William Ruskin (Cornell '74) disagreed with this interpretation of events. He stated in 2006 that after hearing about Harvard's original 1973 chicken prank, he and his friends decided to get revenge, and started planning. "Contrary to what was in "The New York Times" this week, there was no intention at the time to have any symbolism of the New England fishing industry. We merely wanted to put something disgusting in their net...getting a big smelly fish seemed like the best thing we could do." The tradition continued in February 1977 at Lynah when members of the Lynah Faithful tied a chicken to the Harvard goalpost between the second and third periods. The chicken was placed there by the late Bill "Wiffy" Silvia, a member of the class of 1978, Phi Sigma Kappa at Cornell, and a proud Big Red fan. Silvia said that placing the chicken was one of the proudest moments of his Cornell undergraduate years. Silvia had assistance in getting the chicken into Lynah Rink from the Big Red Bear at the time, the late Ron Winarick.