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Slippery Rock alumni build new memories Celebrations Tuesday, October 06, 1998 By Kelly D. Burgess, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
It rained steadily on their parade, but the downpour did not seem to dampen spirits of those attending the annual homecoming celebration Saturday at Slippery Rock University, the small college with the catchy name that's brought it recognition around the world.
In keeping with the futuristic theme "Space Invasion '98: Abduction of The Rock," soggy aliens tossed candy under umbrellas to those who had braved the weather to enjoy the abbreviated homecoming parade.
Meanwhile, students taking part in the parade apparently didn't seem to notice the rain as they cheered, danced and marched their way down Main Street and past Old Main, the oldest building on this 111-year old northern Butler County campus barely an hour north of Pittsburgh.
It was the newest building, though, that attracted the most attention. The Russell Wright Alumni House, named for a 1923 graduate of SRU, was dedicated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony held in the assembly room of the house. Moved indoors because of the inclement weather, at times it seemed as if all 40,300 living alumni of SRU were crammed into the building.
The standing-room-only crowd prompted mistress of ceremonies Sally Jackson Lennox, a 1959 graduate and the university's director of alumni affairs for many years, to joke it had been decided the building wasn't large enough and there were plans to knock out the wall to the patio to accommodate an addition. The patio which she so blithely condemned to oblivion was named the Sally Jackson Lennox patio. It was donated in her honor by her friends and family to commemorate her 25-year quest to raise the money for the alumni house.
"We have operated for many years out of two small rooms and if someone visited, we had to clear off a box so they'd have a place to sit," Lennox said. "People kept saying, 'They should give us more space," and "they should build us a house.' I finally said, 'Well, if we want this, we're going to have to build it.' "
Visitors still don't have a chair to sit on because the furniture, although it's been paid for, has not been delivered. The Class of 1941 donated enough money to furnish the reception hall. The grandfather clock was purchased by the Class of 1948, the sitting room was funded by the Class of 1956 and the furnishings were paid for by donations from the family of Martha A. Schaaf, a 1947 graduate.
The memorabilia room was funded by the Class of 1958, but the memorabilia isn't confined to that room. One piece of history, a photo of the 1906 graduating class, hangs outside Lennox's new office. Somewhere in that photo is alumnus Howard Headland. Donations made in his name paid for the office.
Plaques honoring other significant donors dot the walls of the building, but even the smaller donations made a difference. Lennox said more than 2,000 alumni and friends of SRU donated the $650,000 needed to complete the house.
University spokesman Russ Feltz said 316 of these faithful alumni were at the ribbon-cutting celebration. And that number didn't include the 60 members of the alumni choir, which had been brought together for the first time to perform at the ceremony. Although they've only been in existence for about a week, they stole the show with an emotional rendition of "The Music's Always There."
The emotion came from once again being under the leadership of Chet O'Bannon, popular music professor and longtime conductor of the Slippery Rock University Chorus. Diane Book Davis, a 1980 graduate, described him as "everyone's surrogate parent." The audience was able to tell which members of the choir had graduated before 1991, the year O'Bannon retired, by the number of singers in tears at the end of the song.
After the ceremony, most of the alumni changed into rain gear and sloshed over to N. Kerr Thompson Stadium to watch their team defeat arch-rival Clarion University, 28-14.
It is in football that Slippery Rock is best known, not so much for the school's gridiron reputation, but because its appealing name for years has sparked interest in virtually every corner of America. SRU scores are announced regularly to crowds during games at large universities such as Michigan and Texas. The university's bookstore also has shipped orders to Australia, Great Britain and Germany.
Where there is college football, there is tailgating. At Slippery Rock, this tradition usually fills the stadium lots, but because of the miserable weather, there was one lone party going on.
Under a tarp strung between two vans, Steve and Mary Spegal (Class of '78) of Bethel Park, Jim (Class of '78) and Gail (Class of '79) Yamnitzky of Plum, and Damon Homich (Class of '78) refused to let the rain spoil their pregame festivities. Homich, of Girard, Erie County, brought his wife Carol, though she didn't graduate from Slippery Rock.
"We don't hold that against her," Gail Yamnitzky pointed out.
The men were roommates in college, and for the past 11 years, the families have met here to celebrate their educational roots with hors d'oeuvres and soft drinks.
"Sometimes we even go to the game," Mary Spegal said. "But if we don't quite make it for the actual football stuff, we always get there in time to check out the alumni band at halftime."
This year, the group had another reason to find their seats before the halftime show - to watch Benjamin Richey, a senior cheerleader for Slippery Rock, perform at halftime. Richey is the son of Thelma and Richard Taylor of Eighty Four, Washington County, and Thelma Taylor is one of Mary Spegal's co-workers.
Like Carol Homich, the Taylors didn't graduate from SRU, but they were still given a place under the tarp.
And none of them seemed to be in a hurry to leave the warmth of their dry nest and their memories for the chilly bleachers. After all, homecoming's not only about football, buildings or plaques.
It was Sally Jackson Lennox who summed up the meaning of homecoming in her dedication speech at the Russell Wright Alumni House: "People come back to see people."
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