Homecoming, free barbecue and Mac Davis

With Homecoming activities in full swing this week at Eastern New Mexico University, it’s only natural (at least, for me) to do some reminiscing about a long ago gathering of Greyhounds.

I hit the newspaper archives for both the Portales News-Tribune and the Clovis News-Journal for a peek at Homecoming from a half century ago.

Eastern’s 1971 Homecoming took place on Nov. 12-13, and was attended by a “near record crowd,” according to the News-Journal, although no specific numbers were printed.

University President Charles Meister was photographed by the News-Tribune early in the week as he received his official Homecoming button from a member of Cardinal Key, the junior women’s honor society.

The ladies of Cardinal Key were selling the buttons as a fundraiser all week long — 25 cents a pop.

Wilhelmina Thomas, a 20-year-old music major from Alamogordo, was crowned as the school’s first black Homecoming queen in a Friday afternoon gathering and sported her sparkly tiara for the first time at the traditional bonfire and fireworks that evening.

Although I still haven’t quite figured out what this is, Friday evening’s highlight was reported by both local newspapers as a “pillow concert” at the PE Complex, featuring singer/songwriter Mac Davis. I’m hoping someone might remember that event and tell me more.

That Saturday morning Homecoming parade took place on a route “packed” with spectators, the News-Tribune reported, and featured a dozen marching bands.

In its Sunday recap of the weekend events, the News-Journal said the Clovis High School Wildcat Band, under the direction of Norvil Howell, was honored as the outstanding band in the parade.

Other area bands that marched that year included Portales High School and Portales Junior High School, both under the direction of John Bealmer, as well as Crosbyton (Texas) High School, Eunice High School, Farwell Junior High School, Clovis’ Gattis Junior High School, and Lovington High School.

Eastern’s Sigma Nu Fraternity won the sweepstakes honors in the float competition with an entry titled, “Happiness is Brotherhood,” that featured cartoonist Charles Schulz’ characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

Phi Mu Alpha’s entry, “Music: The Universal Language,” won the trophy for “Most Beautiful.”

During that era, Eastern hosted a mammoth free barbecue open to the community each Homecoming. (This is not to be confused with a free mammoth barbecue, mind you. We haven’t had one of those in these parts for a solid 12,000 years.)

Although the math seems improbable, the Clovis News-Journal reported the menu included “nearly $1,000 worth of beef,” and the Portales News-Tribune stated that “an estimated 5,000 persons marched through the chow lines for beef and beans at the ENMU campus Saturday.”

The football game was a “windswept aerial contest at Greyhound Stadium,” according to the sports pages in the News-Tribune, a showdown between two Easterns: our local Greyhounds and the Eastern Montana State College Yellowjackets.

The hometown team shellacked the opponents, 30-6, under the leadership of Greyhound senior quarterback, Mike “Golden Arm” Franks.

Halftime festivities included presentation of a Distinguished Service Award to Cecil Cook of Portales, a local insurance agent who was also in his second term in the New Mexico House of Representatives. Larry Fuqua, director of the ENMU Alumni Office, conferred the award.

After-game events included another concert — this one featuring The Friends of Distinction, a vocal group from Los Angeles — and a dance in the Campus Union Ballroom.

I’d hazard a guess that the $1,000 worth of beef may have left some of the 5,000 diners hungry that day, so it seems likely at least a few alums visited Pizza King and Bob’s Steakhouse that evening, lured by their ads in the local newspaper welcoming alumni home to Portales.

Ah, memories. Let’s get out this week and make some new ones, shall we? It will give another columnist a story to write, come 2071.

Betty Williamson has never been to a “pillow concert,” but is intrigued. Reach her at:

pepnm@hotmail.com