Why is there graffiti on the walls of the Cass Street drawbridge and along the Hillsborough River? What does it mean?
The graffiti comes, not from courageous groups of hooligans, but from members of crew teams that row on the Hillsborough River. In 1941, the University of Tampa
started its rowing team, and since then rowing teams throughout the U.S. visit for regattas and want to leave their marks. When it got too cold for the teams from up north to practice, they traveled down to Tampa. Many still do today.
The graffiti mostly consists of school names, colors, years and the occasional Greek letters from fraternities who have took it upon themselves to participate in the spray painting. Some of the school names include Princeton, the University of Michigan, Duke and Bucknell.
There is a little controversy as to who the first person was to graffiti and when the graffiti started appearing, but it was sometime around the 60s or 70s. Teams also dared to hang off the edge of the Cass Street Railroad Bridge to paint their names on the “prime spot” under the bridge. However, teams are no longer allowed to paint on this bridge to preserve the older art and to avoid danger.
The Tampa History Center in Channelside has a whole exhibit dedicated to the rowing graffiti.
When they started expanding the Riverwalk in 2007, the developers discussed getting rid of all the graffiti because some citizens of Tampa thought that it was an eyesore. But a year later they decided not to remove it after all.
Logan Cummings, a rower for UT, says that the tradition is a big deal for UT rowers and visiting rowers.
“If a team does choose to paint the wall they will do it under the cloak of darkness so they don’t get caught in the act,” Cummings said. “I would love to see some more UT representation on this wall, but seeing as though we’re not leaving the state after a week, we have more accountability than visiting teams, and the threat of getting caught and punished is more of a deterrence.”
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