"The
Naked Mile was begun in 1986 by 12 individuals, all
housemates, and their
friends, including members of both the U-M
rowing team and the men’s varsity
track team. The group
streaked down
South University to
celebrate the last day of
winter term classes. The Naked Mile grew steadily throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s, becoming a campus tradition in which the men and women of UMRT had a visible presence."(The University Record, April 10, 2000, Men’s crew, lacrosse team opt out of Naked Mile,By Jane Elgass)
Through the 90's the
crowds (to see, not run) grew to an
unmanagable size, with many people
video-taping (and subsequently selling the tapes), and severe problems with
grabbing/
fondling, etc the
runners (by both other runners and bystanders)
The groups who originally started it recently
renounced it, as have many other
groups/
frats/
sororities, etc. This last year's naked mile (2000) had a very low turnout (and many got '
cold feet' when they saw the running crowd was so small), and the 2001 naked mile was almost
nonexistant.