Wabash College is fond of its traditions — really fond of its traditions
Homecoming is nearly a century-old Wabash tradition. It was the idea of the late Jasper Cragwall, a professor who taught at the college from 1901 through 1929. His notion was that the college should set aside a special day to welcome back its alumni. The tradition has evolved over time, but the basic concept remains the same.
Homecoming is among Wabash’s most cherished traditions.
Embedded within Homecoming Weekend, which began Thursday with Chapel Sing and continued through Saturday evening’s Glee Club concert and theater production, are several unrelated traditions. The only common link between the many traditions is the weekend itself.
Call them traditions within traditions, for lack of a better phrase.
Take Chapel Sing, for example. After about 20 years of screaming, students have returned to the original tradition of singing “Old Wabash” on the steps of the Pioneer Chapel. While not exactly true to the early Chapel Sing competitions, Thursday’s event came pretty close. There was more emphasis on class unity than on living units. The guys were actually singing, and melody mattered when the judges made their final decisions.
Saturday was a day filled with traditions: living units creating parade-style floats (that don’t float) to decorate the fronts of their buildings; alumni from nine decades coming back to campus; sporting events; and an evening of music and theater.
A couple of traditions stand out:
The Alumni Chapel on Saturday morning is the official annual meeting of the National Association of Wabash Men. It’s also the time when the college honors its alumni for service and volunteerism. The event honors the spirit of the late Barney Hollett ’36, who was the epitome of the Wabash gentlemen. Barney would have been proud of the alumni who were honored.
I, too, was proud when my good friend and local attorney Greg Miller, Wabash Class of 1983, was presented the Frank W. Misch Alumni Service Award, which honors the alumnus who has given the most of himself to his alma mater. In addition to his many civic responsibilities, Greg has served Wabash as a Class Agent, a member of the NAWM Board of Directors, President of the Sugar Creek Association of Wabash Men, and President of the Phi Gamma Delta Housing Association, to name only a few of the ways he works on behalf of Wabash.
At lunch, alumni and friends of the college gathered for the traditional Celebrating Leadership Luncheon, which honors and salutes those who have been generous in their financial support of the college. Philanthropy is, perhaps, Wabash’s greatest and most enduring tradition; a tradition of Wabash alumni providing the resources for future generations of Wabash men.
When people think of Homecoming traditions, they really think of the Homecoming football game.
At Wabash, the more “interesting” tradition happens at halftime of the football game. That’s when freshmen from the various living units put on skits, chant or cheer, raise banners, and dress up like queens.
Yep, one of the more hysterical aspects of Homecoming is the queen contest, when living units choose one lucky freshman to be their queen. (Picture very large men with thick, dark chest hair wearing low-cut dresses, fishnet stockings, and heels. Got the idea?) It’s not a pretty sight, but it is a cherished Homecoming tradition.
There was one year when the queen contest was held on Friday night. Alumni (and their spouses) were outraged and complained there was no halftime “entertainment.”
But aside from the queens, football, and colorful decorations, Homecoming remains what Jasper Cragwall imagined almost a century ago. It remains a time when alumni return to Wabash to catch up with old friends, see the changes, and reconnect with the institution that meant so much to them in their college days.
One of those alumni who reconnected with Wabash on Saturday was Jim Price, Class of 1929 (pictured left), a 99-year-old alum who would have known and learned from Jasper Cragwall.
Linking the generations, past and future, is the real reason we celebrate Homecoming at Wabash.
