Photo by: Erik Williams
Rice Memories: Will Firth
5/19/2020 12:00:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Men's Track & Field, Blog
It's hard to pin down my favorite memory from the five years I spent as a Rice Owl. There's the 2013 Regional Cross-Country Championship, where I became the first male Owl in a decade to qualify as an individual for the NCAA Championship; the countless hours logged in the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen and Fondren Library; the Oxy track meet, where my teammate and I both broke nine minutes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the first time; the two-hour weekly long runs mostly passed listening to Marco's (Ruiz) latest relationship drama; and one peculiar house just off campus that linked generations of Rice men's track and field athletes.
2031 Sheridan Street, more commonly known as the "Slanty Shanty," was the unofficial Rice Track house for about 15 years, starting in the early 2000's and coming to a sad end by bulldozer in 2015. To understand what this two-story house was like, all you need to know is that it brought one woman to tears when she dropped her son off for the summer. Not only did the Slanty Shanty have floors sloped enough to cause the gradual shifting of all furniture; in addition to rent-paying residents like my teammates and I, it also hosted a slew of free-loading roaches, fleas, bees, fruit flies, and homeless cats. The backyard featured a Holes-inspired sinkhole, the floorboards sprouted rusty nails, and the shower head had a tendency to spew mysterious black sludge.
For all of its shortcomings, the Slanty Shanty was the catalyst for many of the fondest memories, deepest friendships, and best training of my life. Living among teammates ranging from sprinters to distance runners, there was always someone to train with, cook with, study with, and procrastinate on problem sets with. Being a half mile from the track also meant you never knew who was going to show up for a movie night, a cup of coffee, or a C-USA after-party deejayed by decathlete Clayton Chaney (who later named an album Slanty Shanty).
While there's never a convenient time to get injured, I'm thankful that, if I had to pull my hamstring and come down with pneumonia in the same semester, at least I was living at the Slanty Shanty. My ever-present teammates ensured that I stayed connected with the guys and never strayed too far from my long-term athletic goals. And whenever a housemate ran well, we celebrated together and fed off the momentum.
By no means was the Slanty Shanty a luxurious place to live, and in many ways, it probably wasn't the most conducive training environment. But looking back now, it's clear that the positives of sharing that space with my teammates far outweighed the health risks each of us faced on a daily basis. Although the landlord seemed to disagree, razing it to the ground a few years later, the relationships we built there still stand strong.
Many of my housemates traveled to Colorado for my wedding in 2018, and we reunite yearly for the BolderBoulder 10K. I won't intentionally live anywhere like the Slanty Shanty again, but my Rice Track experience wouldn't have been complete without it, and I wouldn't trade the camaraderie and memories we made there for anything in the world.
2031 Sheridan Street, more commonly known as the "Slanty Shanty," was the unofficial Rice Track house for about 15 years, starting in the early 2000's and coming to a sad end by bulldozer in 2015. To understand what this two-story house was like, all you need to know is that it brought one woman to tears when she dropped her son off for the summer. Not only did the Slanty Shanty have floors sloped enough to cause the gradual shifting of all furniture; in addition to rent-paying residents like my teammates and I, it also hosted a slew of free-loading roaches, fleas, bees, fruit flies, and homeless cats. The backyard featured a Holes-inspired sinkhole, the floorboards sprouted rusty nails, and the shower head had a tendency to spew mysterious black sludge.
For all of its shortcomings, the Slanty Shanty was the catalyst for many of the fondest memories, deepest friendships, and best training of my life. Living among teammates ranging from sprinters to distance runners, there was always someone to train with, cook with, study with, and procrastinate on problem sets with. Being a half mile from the track also meant you never knew who was going to show up for a movie night, a cup of coffee, or a C-USA after-party deejayed by decathlete Clayton Chaney (who later named an album Slanty Shanty).
While there's never a convenient time to get injured, I'm thankful that, if I had to pull my hamstring and come down with pneumonia in the same semester, at least I was living at the Slanty Shanty. My ever-present teammates ensured that I stayed connected with the guys and never strayed too far from my long-term athletic goals. And whenever a housemate ran well, we celebrated together and fed off the momentum.
By no means was the Slanty Shanty a luxurious place to live, and in many ways, it probably wasn't the most conducive training environment. But looking back now, it's clear that the positives of sharing that space with my teammates far outweighed the health risks each of us faced on a daily basis. Although the landlord seemed to disagree, razing it to the ground a few years later, the relationships we built there still stand strong.
Many of my housemates traveled to Colorado for my wedding in 2018, and we reunite yearly for the BolderBoulder 10K. I won't intentionally live anywhere like the Slanty Shanty again, but my Rice Track experience wouldn't have been complete without it, and I wouldn't trade the camaraderie and memories we made there for anything in the world.
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