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HOMECOMING 2014 PAGE 5
Alumni share favorite memories, current traditions
AMBER VANDEGRIFT
@Kansannews
Alumni Michael Goff and Jeff Underwood have not been to every KU Homecoming, but they have been to enough that both of them have memories that go back for years.
Goff, a 1976 graduate, currently is the president of Premiere Sports in Overland Park. Underwood, a 1984 graduate, works in IT at CORE Cashless in Lenexa. Both of these alumni make it a goal to come back for Homecoming every year.
Underwood said he has been playing euphonium, a brass horn, in the KU Alumni Band for at least 20 years. This year is the Alumni Band's 40th anniversary, and the band
"I made a lot of great friendships and met a lot of people through marching band, and I was a big band guy. A lot of those same folks come back to play, and it's just a great time," Underwood said. "It's great to dust off the horn after it sits for a year and get out and play and have a good 'ol time."
see old friends.
"I just remember at halftime that they kind of had all this hooplah, and they rolled out a big egg, and you're kind of wondering what the heck's going on, and the egg cracks, and Baby Jay pops out," Goff said. "Now, of course ... everybody thinks there's two jay-
Goff said one of his favorite Homecoming memories was when Baby Jay was revealed for the first time at the game in 1971.
Homecoming is just the one game on the football schedule that we always point to and say. OK, that's the one we absolutely have to all attend..."
will play at the Homecoming game and parade.
MICHAEL GOFF 1976 KU graduate
"Honestly, I come back every year for Homecoming," Underwood said. "I live in Lawrence now — we just moved back a few years ago after being gone for 26 years
and I would make the trip up every year, and the main reason I came back was to play in the Alumni Band."
Goff said this is the third year he will be coming back to Homecoming for Jayhawk Generations, but even before he was participating in the event, he still came back for Homecomings yearly.
Goff said he and his wife have two children and a son-in-law, so it can be difficult to get everyone together for a football game.
"Homecoming is just the one game on the football schedule that we always point to and say, 'OK, that's the one we absolutely have to all attend and tailgate together and be there together,'" Goff said.
"I'm already a season ticket holder, but I love Homecoming because that's probably the one weekend of the year that I make sure ... that it's clear on the calendar, and that I can come back," Goff said. "My wife is a KU alum and my kids are KU alum, so it's really a family ... opportunity to get back to Lawrence and to the campus."
hawks, well at one time, there wasn't. There was just the big one. So, it was just fun, it was just really memorable."
Underwood said Homecoming is a time for him to play in the Alumni Band and
Goff said the game was already exceptional because quarterback David
Jaynes was leading Kansas to a victory against Kansas State, but witnessing Baby Jay being revealed for the first time was significant for him.
Underwood said one of his favorite Homecoming memories involved a float he built with his fraternity when he was a student. He said the fraternities and sororites each teamed up to create floats to be judged in a contest.
"It certainly was an expansion on the whole idea of the Jayhawk as the school's mascot," Goff said. "That was I think the year before I actually became a student, and so part of that memory was just that it kind of affirmed to me why KU was the place I wanted to go."
"I seem to remember most of the time, we didn't build floats that actually moved. I remember succinctly building a float in the front yard." Underwood said. "I can't exactly remember what the float exactly looked like, but it had a fire-breathing dragon as part of it, and we ran it pretty much most of the night. I remember my extent: I was actually the smoke for the fire breathing dragon, I had a fire extinguisher up in there, and ... I got inside the float and actually provided the effect."
his fraternity.
Underwood is now the advisor for the Delta Chi fraternity, and he is looking forward to seeing how their float turns out. Goff had a similar experience his freshman year with
"There was a cyclone or a tornado involved, and for some reason I had to sort of lay in the re-creation of Memorial Stadium. So we built a kind of small mini stadium, and I actually had to... lay inside and turn on a switch when something was supposed to happen on the display, and at the time it seemed like really a fun thing to do, but after about a half hour of laying on your back it got to be kind of tiresome," Goff said.
The University has changed since Goff and Underwood were students, but they are glad some things have stayed the same. Underwood said he is glad the University revived Hoch Auditorium because he was there when the building caught fire.
"I happened to be visiting the day that it burned down, and I was really afraid [the University] was going to just tear the whole thing down, but [it] did keep the front facade and then rebuilt the back end of it, so that was nice," Underwood said.
Underwood bought a brick from the building when they were sold as a fundraiser. He played concerts in the building when he was in band as a student and he is happy to see it is still on campus.
Goff said he is glad the University's campus is still as beautiful as it was when he was a student.
"I'm glad that you know no matter what, you're going to come back to this pristine campus with buildings that have been there, you know, longer than most of us have lived. There's so many memories and stories in those buildings and on those sidewalks." Goff said. "I know that there are certainly improvements being made to Jayhawk Boulevard and whatnot ... but to me it's just the fact that the campus was gorgeous 50 years ago, and it's going to be gorgeous on Sept. 27. You do truly feel like you're coming back home because of the quality time that all of us spent there."
Goff and Underwood are both looking forward to different aspects of Homecoming. Underwood said he is looking forward to the parade on Massachusetts Street and Goff is looking forward to the game. Goff would love the Jayhawks to win against Texas, but he always loves spending time at Memorial Stadium.
"For me there is no better place to spend a fall afternoon than on the hill in Lawrence," Goff said. "It's just a beautiful place."
Edited by Drew Parks
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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
University of Kansas alumnus Jeff Underwood has been playing the euphonium in the KU Alumni Band for the past 20 years. This year is the Alumni Band's 40th anniversary.
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