“What’s the deal with the streaking in the ’70s?” a co-worker in his 40s asked after I printed a column with some of my favorite stories from the 35 years I have been here, including one on the fad in 1974.

One has to understand the mood of the South and the country when the streakings took place, according to Rusty Simpson, a Valdosta State College graduate and former Rebels (later known as Blazers) baseball player who witnessed “The Streak of March 1974.” Simpson had graduated but still followed the baseball team when Mike Hamner streaked across the VSC baseball field and was later arrested. (Mike has given us permission to use his name, and we’ll be writing about him later.)

The Vietnam War had ended, but it took the country about a year to believe that it had. Then the top of the pressure cooker was off — and so were the streakers around the nation.

Two years earlier in the fall of 1972, Rusty’s draft number had been 31 and Mike’s seven when Mike was a first-quarter junior and Rusty a last-quarter senior.

“Mike was a tennis player and in those days tennis players were kind of considered off-the-wall; I don’t know if they are today or not,” Rusty said. “Mike was always interested in having fun. He was smiling almost always and consistently coming up with ways to do something different for fun. I never saw Mike play tennis, but everyone that I talked to that knew the sport said he was really good.”

They had not known each other very long before they began talking about the Vietnam War.

“I apologize to all veterans and especially my deceased father, also a veteran, but we did not agree with the war effort,” Rusty said. “We talked about our status a lot because the bombing was escalating.”

Rusty was at Mike’s apartment on Nov. 6, 1972, when Mike received his draft papers in the mail.

“He said, ‘You ought to join and go in with me on the buddy system.’ I said, ‘Buddy, you’re a good buddy, but not that good.’”

Mike was going to a party that night so Rusty said he could do that with him. Rusty went to his apartment to shower and found his draft papers.

“When I got back to his apartment and told him I had got my draft papers, he almost fell down laughing,” Rusty said.

Rusty was unsuccessful in getting Mike, who was a junior, to ask for more time before going into the military. Instead, Mike went into the army and was assigned to Fort Jackson, S.C. Rusty, a senior in his final quarter, was not given the 30 days he requested, but was allowed to be inducted on the last induction of the year on Dec. 27, thereby giving him enough time to finish college.

“There were only 15 guys going through induction that day. At five minutes after 10 o’clock, 11 of the 15 had been inducted. The sergeant in charge walked in and said, ‘Men, the rest of today has been declared a military holiday because President Harry S. Truman just died. Y’all go home and get in touch with your draft board, and you will be inducted the end of January or first of February 1973.”

On Feb. 8, 1973, at 10 a.m., President Richard Nixon came on the radio and announced that the Vietnam peace agreement had been signed and that there would be no more drafting of young men in the military.

“For several months, people held their breath wanting it to be true,” Rusty said. “Once everyone thought it was true, the mental attitude of the country became, I will say, a lot more lighthearted. Young people became, I will say, a lot more loose — especially mentally.