Fort Hays State University - Reveille Yearbook (Hays, KS)

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Crowds loved John Cafferty’s rendition of his hit song On the Dark Side, (photo by Steve Rasmussen) Cafferty spells out the word C-l-T-Y with his arms, along with 4,700 screaming fans, (photo by Steve Rasmussen) During the tour for their album Tough All Over, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band played at Gross Memorial Coliseum during Homecoming weekend, (photo by Steve Rasmussen) A concert success capped off Homecoming weekend, as John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band visited Hays C-l-T-Y 17 hen movie Eddie and the i y Cruisers was released during the — summer of 1983, a six-man New Jersey band had high hopes. John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band had been playing up and down the Atlantic Coast for 1 0 years when they were approached to do the soundtrack for the movie. Two years later the band is on the road with their second album and on Oct. 4 they performed to a crowd of 4,700 in Gross Memorial Coliseum. ' This crowd is unbelievable, Cafferty said. We didn ' t expect that many people. We ' re still at a point where we’re still really surprised when people know us far from home. Eddie and the Cruisers fared poorly at the box office, but after its release and later debut on cable television, demand for the Beaver Brown Band ' s soundtrack exploded. Within one month the single On the Dark Side was racing up the music charts and the band’s videos were in the homes of millions of Americans, compliments of M-TV. After the first album came out we were on tour, Cafferty said. Then our second album { Tough All Over) came out. It was pretty much back to back. The group has been playing together for over 13 years and Cafferty said he enjoys life on tour. We’ve been lucky, he said. “We ' ve been together since 1 972 and we ' ve always been able to make friends, like tonight. Whether 20 - John Cafferty

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From building floats to crowning a queen, this year ' s Homecoming was again a time for Tradition my Rodriguez, a former Fort Hays State cheerleader who was paralyzed .below the waist Feb, 1 , 1 985 when she fell from the top of a pyramid, led the 1 985 Homecoming parade as Grand Marshall starting off the Best in the West weekend festivities. As an array of floats paraded down Main Street, judges chose which floats would receive awards. FHSU organizations managed to wrap up five awards for their efforts in float design. The Tiger Spirit Award went to Alpha Gamma Delta and Delta Sigma Phi for their old West storefronts and Any Last Words? Custer Hall took the Founder ' s Award for Round-up the Best Education in the West. Phi Delta Kappa won the Alumni Award with The West is Best in Education. Winning the President’s Award was the Delta Zeta sorority for their version of the Old West Saloon and Hey, Partner, Your Best Bet is the Tigers. The Rainbows Award sponsored by Hays Travel and Tourism went to This is Caldwell Banker and Sears Country. Kentucky Fried Chicken grabbed the Chamber of Commerce Award for their The Best Chicken in the West float. The Knights of Columbus won the Heritage Award for non-profit Organizations with The Best Darn Shooters in the West. The Creative Arts Society won the grand prize with The Best of the East and West, their version of a multi-legged tiger, mimicking a Chinese dragon. After the last float and marching band made their way down the route, the parade ended with children of all ages carrying flags and free soft drinks for all who participated and attended the parade. A pre-game Tiger tailgate party followed the parade, southeast of Lewis Field stadium, FHSU played Kearney State of Nebraska in the Homecoming contest. After slofback Eric Busenbark, Lamed junior, caught quarterback Robert Long’s pass and ran for an 89-yard touchdown just minutes into the game, black and gold balloons were released by fans. The balloons were a money-raising project for the Northwest Kansas Family Shelter. At halftime, the FHSU marching band, along with 24 area high school and junior high bands, entertained the crowd with a mass band concert of The Message of Music. Then the 1985 Homecoming queen was crowned — Colleen Ellis, Rozel senior. She was elected from a field of 13 candidates. The five finalists were Mary Albers, Colby senior; Ellis; Diana Flax, WaKeeney senior; Micki Prenger, Macon, Mo., sophomore; and Kristi Willinger, Great Bend junior. Ellis was sponsored by the Wiest Hall Council. The Tigers won the game, slipping by the Antelopes 25-23. Before the traditional Homecoming activities, the east wing of Sternberg Museum was dedicated to Ross and Marianna Beach of Hays. The couple donated 22 African specimens to the Hall of Natural History, which was renovated during the spring and summer months. by missy bowen and jill grant Colleen Ellis, Rozel senior, was crowned Homecoming queen at the halftime of the football oame against Kearney State, (photo by Monty Davie) Homecoming - 19

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A member of the band Flash Cahan belts out a tune on his guitar, (photo by Steve Rasmussen) Much along the same musical style of John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, Flash Cahan stirred the crowd with their 50s hits, (photo by Steve Rasmussen) we ' re playing for 50 or 5,000 we have a lot of fun and we get the same kind of response. Many fans agreed with Cafferty -- they were having a good time. This (concert) is great, Dawn Loveali, a Hays High School student, said. We ' re all together and having a good time. Loveali and several of her friends were performing dance routines in the restroom to Cafferty ' s music during the concert. ' There ' s a lot more people here than I thought there would be,” Amy Grabbe, a Hays High student, said. The concert is just great. Denise Peters, Hays, said she liked the group. The guitar player reminded me of Bruce (Springsteen) and the saxophone player had good eye contact, Peters said. The way he (Cafferty) dances and talks about dreams and when he was young reminds me of Bruce, too.” He relates to the audience, Cassie Wilson, Colby, said. Cafferty said he was impressed with the stage crew at Fort Hays State. I ' d really like to be able to thank everybody, Cafferty said. They worked real, real hard. Antunes agreed. More goes on here than what ' s on stage, he said. Cafferty and the band have played Wichita and he said he likes Kansas. Kansas is a rock and roll time. It ' s unbelievable I The size and enthusiasm of the crowd were not the only things in Hays which caught Cafferty ' s attention. During his performance he mentioned the FHSU basketball team. After the concert he commented on that. I ' m a Boston Celtics fans and when ! go to Boston Gardens I look up to see their World Championship banners, Cafferty said. Whenever I go into a basketball arena I look up out of habit to see what ' s happening. I looked up in here and saw these two national championship banners and they said 1984 and 1985, he said. ' That’s pretty good! Cafferty is from a small Rhode Island community, so playing in towns the size of Hays does not bother him. ' We ' re about as small town as you can get. He commented on the group’s style of music. “We were all in our teens in the early ' 60s when Elvis, Buddy Holly, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Beatles were popular, Cafferty said. That period was very influential for the Beaver Brown Band. We play ' 50s and ' 60s because we love the spirit and the sound. We will continue to grow and learn something new just like anyone else in any walk of life. ' Cafferty said he realty enjoys what he does. It doesn ' t matter if you ' re a construction worker, or drive a truck, or teach school or play music. In this day and age you have to have a job you like. Fans seemed to enjoy the musical style of the band Flash Cahan as much as they did that of Cafferty and his band, (photo by Steve Rasmussen) John Cafferty - 21