FlashbackDecember 17, 2024

Associated Press

SPOKANE — A statue of the late Bing Crosby is missing the pipe from its mouth for the third time since the sculpture was unveiled in May on the Gonzaga University campus.

The Rev. Arthur Dussault, Gonzaga vice president, said, “This is absolutely the last of the pipes. I was going to get another pipe, but it’s so darn expensive.”

Each pipe costs at least $100.

Notices have been posted on Gonzaga bulletin boards, urging the thief to keep the pipe if he has to — but send the university money for another one.

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Other notices ask the thief to give the pipe back to the man who gave him “White Christmas.”

The solid bronze pipe weighs nearly 4.5 pounds and is about 25 percent larger than a normal pipe to go with the larger-than-life statue.

“It’s not that hard to steal it,” Dussault said. “I’ll bet it would be a freshman who does not yet have the spirit of Gonzaga.”

This story was published in the Dec. 17, 1981, edition of the Lewiston Tribune.

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