Round About
Carol Thobae/ KANSAN
The Wagon Wheel Cafe is a popular bar for alumni to return to. The walls and ceilings are covered in magic marker names and sayings from years past.
Alumni return to visit old stomping grounds
STUDENTS HEADED TO THEIR FAVORITE HANG out on homecoming weekend should look out. They may run into their parents or their friends reliving their college years at their old haunts.
The music on the jukebox may have changed and the bartender's faces aren't familiar any more, but the Wagon Wheel Cafe still feels like home to many alumni.
"My name is still in several places around the Wheel," said Judy Rapp, Wichita, and a member of the class of 70.
The Wheel is crammed with KU memorabilia. Every wall is covered with signatures of past and present students. Above the bar hangs a sign that reads, "Welcome KU Alumni."
One of Rapp's best memories at the Wheel was when her pledge class reunited there for Kappa's Centennial, 15 years ago. Rapp said that she and her friends gathered to reminisce about their time at KU.
The Wheel's popularity has spanned several generations at KU, and many alumni find it just as they left it.
The Wheel isn't the only reason that alumni return to campus.
"It seems like we still belong, like we haven't aged at all," said Diane Robe, Wichita, and member of the class of 72.
"The atmosphere and memories at KU keep me coming back," said Dee Dillon, Hutchinson, and member of the class of 1972. She enjoys returning to football games at Memorial Stadium and seeing old friends in the fall.
Larry and Valerie Spikes, Wichita, like to return each fall for tailgating parties and to
visit the Delta Upsilon and Delta Gamma houses where they lived during their college years.
"It was a funny feeling to return to the house after I had been out of graduate school a few years." Valerie Spikes said. "I realized I didn't know any of the girls anymore, and they didn't know me either. It was strange to walk through the door and be called 'ma'am.'"
The Spikes' daughter, Kirsten, Wichita freshman, provides a new reason for the family to continue their visits to Lawrence.
"It is so exciting to see the family generations that exist at KU. It is a nostalgic place," Valerie Spikes said.
Although most stores the alumni used to shop at in the late '60s and '70s, such as Hodgepodge, Primarily Leather and The Jay Shop, are new stores, the faithful still return to Massachusetts Street to shop.
"Even though most of the stores I remember are gone, I still enjoy downtown," Dillon said. Now Dillon takes her children shopping when they come into town. They visit new favorite stores such as Natural Way and Waxman Candles.
Joe's Bakery is one place that both students and alumni love to visit. Last year at Kappa Mom's Weekend, Rapp made a late evening run to Joe's after a night out with her daughter.
"She wouldn't even tell me she had gone there until the next morning, and even then another mom had to tell me," her daughter Maggie, Wichita sophomore, said.
—BY ALLISON ARBUCKLE
~ Hill • October 11, 1995
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