The 1960 homecoming parade wound through downtown Milwaukee on Wisconsin Avenue, a celebration of a relatively new institution called the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In one of the open-air cars was the school\u2019s student body president, 21-year-old Wayne Youngquist. A car in front of him held Milwaukee\u2019s newly elected mayor, 42-year-old Henry Maier.<\/p>\n
People lined the street, cheering the procession of cars, floats and marching bands, creating exactly the scene that Youngquist had envisioned while planning the festivities with fellow students. There had been other homecoming parades, but this one focused on a unified UWM. Rallying everyone around a common goal was no small achievement for a student body composed of so many disparate commuters, and for a campus still finding itself after the merging of its former component schools, the Wisconsin State College and the UW Milwaukee Extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was an identity issue,\u201d recalls Youngquist, who\u2019s now 77 and still lives in Milwaukee. \u201cAnything you could do to enhance school spirit was a good thing.\u201d It was a time to build memories.<\/p>\n
Today, UWM\u2019s identity is stronger than ever, and it\u2019s being celebrated with a fresh commitment to homecoming festivities. From Oct. 4 to 8, some 20 activities will bring students and alumni together in the name of Panther Pride. It starts with the Homecoming Kickoff noon-1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, at the Union Concourse, and it wraps up with UWM\u2019s women\u2019s soccer game against Oakland University, 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at Engelmann Stadium. Other highlights include the Homecoming Concert, the Annual Alumni Awards Evening and the 12th annual Panther Prowl.<\/p>\n
Youngquist was part of UWM\u2019s second full graduating class in 1961, which launched his dual careers as a college professor and a political analyst for Milwaukee TV station WISN Channel 12. In his wake, other students carried on the homecoming traditions. But the dissolution of UWM\u2019s football team, which played its final down in 1974, contributed to homecoming\u2019s fade from campus.<\/p>\n
So when Youngquist heard that UWM was reviving homecoming, he loved the idea. \u201cThere are always going to be some people who self-engage,\u201d he says. \u201cBut there are others who are on the fence. This is a doorway for them to come in and be involved, to add to that identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than half a century after that homecoming parade, Youngquist can still see the crowds and hear their excitement. He even remembers a moment after he and Maier had exited their cars and the cheers grew louder. Maier, ever the pragmatic politician, leaned over to his student companion. \u201cThey\u2019re all on my side now,\u201d he told Youngquist, \u201cbut when are they gonna turn?\u201d Not for a while, apparently, because Maier held the mayoral office for 28 years.<\/p>\n
Those memories mingle with others for Youngquist \u2013 his classes, his days on the UWM track team under coach John Tierney, the old Union office he used as student body president. \u201cNow,\u201d he laughs, \u201cit\u2019s a broom closet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taken together, each little experience helped form the foundation of the man he became. \u201cIt was a fun time,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had a ball, and perhaps did some good for the university.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wayne Youngquist, one of the main architects of UWM’s 1960 homecoming festivities, reflects on what it meant to an institution in its formative years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2985,"featured_media":38524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[125,122],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167],"class_list":["post-38522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-alumni","section-campus-community","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association"],"yoast_head":"\n