Newman Day

Newman Day (also Newman's Day), is a collegiate drinking ritual where 24 beers are consumed over 24 hours, founded by students and alumni of Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine. The tradition has since been used in the creation of the Dartmouth Challenge, which included activities closely associated with that of Newman Day to be participated in during Bates' Winter Carnival. It was long believed that it was named for the late beer-drinking actor Paul Newman and his apocryphal remark made during a campus speech: "24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not." The tradition has been picked up by his alma mater, Kenyon College, and other spin offs are known among Harvard College, and the University of Virginia.

History

Research has shown references made to Newman Day in The Bates Student as early as the late 1970s, including alumni who remember days of cafeteria food fights following each year's celebration. One early Friday morning during Bates College Winter Carnival in January 1976, one of the original participants had read in a magazine article that Paul Newman claimed to drink 24 beers in 24 hours with 10 pushups between each drink. The tradition (originally named "Paul Newman Day") began in Herrick house with 3 Bates students participating.