The 1980s was the era of Ronald Reagan, early rap, leg warmers and Madonna. It was also the last decade teenagers could drink legally.
Ohio University students dressed preppy, thought cassettes were a status symbol, voted Republican, watched soap operas in front of the lone residence hall television and supported the powerhouse Bobcat basketball team. They partied fall and spring at Halloween and Springfest - both sanctioned by the university - which caused Playboy magazine to rank OU as a top party school.
Alumna Corinne Colbert, '87, remembers dancing at bars like the Greenery, Hangar Five and The Phase as being the craze.
We'd dance on the tables
and they'd play the Hawaii Five-O theme song and the Time Warp to see who the best dancers were she said.
Billy Idol, Peter Gabriel, Michael Jackson, Moody Blues, David Bowie and Billy Joel, who played Templeton Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, blared in dorm hallways. It was awful music said Jane McNeill George, '84, but we loved it then.
But students also watched what was going on in the world.
President Reagan was shot
and when we came back from spring break there was a sadness because we realized how vulnerable everybody was
George said.
The Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986 united everyone around the lobby television and packed Galbreath Chapel for a memorial service.
AIDS awareness and the fear of Reagan's reinstating the draft and also began to occupy many students' thoughts.
Residence halls in the '80s were not fully equipped as they are today. Rooms had three plugs, beds and desks.
Renting a refrigerator, owning an electric typewriter and being able to economize space well contributed to having a popular room. Most students spent time crowding around the lobby televisions watching The Cosby Show
M*A*S*H
Family Ties and Jeopardy.
The three residential greens on campus - besides contributing to the community atmosphere - also had competitions. Each green had a radio station and a green party to lead up to the biggest party of the year - Springfest, the first real excuse to get out in the sunshine.
Held next to the Hocking River on the Intramural fields, Springfest had it all. From live bands to beer trucks, everyone in Athens turned out for the Woodstock of Ohio.
It was just the biggest outdoor party. Everyone was there
Colbert said. There is no equivalent now. When the drinking age went to 21
it just didn't work.
Before Ohio changed the drinking age at the close of the 1980s, dorm keggers in the staff office were commonplace.
My roommate and I had Goebel - the cheapest and grossest beer - every night before we went to bed with crackers and thought it was the most decadent thing
Ergood said. We could do it then.
