Celebrating Reunion 2014
MORE THAN 1,100 ALUMNI RETURNED JUNE 6-8 to reconnect with classmates from their undergraduate days and catch up on recent events at their alma mater. President Alison Byerly gave her first State of the College address in Colton Chapel.
View more Reunion 2014 photos on flickr
On Friday, early arrivals attended the special four-part Reunion College series “Lafayette Athletic Tradition: 1880-2014.” Two sessions, led by Archivist Diane Shaw and Associate Archivist Elaine Stomber ’89, served as an archival pep rally for November’s 150th game against Lehigh at Yankee Stadium, only the second neutral-site game in college football’s most-played rivalry.
Friday’s program included much about The Rivalry. In 1891 the football teams played each other three times, once in Wilkes-Barre, the only neutral site meeting so far. In 1896 the game was canceled because Lehigh officials insisted that Lafayette halfback George “The Rose” Barclay had violated his eligibility by playing semi-pro baseball for a summer. The same year, Lafayette defeated mighty Penn, 6-4, in Philadelphia. The College’s greatest football triumph to that point, it propelled the Maroons to their first national championship, and the Rose received national attention for inventing the football helmet to
protect his ears.
Bob “Whitey” White ’64 was inspired by Lafayette’s long-ago football glory. He’s thinking of listing the years of the College’s national championships—1896, 1921, 1926—on a jacket he would wear during the historic 150th game. The message, he believes, would make his Lehigh friends maroon with envy.
On Saturday afternoon, Jeffrey Brown ’64, Victor Ferraris ’64, and other members of the class watched a home movie of the funeral of John F. Kennedy recorded by Tony Califano, their late friend. They traveled to attend the funeral, waiting all night to secure front-row spots along Pennsylvania Avenue.
Two ’89s honored the legacies of their ’64 fathers. While Jill Spiess Cutler enjoyed her 25th reunion, her dad, Harry Spiess, enjoyed his 50th. Tom Goslau videotaped a story of his dad playing center in the 100th Lafayette vs. Lehigh football game, for the Colleges’ “MyRivalry” website.
Saturday’s events included a celebration of the 10-year anniversary of Acopian Engineering Center and groundbreaking for the renovation of Delta Kappa Epsilon house.
