Scots celebrate nostalgia, tradition and devotion at Maryville College Homecoming
When John McLeod (’86) first stepped onto the Maryville College campus back in 1982, he knew he’d found his people.
On Saturday, just as he’s done every year since that arrival, he came back to the place that continues to mean so much, pitching a tent on Victory Hill and watching the same football team he once played for dominate a Homecoming win over Methodist University, 48-6. As the Scots ground out the third quarter, McLeod stood on the other side of the fence separating tailgaters from the stadium, marveling at the pull of something so sacred that he’s unable to find words to describe it.
“I don’t want to try and explain it,” he said, nostalgia as ever-present as the smoke from dozens of grills in the tents around and beside him. “It’s just special, and we love it. When I showed up here, I met more people like me than I’d ever seen before. That was back in 1982, and I’ve been coming to Homecoming ever since.”
As the sun rose on College Hill Saturday morning, McLeod’s fellow Scots joined him in a return to the alma mater they love so much. It’s impossible to properly convey the sense of connection so many of them have to this place, but for those who didn’t earn a degree from Maryville College, it’s a humbling and inspiring thing to be a part of all the same.
“There’s nothing like Homecoming at Maryville College,” said Dr. Bryan Coker, the school’s 12th president and himself a veteran educator and administrator at a number of institutions across the country. “The crowd, the spirit, the community, the reunions that you watch … it just says something about the heart of this place and the fabric of it. That we’ve been here 205 years, and we have so many people who feel connected to this place … it’s like nothing I’ve seen anywhere else.”
Coker was almost as omnipresent as the orange and garnet colors that painted the campus this weekend. He and his wife, Sara, took part in the annual Homecoming parade, led Basset hound Dolly through the Scot-Land children’s area, strolled alongside the football team during the traditional Scots Walk, and presided over the President’s Tent inside Lloyd L. Thornton Stadium, just a short distance from McLeod and others who choose to participate on the other side of the gates.
Among them were a number of first-time Homecoming attendees, including Jo Edmondson, the father of wide receiver and kick returner Erozinis “Roro” Edmondson (’27).
“They know how to do Homecoming here,” Edmondson said as he checked the grill beneath his own tailgating tent. “We’re having a great time, and we’ve met some nice people. It’s just a nice vibe, a real cool family vibe, this won’t be our last. We want to come back and set up every year.”
For those who attend Homecoming, once is all it takes. To witness a campus swarming with people, to watch the impromptu reunions of old friends who cry out with delight and wrap one another in a fierce embrace … from the wide-eyed wonder of kids standing parade-side, stuffing pockets full of candy tossed from Homecoming Parade participants to the repetition by the MC Pep Band of “On Highlanders,” the school’s fight song … from the shoppers exiting the Alvin C. Baker (’72)Harvest Craft Fair with more bags than they can rightly carry to the student organizations like the MC3D Printing Club and its orange-and-garnet Mandalorian helmet on a display table in Bartlett Hall … there’s an energy to a Maryville College Homecoming that’s equal parts nostalgia and delight, and even late-afternoon rain showers couldn’t dampen the spirits of those who took part.
“This is our second year, and last year we had such an absolutely amazing time that we couldn’t wait to get back here,” said Tameika Hampton, the mother of Jaden Marlin (’27), who plays tight end for the Scots. “We drove all the way up from Atlanta to make sure our babies hit that field and make it happen for Gwinnett!”
Marlin is a graduate of Central Gwinnett High School in Atlanta. Like so many players at the NCAA Division III level, a continued football career in the NFL is unlikely for most save for a rare few, which makes Homecoming games at the schools where they’ll hang up pads after graduation as big a game as any they’ll play. That atmosphere is due, in large part, to the families who set up along the fence line and turn a Maryville College Homecoming into the biggest event of the season.
“Just being in this atmosphere at this school and meeting all of these beautiful people and cheering on these beautiful boys on this beautiful campus, it’s just second to none,” said Alisha Kelly, the mother of defensive lineman Jordan Lacey (’25). “We love it.”
“This is our third year coming up for Homecoming, but we come to every home game,” added Jeremiah Rice, the father of defensive lineman Ashton Rice (’26). “You make friends with the other people tailgating, and if they need something, you give it. If you need something, they give it. It’s just everything — the camaraderie, the family, the lovely scenic views.”
For Scots like McLeod, however, it’s everything … and then some. Watching the players touch the helmet just outside the north end zone as they enter the field is déjà vu for former Scots tight end Logan Winders (’17), and to gather with his former teammates to cheer on a new generation of players is the reason he returns to campus every Homecoming. For others, however, their connection dates back even further than that.
“My father went here, and my dad brought me to football games over here since I was old enough to walk,” said John Morgan, the owner of Broadway Barber Shop in Maryville who attended MC himself in the mid-1990s. “He played football here after the Korean War, and a lot of those guys went on to be educators around here who taught me when I was in school. Coming back and seeing those guys that helped shape and mold your life means a lot to me.”
For others, returning home helps reestablish bearings that were forged in the heart of a liberal arts furnace, the fires from the idea behind studying everything to prepare for anything still burning brightly all these years later.
“Coming back to Maryville College for Homecoming helps to reestablish the very rudiments, the barometers, the structures that were provided to me then, and now help me as a proud alumni to navigate any platform that I’m blessed to navigate,” said Dr. Joe Fitzgerald (’05).
And for others still, it’s a portal back to a place when the world seemed full of endless possibilities, and the knowledge obtained on the Maryville College campus seemed like the skeleton key for unlocking dreams. In that place where memories are treasured, Maryville College is timeless, and Homecoming allows those who feel such deep and abiding connections to return there, even if it’s for a single weekend.
“I live in Hawaii now, so getting back is a little more challenging. It’s been about eight years since I’ve been back … and my heart is just so full right now,” said Mikey Rickman (’04), the president of his graduating class who found that tears … of joy, of nostalgia, of the place where so many friendships were forged and memories were created … were just beneath the surface all weekend.
“This is just phenomenal. This 100% feels like home,” Rickman added. “Like, I walked onto campus, and the energy was just here, and it came flooding back. I got emotional (on Friday) at the Founder’s Day Showcase, and I’ve been emotional throughout the day, just because of all of the memories and seeing my favorite people and seeing my favorite professors from back in the day.
“And it’s been like I haven’t missed a beat. I can’t describe how wonderful it’s been.”