dye]

http://www.lsj.com/news/local/030425_pigs_3b.html

Pigs-Freaks rivalry returns to spotlight

Panel discussion to recall charity gridiron battles

1973 game: The Freaks won 9-6 in sudden-death overtime in front of about 40,000 at Spartan Stadium. The rivalry between police officers and "hippies" generated money for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

By Hugh Leach

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - Some of the most intense football ever played at Spartan Stadium didn't involve the Michigan State University team.

For eight years in the 1970s, the games between the Pigs and the Freaks were as hard-fought as any college or professional contest.

The Pigs team consisted of area police officers. The Freaks were college-age "hippies" whose team emblem was a marijuana leaf.

"We did a lot of hard hitting on both sides," recalled former Ingham County sheriff's Deputy Butch Abdo, who played for the Pigs. "It was a way for both sides to get their frustrations out. Nobody played dirty. Nobody was out to really hurt anyone. It was just a lot of hard football playing."

The East Lansing Historical Society is hosting a panel discussion recalling the games at 1 p.m. Saturday at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center.

East Lansing Deputy Police Chief Tom Wibert, who attended the games as a child with his policeman father, said the game originated when East Lansing police were sent to remove "hippies" who were using the East Lansing High School football field without permission in 1970.

The "hippies" challenged police to a football game, and the police accepted. The first game was played at the high school field and drew 8,000 fans.

Don Christy, then with the Lansing Police Department, thought the rivalry had the potential to do some real good as a fund-raiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

The hospital, one of the world's premier centers for study and treatment of catastrophic diseases in children, was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas, who attended several of the games.

Christy's ideas for the game were larger than the high school field could accommodate. He got permission to use Spartan Stadium for the 1971 contest.

An MSU labor union agreed to supply stadium personnel. The National Guard provided traffic control. The game drew 20,000 fans.

Two years later the game drew twice that number. The games raised more than $135,000 for St. Jude before the series ended after the 1977 contest, largely because of huge increases in liability insurance costs, Christy said.

The Freaks won five games and the Pigs three. The largest margin of victory was seven points.

The games also helped improve communication between police and college-age people, he said.

Bill Iddings, now a reporter for the Muskegon Chronicle, joined the Freaks team in 1974 to get inside information for an article for the MSU Alumni Magazine.

"I was not a football player," he said. "I figured the best way not to get killed was to be a quarterback because nobody went after the quarterback in practice.

"I never played in the actual game," he said, "but, as I left the field in my clean uniform, a coed wrapped her arms around me, gave me a kiss and congratulated me on the great game I had played."

Contact Hugh Leach at 377-1119 or hleach@lsj.com

[Jim Alfredson]

I don't remember that, but then again I wasn't even born until 1977! But that sounds like a good idea. Why doesn't the story explain why the games stopped? That seems to be an important missing piece of information.

[Rooster_Ties]

Best news story I've read in a week. Thanks!!!

[Rooster_Ties]

Why doesn't the story explain why the games stopped?  That seems to be an important missing piece of information.

"...before the series ended after the 1977 contest, largely because of huge increases in liability insurance costs..."

Edited April 25, 2003 by Rooster_Ties

[Jim Dye]

Well, I've got a decade on you, B-3er!

I have vague recollections of going to a game. Must have been 6 or 7 then. I could just be remembering all the local news coverage at the time. Nothing says 1974 like Pigs vs. Freaks!

[Terry Strauss]

I played in the last game in 1977, I got to shake Danny Thomas's hand. It was a great experience. Rumor had it that MSU wanted to charge to much money & the. St. Jude foundation wouldn't make any money.