To many, the greatest prank of all time occurred on January 2nd,
1961, when students from the California Institute of Technology
infiltrated the Washington half-time card show at the Rose Bowl.
A few days before the event, a Caltech student, posing as a
reporter from a high school newspaper, interviewed the head
Washington Cheerleader about the design and execution of the flip-
car display.
   The cheerleader explained that the 2232 students in the card
section each had an instruction sheet and a stack of colored
cards.  If, for example, the instruction sheet read  "3-blue" the
student knew to hold up the blue card when the leader called the
third stunt, adding a Seurat-like spot of color to a huge team-
inspiring picture.
   After the interview, Caltech conspirators broke into the
cheerleader's room and removed a single instruction sheet, which
was rushed to a printer who made 2232 blank copies.  Working
throughout the night, the conspirators devised new stunts, filling
out thousands of new instruction sheets.  They then switched their
new sheets for the old ones.
   The beauty of the plan was that no one could know how the
stunts looked until the cards were flipped at the Rose Bowl on
national T.V.
   Some of the stunts were untouched.  Some were subjected to
minor alterations- the Washington Husky had his back rounded and
buck teeth added to change him into a Caltech beaver- but the
biggest shock came at stunt 14; a bold, block lettered Caltech,
which caused pandemonium in the Washington Band and struck the NBC
sportscasters speechless.  "People were stunned," remembers Mel
Allen, who was in the broadcast booth that day.
   Caltech scored a victory at the Rose Bowl, a triumph they would
repeat in 1984, when hackers, using sophisticated radio-controlled
computer overrides, took control of the scoreboard, changing the
participants to Caltech and MIT.

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