The University of Maryland is known for its diverse assortment of clubs, but only one group can say that throughout their history, they’ve tumbled through flaming hoops, positioned themselves on a tower of balanced chairs and reached the semifinals of America’s Got Talent in 2011.
That group is Gymkana, a gymnastics troupe seeking to encourage healthy living styles through performance and mentorship, and it’s celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The University Archives, in commemoration of that milestone, unveiled a new exhibit on the first floor of McKeldin Library detailing the highlights of the troupe’s seven decades of existence.
The exhibit was compiled from about 10,000 photographs of Gymkana history, said university athletics archivist Amanda Hawk, who agonized over which of those documents would make the final cut.
The most difficult part was “trying to figure out how to condense all of that into an exhibit where people who may not be familiar with Gymkana are going to be able to get the full scope of their history,” Hawk said.
The display highlights major moments of the club, which was founded by David Field, originally a member of the University of Illinois gymnastics team, in fall 1946. During its first 10 years, more than 700,000 people, both in this country and abroad, witnessed daring Gymkana performances, including soldiers in military hospitals when the troupe visited the Azores islands in 1955. In 1986, the club began their summer camp outreach program for youths who hone their gymnastics skills while learning about the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle.
But most prevalent in the exhibit are the stunts the troupe has performed throughout the ages. There’s “The Skyscrapers,” which involves one trouper holding a 20-foot pole while another gymnast balances atop it, and the “Ring of Fire,” when troupe members hurl themselves through blazing hoops. The club’s members also construct an intricate intertwining of bodies known as the “Ladder Pyramids.”
Continuity is a mainstay of Gymkana. Most of these stunts still remain staples in the present-day club, and all current coaches are former members of the troupe, said Ben Prescott, the club’s assistant director.
“It’s a program that had a significant impact on my life,” said Prescott, who joined Gymkana as a freshman in 2004 and, after his graduation in 2008, became an assistant coach with the troupe. “It’s one I owe a lot to in different ways.”
Along with the high level of camaraderie, the club’s drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle pledge is another one of its main draws. Since the rule was introduced in 1985, all members abstain from mind-altering substances, including tobacco, a policy that Gymkana Secretary Emily Bjanes is heavily in favor of.
“It shows if you treat your body right, you can do something amazing,” said Bjanes, a senior kinesiology major.
That pledge helped Gymkana president Andrew Desrochers — and likely other Gymkana members throughout the years — forge a friend group in the party-centric College Park scene.
“Knowing that I didn’t want to get into the party lifestyle, I think I would have avoided that by being a loner more than anything else if I didn’t have a friend group also avoiding that lifestyle,” the junior aerospace engineering major said.
Gymkana has other plans to celebrate its 70th birthday. The group began a monthlong Launch UMD campaign Monday to raise funds to help digitize a large collection of Gymkana images captured throughout its existence. A “special home show” is also planned for April that will serve as a performative celebration of the club’s achievements.
As Gymkana looks forward to its next 70 years, Prescott said, the club will hold strong to its central ideal: to better the lives of all who encounter the troupe, as a performer or a spectator.
“That has been and always will be a main part of Gymkana for the foreseeable future — to be not just positive ambassadors (during our shows), but also positive influencers of our own,” Prescott said.
