As Nick Cadoggion '96 wrote in a 1994 Student article, "Sabrina Madness:" "The Trojan war was fought in 10 years time between two armies of mythic heroes for the world's most beautiful woman. The Trojan War, after all, was a paltry affair. For 137 years, two opposing camps of odd and even Amherst classes have clashed in a conflict worthy of many Homers, a war waged not for one woman, but for what one alumnus calls 'a goddess.'"
And a goddess indeed, Max Shoop '10 wrote in his history of the Sabrina, "Sabrina, The Class Goddess of Amherst College." "Every people has had its guardian deity, for it is man's nature to worship," posits Shoop. "The ancient Greeks looked to Athena or Aphrodite for protection and inspiration. It has been reserved to certain chosen men of Amherst College, in Massachusetts, to cherish still as their patron goddess, and the guardian of their college life, the beautiful and chaste Sabrina, the Athena of the Saxon race."
2007 marks the 150th anniversary of Governor Hayden's gift to the College and although she rarely makes public appearances anymore because the College fears it will lose its mythical goddess yet again, her legends live on.
Upon Hayden's donation, Sabrina served as the centerpiece of a garden the College was starting, nestled between North College and The Octagon. In her early years, Amherst's Sabrina, a copy of the original Shrewsbury, England goddess of the Severn River, tranquilly watched over the garden relatively undisturbed (aside from the old dress-the-female-statue-in-panties trick) until the Class of 1877 took her hostage for a week, a kidnapping that would forever make Sabrina a part of inter-class rivalry that was so prevalent during the College's first century. Following the 1877 heist, the Sabrina was the cause of so much inter-class strife that President Julius Seelye asked the College's Head Janitor "Professor" Charlie to dispose of Sabrina, deeming the statue "more trouble than it was worth."
But "Professor Charlie," like many an Amherst man, had such a fondness for Sabrina that he refused to destroy her and, rather, buried her under the haystack in his barn. But Amherst's men, unwilling to let the allure of Sabrina forever elude them, discovered her location and recommenced the "tug of war between even and odd classes," according to Brad Justus' 1980 Student article, "Sabrina, Come Home." From 1877 to 1934, the Sabrina is said to have been anywhere from a Connecticut jail to the bottom of the Connecticut River, from Europe to a West Virginia coal mine and a Massachusetts bank. The College locked her in Morgan Hall in 1934 until she was stolen again in 1951.
Throughout Sabrina's history, some of the College's more notable alumni have had a penchant for the goddess. United States President Calvin Coolidge (class of 1895) and Supreme Court Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone (class of 1894) were each active in their respective classes' quest for the goddess. Thomas Whyman '51, former president of CBS, and Charles Longsworth '51, former president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Hampshire College, both former Amherst Board of Trustees members, were the architects behind a Sabrina theft and her flight in a plane above a special Commencement baseball game against Holy Cross University.
Eventually, the College recovered Sabrina and kept its promise with the Class of 1952 to unveil her at its 25th in 1977 reunion if it raised more than $250,000. The Class exceeded expectations, raising in excess of $300,000 and earning the right to congregate with its beloved Sabrina. Asked Dean Schramm in a 1981 Student article, "Yet, does not this policy [of displaying Sabrina to classes that raise record amounts of money] prostitute this great lady, such that she now represents the dollar instead of serving as an object of class rivalry and school spirit?" In the College's possession, Sabrina usually only appears at fundraising functions.
The College paid the price for its 1977 display of Sabrina when she was stolen by Richard Bourneman '79 and accomplices, armed with crowbars and sledgehammers, from its case in Converse Hall before sunrise later that year. Bourneman quickly ushered Sabrina to his Darien, Conn., home and kept her there until Michael Callahan '77 and William Hunter '77 told Bourneman's mother that he was in trouble with the police, tricking the frightened mother to mistakenly hand the Sabrina over to the imposters who brought her to Hunter's Westport, Conn. residence. Callahan and Hunter planned to fly Sabrina over the 1977 Amherst-Williams football game in Williamstown, but Amherst Campus Police, upon hearing of the plan, corroborated with the town police and, in the famous airport stakeout at Turner's Falls, recovered Sabrina.
The Sabrina has gained recent media attention when Sabrina enthusiasts learned of installations of Sabrina copies at the sites of architect Bruce Becker '80's projects. Becker became enamored with the Sabrina as a student at the College, citing the "certain idealism, certain perfection" Sabrina represents as reasons for his intrigue. After a couple failed attempts to steal Sabrina, Becker held her in his possession for about ten years until he returned her to the College for the Onauguration of President Tom Gerety in 1994. He didn't mind the turnover because being Sabrina's guardian is a costly endeavor as the price of renting helicopters to fly her over Homecoming football games to wish the Amherst team's good fortune was rather expensive. Becker considers the Sabrina image beautiful and has installed replicas at his projects to share her tradition and splendor. Among the sites Sabrina replicas appear are the Octagon housing development on Roosevelt Island, New York City and The Mervin, a senior citizen housing project in Norwalk, Conn., where men who have lost their wives have begun to develop "emotional bonds" with her, according to Becker.
Sabrina's last public appearance was in 2005 when the College let her celebrate the 25th reunion of the Class of 1980 because the class had raised the most money for a 25th reunion gift ever. 1980 is thus now heralded the Sabrina class.
Sabrina's legacy remains in the all-female a cappella group bearing her name, but few current students understand her historical significance and special place in the hearts of former generations of Amherst students. It is up to a few adrenaline-seeking students to experience a Sabrina heist and rekindle her status as Amherst's favorite co-ed.