Home sweet home

Alumni return to campus

CARRIE MCGEE/Daily

LSA junior Jessica Alger goes for a ride on a gyrotron during homecoming festivities on the Diag yesterday.

By Laura Deneau

Daily Staff Reporter

Sitting on a bench across the street from the Michigan Union, Frederick Ludwig and his wife Jan reminisced about the day they met at the University in 1932.

Frederick, a 1935 graduate of the Medical School, met Jan, '33, at a Sunday tea held at her sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha.

But Frederick said it wasn't love at first sight.

"It took me three years to convince her to marry me," Frederick Ludwig said.

The couple join alumni from across the nation who are returning to campus this weekend to celebrate the 104th annual homecoming.

"Homecoming is a convenient moment during which everybody can rally around a common experience," said Ken Blochowski, director of student programs for the Alumni Association. "It's an event that brings the whole Michigan family together."

Three hundred and fifty alumni of the Michigan Marching Band who graduated as far back as the 1920s will be coming to participate in half-time ceremonies at the football game against Indiana University.

"They each bring their own version of what the Marching Band was like when they were in it, because they span so many years," said Gregory Whitmore, drum major of the Marching Band.

To prepare for Saturday's game the Student Alumni Council will host a pep rally at 7:30 p.m. tonight on the Diag.

"This will be the biggest pep rally at Michigan in years," Tom Charron, Vice President of the Student Alumni Council said.

Head football coach Lloyd Carr will make an appearance at the event, addressing a crowd with attendance estimated between 2,000 and 3,000. The captains of the women's rowing, men's swimming and diving, women's gymnastics and men's gymnastics teams are also scheduled to speak this evening.

Other highlights of the pep rally will include performances by the Michigan Marching Band and cheerleaders, a step performance by the members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., and a Super Fan contest.

The council will also show a montage of great moments in Michigan football history.

When the Student Alumni Council took over organizing events during homecoming week, it moved the pep rally from the Power Center to the Diag.

The Student Alumni Council plans to attract more people this year than last year, which was the most widely attended pep rally in a long time.

"The pep rally's haven't been that big in the past, but it's going to get bigger and bigger from now on," Charron said.