Six arthritic leaders of the Harry Higgens Foundation Society will gather this week in Southern California to celebrate the staying power of an ersatz legend created 40 years ago to prong inept college and student leaders.
Harry was the perfect foil, the convenient scapegoat for dozens of hoaxes and pranks perpetuated in his name by campus journalists and others. He was an older, slyer version of a child's make-believe friend.
Anton, Ben, Carl, Charlie, Jim and Nick took Harry's spirit with them into their multicareers in journalism, government, public relations, medicine and higher education.
They finished their undergraduate educations as LA State was emerging from temporary bungalows to permanent buildings, from dusty hillsides to landscaped lawns, shrubs and trees, from instructional oblivion to academic greatness.
LA State should have been a forgettable place for Higgensites. Instead it has been the glue binding unforgettable memories and friendships. Harry would have liked that.(19 DECEMBER 1999).
