Friday, November 1, 2024
2024 Homecoming Edition
Transforming tradition The student sacrifices behind Homecoming BY BELLA CASEY
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to OSU, but he was never able to make it. His freshman year, it was love at first Walkaround. “Once I got fully immersed in it (Homecoming) and got to see what omecoming all goes into it, (you’ve) got pomp Executive Direcand working the yard, and just kind tor Brayden Smith of fell in love with the whole process never had a sneak and the atmosphere and just camapeek of Homecomraderie that goes with it,” Smith said. ing before coming to OSU, though “And so (I) kind of wanted to take he could have. that a step further.” A family friend from church inSmith joined a Homecoming steervited Smith to Homecoming muling committee for house decs for his tiple times before he began attending
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sophomore year Homecoming and joined the executive board for his junior year Homecoming. He was barely finished with his junior year Homecoming when he was selected to serve as Homecoming Executive Director for 2024. He spent almost a full year planning Homecoming 2023 festivities, too, and did the same for 2022.
This year, Smith put hundreds of hours into planning, many of them spent helping Greek life pairings prepare their decs. He and his executive team review each pairing’s Homecoming dec plans and preferences to ensure each design is unique, and they know what the decs look like before the first student puts tissue paper to chicken wire. Smith and his executive committee formed the Homecoming theme in the spring, and they reviewed and approved each pairing’s pomp designs.
See TRADITION on page 7A
‘Collegiate hoopla’
Stillwater residents brace for ‘America’s Greatest Homecoming’ KENNEDY THOMASON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @_KENNEDYPAGE
Payton Little Worker mopping the floor at the DuPree’s Sports & Screenprinting in Stillwater.
Alumni build business in Stillwater
Wes Watkins has been in almost every Homecoming parade since 1956. He’s missed only one. The former U.S. House of Representatives member has celebrated Homecoming since he first walked in the parade as a member of the Air Force drill team. He has sported a donkey head,
before he switched parties to Republican, and ridden in many cars, leading the “O-S-U” chant to passersby. Although Watkins has seen OSU change over the decades, he said the feeling of Homecoming never has. “I feel, like most students, I don’t worry about studying, I used to always have to worry about the studies,” Watkins said. “Now, you don’t even worry about that, you just have a good time and join all the others that are coming into town.”
See COLLEGIATE on page 7A
HAYDEN ALEXANDER NEWS & LIFESTYLE EDITOR
adorned in OSU crewnecks, ready to cheer on the Cowboys. OSU alumnus Jeff Watkins and his brother, Chad Watkins, took over the store in 1998, 16 years after Watkins’ parents bought the store from the It’s Homecoming, and thousands of original owner, and former Cowboy alumni are traveling across state lines, football player, Gordon Dupree. but some simply walk out their door. For Watkins, taking over the family Students typically attend OSU for business meant staying close to home. four years, graduate and race out of “Being in Stillwater was important town to start their new lives; others to us,” Watkins said. “My brother and stay and build their futures in StillwaI have lived here for most of our lives. ter. It’s a pretty good-sized town, but if you Take a walk down the famous, or take the college kids out of the equainfamous for some, Washington Street tion, it’s a pretty small community.” a.k.a. The Strip, and you’ll discover Family is a common theme in Stilla family-owned and alumni-owned water, and down the street from Dubusiness, DuPree’s Sports & Screen Pree’s on Knoblock Street, sits another Printing. family owned shop and OSU classic, The store is a staple of OSU and For Pete’s Sake. is recognizable by its iconic ducks
See ALUMNI on page 6A
Bryson Thadhani The annual Sea of Orange Parade is a community favorite.