Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, October 19, 1946, Page 2, Image 2

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    MARGUERITE WITTWER-WRIGHT GEORGE PEGG
Editor Business Manager
BOB FRAZIER, MARILY SAGE
Associate Editors
JACK Li. BILLiIIN lio
Managing Editor
MARYANN THIELEN and
WALT MCKINNEY
Assistant Managing Editors
ziuiw x <•>
News Editor
BOBOLEE BHOPHY and
BRUOE BISHOP
Assistant News Editors
EDITORIAL BOARD
Tom Kay, Byron Mayo, Bea King, Billie Johns
Faculty Adviser—Dean George Turnbull
BERNIE HAMMERBECK
Sports Editor
TtTT ,T, STRATTON, WALLY HUNTER
Assistant Sports Editors
ROGER TETLOW DON JONES
Chief Night Editor Staff Photographer
Signed editorial features and columns in the Emerald reflect the opin
ions of the writers. They do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
editorial staff, the student body, or the University.
Entered as second class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Oregon.
The (greatest Homecoming
Homecoming! Here it is again. The only time each year when
the contemporary University generation tries to create an at
mosphere to make all visitors wish they were “carefree” students
again, and when today’s students try to understand just what
makes alums come back year after year.
Alumni return to their Alma Mater’s Homecoming weekends
because they have fun. Homecoming for them means a three-day
escape from daily routine. Psychologically, the Homecoming
festivities help alums to feel-that, no matter how long ago they
graduated, they still “belong” to Oregon.
All Homecomings are essentially the same. Each year the
traditions are trotted out, and each year Ducks attempt to show
the old grads that the old school spirit is as virile as ever. To many
students this is the first Homecoming they've helped make pos
sible, and to many alumni this is the first to attend. Here, passing
sible, and to many alumni this is the first attended. Here passing
Ten years ago—
The rail)'- was held at the MacDonald theater downtown.
Oregon lost to WSC, 3-0. Past Emerald editors and former
AvSUO presidents lunched together. The Don Cossack chorus
sang in concert at the Tgloo, and the Homecoming dance had a
Russian theme.
1037
Vandals ignited tlic frosh bonfire but the freshies got busy
and built a better one. Paul Whiteman’s band played for the
prom which was attended by OSC coeds who were given over
night privileges. The alums got together at the armory and the
infirmary featured a hangover ward. OSC wcfti the game 14-0 and
their victory march ended in a riot with cars overturned and 200
Heavers splashing in the millrace. Corvallis stayed awake for an
all-night street dance while coeds broke all curfew rules. In
Eugene, Sevmour's cafe was picketed by angry Ducks because
the manager fed the Beavers.
1938
Careless freshmen set fire to their own bonfire prematurely.
Tex Oliver's Webfoots walloped the Vandals, 19-0. and Cocoa
nut Grove was the theme of the formal dance. Theta Chi took
first place in both the house sign and noise float contests. The
Emerald appealed to alumni to think over Oregon's tight finan
cial situation, and grads said this Homecoming was the greatest
show of Oregon spirit ever,
t 1939
Five Homecoming queens were named to welcome alums.
“Remember When” was the theme, and a pajama parade was the
novel feature of the noise fest. There was a jam session in the
Igloo for an hour before the dance. OSC won 19-14, and Theta
Chi again won both the sign and float contests.
1940
The sound of war drums in l'.urope was heard above the noise
of the annual parade. “Trek the Oregon Trail" was the theme.
Ti Delta Phi and Delta Upsilon won the sign contest.
1941
Heads of living organizations cancelled the noise parade.
Hope Hughes was elected “Hello Girl”, and the pajamas of ’40
gave way to more conservative PJ tops for the rally. Thetas and
Sigma Cliis won the sign contests. OSC beat a weak Duck team,
20-0, to cinch a bid to the Rose Bowl. Six thousand alums made
this the largest Homecoming turnout in history.
1942
Solemnity and the war spirit marked Homecoming. “Keep
the Home Fires” burning was the theme, and Oregon remem
The best and most important part of every man’s education
is that which he gives himself.—Gibbon. _
bered her sons overseas with a penny campaign to purchase a
UO service flag. The band played army marches at the game, and
there was no noise parade. Instead, the Emerald published in
memoriam the names of Oregon men already killed in action.
1943
With signs of war as close as the marching platoons of AS 1 U
men shouting cadence on the campus, there was no Homecom
ing. Instead, student energy was directed to drives for books and
cigarettes for servicemen, coeds rolled bandages, sold war bonds.
Looking toward the future when Oregon’s men would return, the
student union drive was revived.
1944
No Homecoming. War bond drive continued. Coeds worked
as nurses aides, collected scrap paper, tin cans, and used fat, wrote
letters to their men overseas.
1945
Homecoming was revived and the first postwar get-together
of alums was very successful. Mary Lou Hill was elected the
“girl you want most to come home to.” The “Revival” show was
broadcast over the state, Pi Beta Phi won the sign contest, 3000
attended the dance at the Igloo. And the Beavers won again,
13-12.
This year? The statistics aren’t in yet. We don’t know the
game score. We don’t know how many visitors are here today.
But one thing is certain : if this Homecoming results in the final
lap in the drive for a student union, it will be remembered above
all others as the greatest Homecoming of all time.
For Alumni
Today, alums have returned to the campus after three of
thirty years of absence. In the interim between Homecomings,
the progress of administration and student activities at Oregon
is unknown in many cases. '1'heir contacts with the “old school”
are few and far between.
Returning alums this year will see changes in the status quo
—more students than they imagined Oregon could accommodate,
quonset classrooms, mushrooming housing projects, et al. They
will see changes in their returning classmates, too, and discover
where Joe Donaldson is, and whom Betty Smith finally married.
Yet a three-day acquaintance with the people and things of their
college years cannot be entirely satisfactory.
Here, the function of the Oregon Alumni association becomes
evident. Official membership in this organization stretches the
three-day review to a continual familiarity with the activities of
past and present ASUO members.
Through the media of Old Oregon magazine, which is in
cluded in membership, monthly pictorial and written reports
present a condensed picture of alum, student, and faculty where
fores.
Membership in the alumni association leads to contacts with
local Oregon alum groups and knowledge of state and national
alum gatherings. Supplemental, but considerable, is the fact
that membership also facilitates preferential seats at Oregon
football and basketball games.
These advantages are at the beck and call of all alumni and
alumnae who register to become members ;*t Johnson hall this
morning. The students extend a personal welcome to alums this
weekend; the Oregon Alumni association give each the opportu
nity to enjoy a year-round Homecoming.
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SoApBoX DeRbY
By ROY FRANCIS
It is not that we wish to create,
build or manufacture a home for
the aged—though in a way it is—
as much as it is to create a central
spot, the honey for the flies, the
lamp for the moths, where the old
faces may gather without being cor
rupted too greatly by the eager and
straining faces of the younger gen
eration. In a way, then, it is also
in self defense, for we are some
what apprehensive of the time when
we, too, shall be admitted to the
circle of people called the Alumni,
and be able to rummage around with
a critical eye, or eyes, depending on
our physical condition as we ap
proach senility.
Whenever we notice a strange
character lurking around the build
ings, toting a huge banner proclaim
ing them to be academic hasbeens,
we, the embryonic alums, are prone
to say, “Glad that you’re back”—
or words to that effect. But these
jokers, hovering around the intel
lectual stomping grounds so dear
to their hearts, do they care if we
are here? No; they either take us
for granted or are somewhat re
morseful about what the present
generation is coming to, with a cho
ral background chanting the “Good
Old Days.” They tend to coagulate
into specific groups, and now and
........
again one hears remarks about “The
class of ’23 skidoo,” with an accom
paniment of raucous laughter.
Their memories becoming activated
by favorable surroundings, even
their slightest grimace becomes
fraught with meaning, and we soon
detect that a distasteful grin de
notes consideration of, say, the class
of ’93.
What in the world can we do with
them ? There was a consensus that
resulted in the closing of the class
rooms so that the aged alumni will
not be forced to witness a degener
ate student body in action; but we
shall still encounter them, even if
only to disentangle them from the
mass of bruised bodies resultant
from an impetuous crossing of 13th
street. The joint is already crowded,
and in many spots, bulging at the
seams. And the army has not yet re
leased sufficient quantities of pyra
midal tents to form headquarters.
It occurs to me that, probably,
they should be willing to do some
thing about it. After all, they are
the ones who fire coming here; that
is, in a large way, their picnic (al
though we are on the clean-up com
mittee). But, since we may join
their ranks after a few more fretful
years, they should be willing to
work with us. Now, we don’t want
another architectural cavern like
the museum of art, nor do we want
a dog-house, exactly. We want a—
I hesitate to use the term “resp%.
table” a place that neither we nor
they would be ashamed of showing
to a public. A Student Union Build
ing; a Home for Homecoming. Thus,
we would not have to hurriedly
paint “Standing Room Only” signs
when we call unto the world, “LaS
sy, Come Home!”
LOST—Green Parker pen, stamped
Shirley Anderson. Call 1724-J.
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