Samford University alumni from eight decades converged on the campus to celebrate homecoming Nov. 5–7.
Participants included Ellen Barton, of Locust Fork, a 1936 graduate who was applauded as the member of the earliest class at a Friday brunch for alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago. The event, attended by 100 at Samford President Andrew Westmoreland’s home, hailed the start of the three-day celebration that was themed “Sweet Home Samford.”
Lee Cochran, a 2010 graduate, broke away from graduate classes at the University of Louisville to attend his first homecoming as an alumnus. The former member of the Samford Student Ministries Choir said the draw was to hear the choir sing during the Sunday morning worship service that concluded homecoming weekend.
Overall an estimated 3,500 alumni, students and others enjoyed a full schedule of reunions and special events. Thousands more gathered in Seibert Stadium to see the Bulldogs take on Wofford College in a football game that Samford lost 10–3.
A banquet recognized Alumni of the Year Ann Thornton Field, a Philadelphia attorney and civic leader, and William Stevens, chief executive officer of Motion Industries, an international parts replacement and service company that has its headquarters in Birmingham. Field is a member of Samford class of 1977. Stevens, a former chair of the Samford board of trustees, is a 1970 graduate.
Ted Alling, Barry Large and Allan Davis, members of the class of 2000, were recognized as Young Alumni of the Year. They are the owners of Access America Transport, a Chattanooga, Tenn., trucking company.
At a meeting of the Samford Alumni Association, Nashville banker Keith Herron was elected president. Herron is a 1986 graduate and president of the Midsouth region of Regions Bank.
Activities included recognition of the late Pulitzer Prize-winner Harold E. Martin, a 1954 alumnus, and award-winning Samford faculty member Dennis R. Jones as the 2010 inductees into the department of journalism and mass communication’s Wall of Fame.
Terra Garmon, a senior communication studies major from Gadsden, was crowned homecoming queen during the football game’s halftime. Her home church is Twelfth Street Baptist, Gadsden.
David Saunders, a senior education major from Norcross, Ga., was named homecoming king.
The court also included freshmen Rachel Gregory, of Brentwood, Tenn., and Ben McGlamery, of Grayson, Ga.; sophomores Abby Sander, of Jacksonville, Fla., and Holmes Hill, of Memphis, Tenn.; juniors Lizzy Bryan, of Ooltewah, Tenn., and Jeremy Towns, of Dolomite; and seniors Olivia Bosshardt, of Leesburg, Fla.; Sarah Cottingham, of Marietta, Ga.; Dan Hall, of Madison, Miss.; and Jake McPherson, of Fayetteville, Ga. The queen and king were chosen by vote of the student body. Class representatives were chosen by their classmates.
Other activities included a cabaret performance by eight current and former students of the Samford opera program. The event paid tribute to longtime professor and voice teacher G. William Bugg, who will retire at the end of this academic year. (SU)
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