Swim Team Volkswagen Beetle Prank (1988)

Another great prank was the 1988 Swim Team VW Bug Prank. On Reading Day in December 1988 the captains of the swim team (Randy Schmidt and Jonathan Smith) gained access to the office of their coach, Jon Lederhouse, under the guise of creating some team posters. Some time before the team had purchased an old Volkswagon Beetle and sold off the engine. Then using some borrowed tools, they sawed off the roof in order to be able to pass through the doorways of the Chrouser Fitness Center. With the car now in two pieces of a car students on the swim team transported the car to the office. After removing all of the furniture and cabinets to a storage room the team went about reassembling the car. Since they had sawed off the roof they used duct tap to affix the roof back on the chassis. As a final element of the prank one of the team members set up a camcorder inside the front seat of the car and locked up for the night. Early the next morning Randy Schmidt returned to start the camera to capture Coach Lederhouse's expression as he entered his office. A video captures Lederhouse, as well as some of his colleagues, Tony Ladd (Athletic Director) and Glenn Town (Chrouser Fitness Center Director). Coach Lederhouse was photographed in the car in his office as his son Jeremy (class of 2007) looked on.