History is returning to M.A.C. Center Hallways during Homecoming week

There is obviously quite a bit going on this week here on campus as Kent State University preps for Homecoming.

Playing Army on Saturday should make the day all the more special for many of us. I have a special place in my heart for football at the military academies. Watching the Army-Navy game with my dad became a tradition in my house. My dad was in the Air Force during World War II. His brother was in the Navy during the war, so he usually rooted for Navy.

I would have loved to have been able to take him with me to see his alma mater, Kent State, when we played at Army and Navy during the last decade. 

There’s more to just the game for football fans who have an interest in the military. The National Guard will have two Humvees on site. 

We are going to do a few new things this week to thank our students for coming out to Dix Stadium on Saturday, including giving away Chick Fil A sandwiches to the first 500 students through the gates. We’ll also have a tennis-ball toss with one lucky student winning $1,000 and others taking home several other prizes, like a gift certificate to the Kent State Bookstore.

Whether you are coming to campus for the game, the parade, the 9 a.m. dedication of the new Dave and Peggy Edmonds Baseball and Softball Training Facility, or any of the day’s other events, consider stopping by the M.A.C. Center to get a look at the new display of Kent State’s Athletic History that is being assembled in the hallways. 

There are a few tweaks going on with the project at the moment, but it is close to completion. We’ve had a few issues to fix … a couple of misspellings (for example, “The Fortune Cookie” is the movie 1966 movie with Jack Lemmon that used Kent State football players as extras … not the “Forune Cookie”). We’ve also had a few of panels crack due to expansion of the metal that hinges the pictures to the wall. But all of those are being fixed. 

Even while those problems are being fixed, fans will have a chance to see some of the old photos that you have missed since the old panels were removed from the hallways last year. 

I have included a few photos of the current state of the project to give you a feel of what is going up at the M.A.C. Center. Hopefully you will all like it.