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The 75th Anniversary of The Royal Screw

Categories: Alumni, Featured

By Ryan Carroll '26
Picture: The Screw Presentation 1954
The presentation of the Royal Screw by “Tibetan Monks” to the freshman class representative following Grease Rush in 1954 after they lost the Grease Rush
 
In the fall of 1948, a large wooden screw, supposedly from ancient Tibet, was first presented as a Grease Rush “trophy” during Frosh Week.  Three robed and hooded Tibetan “monks” from Sigma Phi Epsilon presented The Screw to the sophomore class president who in turn gave it to the freshman class representative in a ceremony on the ’86 Field. It was intended to act as “a source of inspiration and guidance for every freshman class as well as to remind those who have gone before of the fundamentals of life.”  The Screw was actually made by Arthur Zimmer, a cabinet maker, with assistance from his son, Arnold Zimmer ’50.
 
After Grease Rush ended for good, The Royal Screw was still in high demand. It was even borrowed by a prominent professor as a prop for a charity fundraiser. That Professor was Lew “The Walking Screw” Assini (photo below).  Professor Lewis Assini was a popular mechanics professor and is also the namesake for today’s RPI undergraduate teaching and counseling award.  He borrowed The Royal Screw in 1958 as a prop to be used in his bid to become the Meanest Man on Campus (MMoC), a charity fundraiser, and campaigned as “Laughing Lou, The Walking Screw.”
 
Photo: Prof Assini
(Above) Professor Lewis Assini with The Royal Screw in a campaign photo for his bid to become The Meanest Man on Campus (MMoC) in 1958 (The Poly, 2/19/1958)

The Royal Screw, which some later referred to as The SigEp Screw, The Tute Screw, or just The Screw (see article on Arnold Zimmer ’50 below), is often used metaphorically as well as being embodied as an actual object. Over the years some have given it a negative connotation while other alumni still believe it is a proud symbol of the rigor of their hard-earned RPI education and a symbol of RPI spirit. A group of alumni believing the former held a ceremony during half-time at the 2012 homecoming football game to symbolically bury a replica of The Screw. While Grease Rush is long gone, the original Screw, conceived with Joe Clark ’49 with an origin story by Joe Pape ’51 and lathed by Arnold Zimmer ’50 and his father, still makes an occasional appearance on campus and at alumni events 75 years later. Long live The Screw!

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