Homecoming: it’s Big Red’s Golden Year
October 26, 1973
Out of one AF-Fair and into another
For those LU students, faculty and staff, and area residents who thought the South Texas State Fair was over too soon, take heart! The Homecoming Festival, which ends tonight at midnight, promises enough food and frolic for everyone. Big Red’s had a busy 50th birthday – it just might take him the next 50 years to recover.
Homecoming ’73: something special
Homecoming 1973 has come off as a huge success…to those who have bothered to take the time to enjoy it. Thanks for all of the activities must go to all the people on the Homecoming Committee who have worked so hard to make this Golden Anniversary Homecoming one to remember. People like homecoming chairman Dennis Mullins deserve a special thanks for the long, late hours spent trying to make an ordinary week into that special something that is Homecoming.
The Golden Anniversary Year has been a great success itself. Although the groundbreaking for the new library was the highlight, many little things have combined to make this year special. Speakers brought to campus, more activities in the Setzer Center, even the new trees on campus add to the recognition of the progress Lamar has made through theses 50 years.
Many things about this year will be long remembered and Homecoming will be no exception. To those many behind-the-scenes workers goes a debt of thanks, for they are the backbone of what this institution is today.
They are the ones who care enough about Lamar to want it to progress through another 50 years. They are the ones who keep this institution from being a glorified high school. They are also in the minority.
It is sometimes hard to figure out why people like this bother to spend their time working on things like Homecoming when so few students take advantage of the opportunities afforded them by such activities. It is not hard to figure out, however, that they are the ones who will be remembered, even if not by individual name, as having made Lamar something great by those students who are to come. Let’s hope that more of them are like Dennis Mullins and the other people on the 1973 Homecoming committee.
Until Next Year--
By Rondah Irving
The party’s over-probably the biggest birthday party a university ever had. The Fairgrounds are empty now-they wait for next year. And, every year, there are special memories. For Lamar students, special discounts and a day just for them. Maybe that was the day somebody discovered just how much fun a ferris wheel could be on a first date. For the older folks, comparisons: what used to be, the way the people dress, a note of sadness in discovering a freak exhibit devoted to drug-induced deformities-a graphic reminder of the changing world. And, the kids: it’s all new to them-the not so horrible horror shows, the scary and not so scary rides, the food that mothers shudder over. For the more sophisticated kids, delight in stage-whispering: it’s a fake (but going to see it all the same.) The Fair is a tear in the eye of a small child who just dropped his cotton candy, the trembling of a woman’s hands as she accepts the blue ribbon for her quilt, the tension in a boy’s body waiting for his steer to be judged, and the mingled pride and apprehension in a mother’s heart as she watches her four-year-old ride his first ride alone.
Geek festival continues through tomorrow
The best is yet to come as Homecoming Week goes into its last two days today and tomorrow. Although the pageant is over, the booths and decorations have been judged, and several of the contests have been won or lost, a full two days lie ahead.
Finalists Mary Barrilleaux, Linda Blair, Debbie Cordingly, Debbie Landry, Jill McCarthy, and Valerie Sheddrick were voted on by judges at the Homecoming pageant Tuesday night. Special guests included Susan Bennette, Miss Lamar University and Pan Richard 1972 Homecoming.
Construction of booths began in the quadrangle Tuesday and organizations had been hard at work on campus decorations at the festival site since Sunday.
Today has been designated as jersey day and students were asked to wear jerseys to class. The pie fight will be at 1:30 p.m. in front of the Setzer Center followed by the greased pole contest (women’s division) at 2 p.m. The 25 mile bike race will begin at 4 p.m. in front of the Setzer Center.
A cook-out sponsored by the Interdorm Council will begin at 4:30 p.m. following will be the annual bonfire and cookout, and announcement of campus decoration and booth winners at 6 p.m. in the parking lot adjacent to Brooks-Shivers Hall.
A band will perform at 7 p.m. on the showmobile at the festival site. The greased pole consent (men’s division) will follow at 8 p.m.
Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. there will be a pep rally at Parkdale Mall Lamar exes will meet at 10:30 a.m. in the Setzer Center and will then be entertained at a buffet in the Ballroom.
The homecoming game versus Arkansas State will be at 2 p.m. preceded by a parachute show by the Skyhawk Parachute Club at 1:45 p.m. at the stadium. Halftime activities will bring the crowning of the Homecoming Queen and a special performance of the Cardinal Band and guest drummer Roy Burns.
A reception for exes will follow the game at the University Inn. The annual Homecoming dance will begin at 8 p.m. in the Setzer Center ballroom.
Compiled from the archives by Ja'Leigh Cerf.