Goon Squad aids SU move-in donning orange gear, high spirits for 8 decades
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As the first college to adopt the color orange, a sea of orange T-shirts across Syracuse University’s campus is a common sighting. But during Welcome Week, non-first year students — often spotted energetically wheeling move-in carts around freshmen dorms — wear distinct orange tees labeled “Goon Squad.”
For some former Goon Squad members, those T-shirts are more than just a piece of fabric volunteers had to wear. Years later, after donning the orange shirt from 2006-08, SU alum Cathy Zöld still has her tee.
“It was fun helping other people move in, seeing who else was going to be in the dorm. If I saw people that I had helped move in, like in the hallway or in the cafeteria, I’d go over, say hi to them, try to be welcoming,” Zöld said. “That’s what people did for me when I moved into Lawrinson, and so (I was) just trying to continue on that tradition with being really welcoming.”
Earlier this week, the approximately 400-person Goon Squad returned to SU’s dorms, checking new students in, carrying dorm essentials up flights of stairs and sharing advice to newcomers. But the annual practice dates back to before many of the freshman dorms were even constructed.
Founded in 1944 by SU’s Traditions Commission, the Goon Squad initially ensured that new students wore their orange beanies — a requirement that originated in an 1890s student handbook. Since then, the Goon Squad has evolved into volunteers greeting new students to campus and assisting them on move-in days.
“I just remember as a freshman, five or six kids on a team would grab all of your stuff, and in one trip you’d be up in your room,” former Goon Squad member Ross Relyea said. “It just made everything so much easier.”
Before Relyea graduated in 1985, he remembers reading move-in information as an incoming student. The Goon Squad’s help was unexpected; Relyea knew they’d be around campus, but he wasn’t sure what the group was.
During the early Goon Squad days, “The Goon Show” — a talent competition that’d later become Welcome Week’s “The Slice is Right” — entertained new students. And in the 1970s, the Goon Squad’s orange T-shirts became standard, swapping out their initial uniforms that featured decorated straw hats and Jiminy Cricket button pins.
Toryn Kimberley Stewart became a Goon Squad member in 1991 because she was eager to return to campus, but her experience welcoming students made her feel more connected to the SU community.
“In addition to wanting to get back to school early, I was glad to be one of the people helping,” Stewart said. “We also got T-shirts. Back in those days, you could pretty much get a college student to do anything by giving a free T-shirt.”
The Goon Squad Trouble Shooters smile at the camera in 1972. Beyond making move-in easier for new students, Goon Squad members participated in traditions like “The Goon Show” and painting an orange stripe on University Avenue. Courtesy of Special Collections Research Center
In 2005, the orange-shirt wearing Goon Squad helped Zöld move into Lawrinson Hall. Zöld felt like she immediately belonged at SU because of how seamlessly the Goon Squad transferred her possessions into Lawrinson. Her friends that went to other colleges faced more difficult move-in days, Zöld said. Thanks to the Goon Squad, she met people and became acclimated to her new surroundings quicker.
“I had a lot of anxiety at first, and I feel like my first day, and especially just with the move-in process, everything was so profoundly positive,” Zöld said. “(The Goon Squad) gave me such a great experience that I wanted to do that for other students.”
At a freshmen orientation event, Zöld ran into the two Goon Squad participants who helped her move in. After they told her more about the Goon Squad, she kept an eye out for sign-ups.
The next two years, Zöld welcomed freshmen into Sadler Hall as part of the Goon Squad. During her senior year, Zöld met new students at Lawrinson, where she first discovered the Goon Squad four years before.
Even when Zöld’s Goon Squad duties were done, she maintained a welcoming spirit, interacting with students she recognized on campus.
“It was an opportunity to meet new people, and you were helping out too,” SU alum Seth Mendelson said. “It wasn’t all just about us.”
Although the Goon Squad’s primary goal is to support new students, like Stewart, heading back to campus early was an incentive for Mendelson to join. Mendelson served on the Goon Squad during his sophomore and junior years in 1977 and 1978 — when New York’s legal drinking age was 18.
With rumors of free beer being served, Mendelson attended a dinner with other Goon Squad volunteers at then-SU Chancellor Melvin Eggers’ house. Mendelson recalled hot dogs and hamburgers being on the menu but can’t remember if he drank any brews.
Nonetheless, Mendelson said there was a sense of camaraderie between Goon Squad volunteers who worked together.
“Almost everybody at (Kimmel Dining Hall) was a Goon Squadder,” Mendelson said. “For that one or two days, you felt a little special.”
Stewart’s most memorable tradition was hanging out at Hungry Chuck’s after a hard day’s work of moving luggage in the sun. The classic Marshall Street-area bar featured student carvings on the walls and tables, as well as in the bathroom, Stewart said.
In the 1980s, Goon Squad participants also painted an orange stripe on University Avenue around midnight before incoming students arrived, which welcomed them to campus. When Relyea was part of the squad, he said SUNY ESF students painted green over the stripe, prompting SU students to bust out the orange paint again to fix their calling card at around 3 a.m.
However, not everyone was familiar with the Goon Squad tradition. Relyea said the welcoming group once got in trouble with a Syracuse Department of Public Works employee, who wanted to charge the Goon Squad members to repaint the road because he didn’t want cars following a crooked line — the painters, after all, were intoxicated students.
During Relyea’s junior year in 1984, he joined the Traditions Commission, which oversaw the Goon Squad. As the commission’s internal chairperson, Relyea’s informal title was “Mama Goon,” while his friend was the external chairperson, or “Papa Goon.”
“It was an opportunity to help out,” Relyea said. “I think at that point you’re still kind of freshly remembering when you walk in there as a freshman how overwhelmed you are with everything.”
By creating a welcoming environment, new students could be more encouraged to attend orientation events and meet new people, Zöld said. And the Goon Squad has played an integral role in shaping that initial experience.
“(The Goon Squad) embodies the spirit of SU, just being welcoming and friendly, but also community, being able to connect with people,” Zöld said.
