BY BETSY MINER-SWARTZ, ’86
MORE THAN 8,000 CMU GRADS, EMPLOYEES, FANS AND STUDENTS TAKE THEIR CENTRAL PRIDE ON THE ROAD IN MICHIGAN WITH LICENSE PLATES SPORTING THE UNIVERSITY’S ICONIC ACTION C EMBLEM.
The university plates are just one more way for Michigan residents to wear their colors: “The ability to promote that in a simple way speaks volumes,” Senyko said.
That’s the third highest number of custom college plates, behind Michigan State University (54,430) and the University of Michigan (33,552). And – an important point of MAC pride – CMU’s plate total ranks above Western Michigan by more than 1,100.
It’s personalized with the letters OWAHH, the traditional chant preceding CHIP-OO-WA. “Mine isn’t spelled correctly because the state wouldn’t let me get OOWAH, says Saunders, whose husband, Jack, ’60, M.A. ’65, was director of CMU’s marching band from 1979 until 2000.
License plates for each of Michigan’s 15 state-funded universities were first made available 15 years ago to raise money for the schools. There are more than 126,000 on the roads today, and they’re as popular as ever, says Mike Senyko, chief of staff for Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. “We attribute that to the fact that so many people are proud of their school,’’ he says. “And you’re beating Western!”
Rosemary Saunders of Mount Pleasant has hers.
“I’m always looking at license plates for that Action C, and when I see one outside of Mount Pleasant I always give them a little honk,” she said. Who knows, she might have seen Ben Franas, ’70, M.A. ’76, tooling around town with his CMU plate CHIP70. He lives in Dearborn but drives north to campus 30 or 40 times a year for events and games. For Franas, the plate is just one more layer of maroon and gold. “I’ve got Central everything – clothes, hats, stickers on the car,” he said. “My plate just lets me amp it up a notch.” •
Ben Franas, ’70, M.A. ’76
UNIVERSITY LICENSE PLATES ON MICHIGAN ROADS Michigan State University: 54,430 University of Michigan: 33,552 Central Michigan University: 8,002 Western Michigan University: 6,822 Ferris State University: 4,165 Michigan Technological University: 4,066 Grand Valley State University: 3,776 Wayne State University: 2,740 Eastern Michigan University: 2,705 Oakland University: 2,218 Northern Michigan University: 1,840 Lake Superior State University: 1,560 University of Michigan Dearborn: 827 Saginaw Valley State University: 818 University of Michigan Flint: 666
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