Rope Pull has been a time-honored tradition at UTM for just over 40 years now, and this year 11 organizations hope to walk away with that coveted first place trophy.
Charley Deal, Director of Alumni Relations, keeps participant safety as a top priority. This is Deal’s third year to oversee Rope Pull; originally, Campus Recreation coordinated the event.
“The rules are in place to help keep the participants safe,” Deal said. “The last thing we want is for any of our Homecoming activities to cause bodily harm to participating individuals. If it’s done correctly no one gets hurt.”
Lauren Barber, a junior Agriculture Science Production major, pulls in the seven hole for Sigma Alpha. This is Barber’s second year to pull. Her father also pulled when he was a brother of Alpha Gamma Rho at UTM.
“It’s all about being right on the rope; there’s so many things that can go wrong,” Barber said. “Your spine should be lining the rope so you’re less likely to pinch a nerve in your hip or lower back.”
Since the late 1960s, Greek organizations have seen many changes to the rules for this extreme version of tug-of-war.
“Over the years it has transformed into the event that it is today,” Deal said.
Originally Rope Pull started off with a pit in between the two competing teams.
“It was more of a tug-of-war and the losing team got really wet,” Deal said. “You can imagine what all was in that by the end of the week. I’m sure it was nasty.”
Deal said that the competition changed from a pit to the individual holes in the mid 1980s.
The time limits have also decreased over the years. Teams used to pull for extended periods of time, but now fraternities have 20 minutes to pull and sororities have eight.
The time limit has actually only been changed once in the past decade, and that was for overtime.
“Rope pull is one of those traditional events that just draws in people on Championship Friday,” Deal said. “To have that kind of following at a Homecoming, it really is a tremendous feat. We have schools all around the state and in the region that want to try to replicate what we’ve started here at UTM, and Rope Pull is one of those that they look at and go, ‘this could work.’”
Middle Tennessee State University staff has talked with Deal about starting a Rope Pull event on their campus this year.
Rope Pull not only provides entertainment for students, faculty and alumni, but the participants gain valuable teamwork skills.
Blaine Shamp, senior Health and Human Performance major, is the captain of Alpha Delta Pi’s Rope Pull team. She pulls in the first hole.
“In the first hole it’s so crazy how you are so close to getting tape, but you don’t reach out and grab it at first because you work as a team,” Shamp said. “It’s all about the team because I don’t get tape alone; our team gets tape.”
ADPi finished in first place last year in the sorority division. ADPi beat Sigma Alpha in the Championship round.
“Rope pull is my favorite time of year,” Shamp said. “It’s one of the hardest, most rewarding things I’ve done. We’ve won the last four years in a row, and yeah, I’m feeling a little pressure as captain to bring home the trophy for the fifth year. But I have confidence in my team. We’ve been working so hard, and I know that, no matter the results, I’ll be proud of us.”
When a team is getting slammed with hit after hit, the crowd’s support can make all the difference.
“There are no words to describe how it feels to have rope ripped through your hands. You feel so defeated,” Barber said. “If you have that crowd support and you have people cheering you on, your adrenaline gets pumping. Then you start doing the unthinkable.”
