My dad, as a dormitory prankster

This is one of my favorite stories that my dad told me about his college life.

While he was an engineering undergrad student, Jim lived in a dorm at UCONN. Back in the 60s, dorm living was pretty bare bones, with linoleum floors (not like the posh carpet I had) and metal radiators for heat. Jim's dorm was housed with a diverse group of students, like at most universities, and he happened to be across the hall from a room full of football players.

He preferred do his studying in his dorm room and over the course of the year found a very entertaining way to take a study break. From the back of his room, he would carefully aim a coin and launch it at just the right angle and with just the amount of force to skitter-skitter-skitter across his floor, into the hallway, through the football players' room, and then strike with a satisfying

PING!

on their radiator.

Well, then there'd be rumbling and stomping while all the bulky athletes got to their feet and rushed to their door, to burst out in the hallway, yelling and swearing! And finding: an empty hall.

They'd run up and down the halls looking for the prankster and eventually settle down and go back to the room, grumbling.

Jim repeated this regularly throughout the year and had the jocks so tightly wound that they were ready to beat the coin-shooter to a pulp! They launched themselves out of their room at high speed, faster each time, made more ferocious noises, and ran further down the halls.

They never did figure out that it was the very slightly built, 5'9" engineering student from across the hall. ;-)