Making New Memories
Former Homecoming Steering Committee member reflects on Homecoming then and now.
Former Homecoming Steering Committee member Scott Ward (front row, second from left) reflects on Homecoming then and now. Ward will carry the Mizzou Alumni Association banner in the parade Saturday. Photo from the 1986 Savitar.
From Scott Ward’s first night pomping in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon basement in 1984, he was hooked on Homecoming. The following two years, Ward served on the Homecoming Steering Committee, spearheading the event’s first blood drive. His senior year, he was a top five Homecoming King candidate.
“There’s something different about Homecoming at Mizzou. It’s a magical time,” says Ward, BS BA, BS BA ’88, a financial investor and owner of Be Free Family Farm in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. “I learned more that helped me out later in life from those activities than from any of the classes I was in.”
During the live auction at the Tiger Ball in Kansas City, Missouri, in April, Ward won the Mizzou Homecoming Extravaganza package. The package includes accommodations for the weekend, tickets to the football game and the privilege of carrying the Mizzou Alumni Association banner in the parade.
“When I come back, it rekindles the spirit I felt as a student,” says Ward, who serves on the Trulaske College of Business Finance Advisory Board.
It’s also a chance for him to share his Mizzou experiences with his wife, Jennifer, and their children. “When I first brought Jennifer to Homecoming, she was sad. She didn’t go to Mizzou, so she was like, ‘Wow, this is amazing. I feel like I missed out.’ ”
So the Wards made traditions of their own. They always snap a photo with Beetle Bailey, swing by Booche’s for burgers and walk along the Katy Trail.
It’s too soon to say if his son, Ben, 9, or his daughter, Catherine, 10, will go to Mizzou, but Ward is sure of one thing: “They won’t go to KU.”
Scott Ward, far left in the patterned sweater, was one of the king candidates for the 1987 Homecoming. He poses with the other Homecoming royalty candidates. Photo courtesy of the Division of Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Books, University of Missouri.