Middle Tennessee State University - Midlander Yearbook (Murfreesboro, TN)

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. . and Then Winning Football and The Tearls of Earl ' . . . } »—, ' •- ' .iET- (|i»»»

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Plus B. J. and Some More of Homecoming . . . Top 40 fans got their moments of glory during the fall semester when Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, B. J. Thomas, and the Temptations, each nearly filled the gym. The First Edition gave their normal witty college show (interspersed with some fairly daring gags) that was humorous throughout. B. J. Thomas, under considerable strain, as he confessed to the audience, nevertheless delivered his sophisticated set of hits to the homecoming weekend audience. And the Temptations— ooh! They had to he the best stage show seen and heard here in ages. Have you ever seen a homecoming weekend in which the weather was so beautiful it simply wasn ' t real? You know the type— mild, sunny, just the right weather for a football game. Well, we ' ve seen that kind of weekend, too. But the 1970 Homecoming weekend was nothing like that at all. Dr. Homer Pittard, Alumni Director, couldn ' t make arrangements for good weather, but he and his faithful band planned nearly everything else imaginable for the alumni and students. While the women in the company were off touring Oaklands, their husbands— many of them, anyhow— were competing in the annual alumni golf tournament. With a barbecue, a Saturday morning ham-and-eggs breakfast, and a buffet luncheon under their belts, the guests of honor, all six thousand of them set out to take in the Hospitality Hour, complete with a concert appearance by the Southerners from the MTSU of 1938. In addition to all that, a reception at President Scarlett ' s home, an alumni versus varsity baseball game, a scrimmage by Coach Jimmy ILarle ' s round-ballers, the homecoming parade, and of course (of course!) the game, rounded out the weekend nicely. MTSU athletics has always been with us and always will be, hopefully. Ground was broken for a new gymnasium in the early spring (or late winter) of 1971 to help insure that sports will be a permanent fixture on the campus and that HPER will have exhaling space. Many people thought the quality of MTSU ' s athletic teams was, sadly, also a tradition, and one about which the less said, the better. New head football coach Bill Peck did much to dispel the tradition, however, and MTSU finished the football season at what seemed comparably dizzying heights, with a mark of 6-3-1 (3-3-1 in conference play). Most satisfying game, no doubt, was the runaway victory over Austin Peay; most heartbreaking, to the casual observer, must have been the 17-13 defeat at the hands of TenneSee Tech. Nevertheless, one game couldn ' t wipe out a relatively stunning overall season, marked by some clutch victories (Ball State, in which we were tied or trailing until the final seconds) as well as the almost-pulled-it-out defeats (Eastern Kentucky, where the team looked sharp, felt sharp, and were sharp, but lost anyhow).

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Jimmy Earle ' s basketball wonders, or Pearls in the vernacular of the trade, showed promise (in spite of injuries that beset the Raider camp almost immediately after practice opened). The track team, the swimming team, the golf squad, all held their own (some triumphing over larger university competition with flying colors), but the average student heard, not so much about them, as he did about Bill Peck ' s successes or occasional failures. Hunter Harris, David Duvall, Coleman A4urdock, Jack Crawford, Charles Holt, Reuben Justice, Greg Gregory, Taylor Edwards, Ron Taylor— that ' s enough. I ' m sure they really are not too excited about seeing their names in print; their T must have been reward enough for a season well done.