I remember pale yellow chrysanthemum blooms, each as big as a dinner plate.
The brown “W” was wired in and made from a pipe cleaner and would be wobbly by halftime. The really expensive ones included their own little glass vial of water attached to the stem, with hopes that it would survive the game.
Peggy Jane the Mom used to get a Homecoming mum delivered to the house by Killion Florist every Homecoming week.
At the Pi Phi house, they were delivered in bulk.
I never got one, and thought it, like formal dance invitations, was something I shouldn’t do for myself.
This is Homecoming Week at the University of Wyoming, and the memories are flooding back.
I am concentrating on them, rather than the absurdity that is the business of college football right now.
As usual, though, I have thoughts about that too.
As I write on this overly warm September day, I am looking at the priceless charm bracelet that is my gift from Peggy Jane the Mom.
It contains 15 charms, spanning Fritz the Dad’s football career from player to Award of Excellence in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The oldest charm is a solid gold football with a diamond, inscribed with “MIAA Most Valuable Player.” It’s at least 70 years old and the inscription is barely visible.
I must get it back to Okes Jewelers and see if Sheila can somehow work her magic. The bracelet has been there several times since I received it, and I feel like Sheila should be on a retainer fee.
Fritz played at tiny Albion College, an NCAA Division III school in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
It has tremendous tradition, but powerhouse Alabama it is not.
Wyoming kids continue to have success at regional programs like Black Hills State, Chadron State, Jamestown State, Montana and Montana State.
Those are all great schools with big tradition. The opportunities they offer Wyoming kids cannot be diminished. But they are not FBS schools.
They are not the only school in their state and compete for funding dollars with many others.
Wyoming is favored among state legislators and their critical funding because it is the only public four-year school in the entire state. That means something, even if there is occasional head-butting over singular academic programs.
Also on Mom’s charm bracelet are three Wyoming specific charms, the Sun Bowl shaped like the state of Texas with a diamond denoting El Paso and the score inscribed on the back and a Sugar Bowl medallion with “N.O., La., 1-1-68,” inscribed on the back.
The third is a full-sized University of Wyoming football class ring made into a charm. Fritz had huge fingers and it’s too big for my thumb, but I like slipping my finger into it anyway.
The remainder of the charms are from their NFL life, spanning 24 seasons and five teams.
Homecoming is about more than football. It’s welcoming former students back to campus, many of whom are not fortunate enough to go back six or seven times a year.
It’s about walking across Prexy’s Pasture, going to the bookstore in the Union, watching the Homecoming Parade at 11 on Saturday morning.
It’s about forgetting for awhile NIL and the media market in Laramie. It’s about forgetting the poaching Pac2 and UConn maybe playing a “conference” game in San Diego.
None of that matters at all on a glorious September Saturday.
He always sings.
Sally Ann Shurmur can be reached at: SallyAnnShurmur@gmail.com
