History of the toque (beanie)

We know the the elegant & sophisticated Beardo is the premier beanie of today.

Ever wonder how the beanie (toque for you Canadians out there) got started?

From wikipedia:

The beanie was working apparel associated with blue collar laborers, including welders, mechanics, and other tradesmen who needed to keep their hair back, but for whom a brim would be an unnecessary obstruction.  Beanies do sometimes have a very small brim, less than an inch deep, around the brow front. The baseball cap evolved from this kind of beanie, with the addition of a visor to block the sun.

By the mid-1940s, beanies fell out of general popularity as a hat, in favour of cotton visored caps like the baseball cap. However, in the 1950s and possibly beyond, they were worn by college freshmen and various fraternity initiates as a form of mild hazing. For example, Lehigh University required freshmen to wear beanies, or "dinks," and other colleges including Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Rutgers, Westminster College and others may have had similar practices.  Benedictine College, in Kansas still carries this tradition for the first week of a freshman's classes, and is said to be the only college in the US to maintain this tradition.  Wilsons College continues this tradition today as a part of its Odd/Even class year "rivalry."

Source: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beanie_(seamed_cap)

Does your school have any quirky or beardy traditions????