Homecoming 2016 Festivities

Homecoming--Let the Good Times Roll--for me comes in four phases that begin on Friday night with the reception and dinner for 30- and 50-Year Alumni.

As happens every year with this event, the people I meet make the evening special. And in addition to the honored alumni, the dinner featured this year's Grand Marshal of the Homecoming Parade, Jackson Howard, who studied at PSC in 1943 for 8 months as part of the V-12 program.

Jackson Howard went on to a rather illustrious career in both the Navy and the legal community. In addition, he helped before the football game with the coin toss. 

Check out the photographs from the festivities. 

Saturday morning, I got up early and took pictures of Nebraska's Toughest Mile and enjoyed watching others suffer at 8:00 in the morning.

In truth, the 60-degree cool and moderate humidity made for some excellent running weather. And everyone involved enjoyed a good time.  The event becomes more popular each year.

The race ended quickly.  I am not sure of the exact times, but folks told me that the winner--also in the homecoming court--completed the mile in impressive fashion, as did the fellow who finished second. Oh, and the first place for women once ran for the PSC Cross Country team.

After the the final runner crossed the finish line, I worked on the race photographs in my office for a while before heading downtown to announce for the 23rd time the Homecoming Parade, and experience that always puts me in excellent spirits.

This year's parade gave me plenty of opportunities to talk with the folks downtown. And when things get out of order, as happens always, the chaos pleases me to no end--I always enjoy a good, good time.

The photographs for the parade and the festivities on campus appear in the same group, so enjoy looking at all of them and experience vicariously at least all the food and fun.



We all missed the Jazz Band's music mixing with the sound of people and making the day sparkle. Still, this party grows each year, and I took special pleasure from talking with students who graduated but return for Homecoming. 

Around 1:00, people began drifting to the stadium for the game between Baker University--ranked 4th in the NAIA, I think--and PSC. 




Along the way, I stopped to say hello to the tailgaters north of the stadium and then wended my way to the Hospitality Suites to talk with people and, of course, to take photographs. As usual, I took lots of photographs of the game for everyone's viewing.

And while the game began with fanfare, the final score did not thrill, for PSC made a few errors and ended up on the losing side of the 42-21 score.



Halftime featured, of course, the colorful crowning of the King and Queen and the Homecoming court.  Pictures of this year's winners appear at the bottom of this page, after the next paragraph.

The score dampened a bit the day, but most left the stadium with smiles. We in the press box kept busy with statistics and will return in three weeks for the Hall of Fame game.