News Team Boulder

Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Sports

The new "Spirit Bell" was recently re-painted black.

The original "Spirit Bell" was cast in 1877 and hung in the belfy of Macky Auditorium until 1926, when an overzealous ring, celebrating a football victory over the School of Mines, put a crack in the bell. It now rests in the CU Heritage Center in Old Main, so for the past few decades the tradition has been lost. That is, until Barbara Roberts Quinlan, a long-time CU supporter, purchased an 1,800-pound bell in honor of her late husband, Dwight Roberts.

Roberts served for twenty years as the CU Foundation's first president. His enthusiasm for CU began when he was a geology student and track athlete; graduating in 1957. He even married his wife Barbara in the Koenig Alumni Center on July 31, 2008, a building that never would have been erected if it weren't for his close relationship to Sam Koenig, the man who financed the Center. Roberts passed away in 2002, and Quinlan knew she wanted to honor his spirit in a special way.

Along with Kent Zimmerman, former president of the Alumni Association, and Chuck Roberts, Dwight's brother, Quinlan found the perfect something -- an enormous F-sharp bell, dubbed the "Spirit Bell," originally from Omaha, Nebraska. Quinlan knew bringing a bell back to the campus would be meaningful. "We had one a long time ago," she said. "For many of my friends, every time it has rung this season they have said, 'Oh, that's for Dwighty, isn't it.'"

The bell was found on an estate in Evergreen, along with nearly 23,000 others, ranging from tiny crystals to massive structures. "We rang them for tonality," Quinlan said. "I had looked at another one from Mount Saint Gertrude which I thought would be appropriate, since it was from Boulder originally, but I didn't feel it was large enough for what I thought would ring out across campus."

The bell debuted for the first home football game this year as part of Head Coach Dan Hawkins' "Buffalo Roundup," in which the team walks from Libby Hall to Folsom Stadium two and a half hours before game time through a tunnel formed by the Golden Buffalo Marching Band, fans, and cheerleaders. To announce the team's arrival, the bell is rung for several minutes. It's then rung again ten minutes prior to game time to alert fans that Ralphie is about to run.

Each time it rings it evokes a special memory for Quinlan. "Had it not been that he had been so involved ... that really brought me in," she said. "After his death, I thought, that's one way I can move on and do something related to what he had started."

Before most games, an honorary ringer -- a CU Alum, donor, or other important supporter -- sounds the bell. However, Quinlan herself rang the Spirit Bell at the football team's first home game on Sept. 6, and their last home game against Oklahoma State on Nov. 15.


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