Two home games, Spartan Family Weekend, parties, reunions, and the historic naming of Alumni House brought generations of Spartans together.
UNC Greensboro’s 2025 Homecoming celebration meandered through three days in October with more than 30 events, from traditional alumni and family gatherings to historic changes on campus, buttressed by a giant bonfire and feats of greatness on the athletic fields.
Homecoming is always a big deal at UNCG, but this year there was more… of everything.
THE FRIDAY Prelude
By 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning at the Recreation Field, UNCG Facilities staff had begun stacking castoff wooden pallets into a massive, round grill with the University’s acronym cut into the patinated sides. By the time they were finished, at least 110 pallets formed a concentric circle inside the grill with a couple more tented atop. The open spaces in their structure were mortared with three bales of hay. Under the mild autumn sunlight, the stack awaited its moment.
Halfway across campus, at the Elliott University Center’s Alexander Room, students with their parents, grandparents, and siblings enjoyed hors d’oeuvres. This year’s Spartan Family Weekend — an annual opportunity for families to visit their Spartans on campus — neatly coincided with Homecoming, giving the extended Spartan family a chance to experience the campus in all its glory.
Trustees, alumni, and staff gathered upstairs in the Cone Ballroom before the Alumni Awards, which honor generations of Spartans for “exceptional achievement and significant contributions to their profession, community, society, or University.”
This year, UNCG celebrated four honorees:
- Bobbi Osguthorpe ’83 received the Minerva Award for Distinguished Service. It recognized her career as a critical-care nurse and all the honors she has received since 1987; the same year she established the Barbara Osguthorpe Scholarship in Nursing.
- Jim Barnhill ’82, who created the campus’ beloved Minerva statue in 2002, earned the Professional Achievement Award.
- Marion Lois Prescott Wray ’56 took the WC Legacy Award for her work as a physical education teacher and coach. Retired in 1982, Wray was the first non-collegiate coach to win the NC Coach of the Year award in 1992 and afterward endowed the Marion Louise Prescott Wray Scholarship at UNCG.
- Lasse Palomaki ’16 ’18 was granted the Young Alumni Award in recognition of his many contributions to the Bryan School of Business and Economics, where he matriculated with an M.B.A. He currently serves as a lecturer, MBA Advisory Board member, and contributor to the Bryan Blueprint Series. He is also founder of The Strategic Student LLC, helping students approach college with confidence and strategy from admissions through grad school.
Alumni Leadership Board President Candace Martin ’10 delivered the toast before the ceremony in a moment infused with her own Spartan memories.
“While I was speaking, I remembered my own Homecoming experiences as an undergrad, and as an alumna at Homecoming,” she said. “The University’s focus is on service, so I wanted to uplift my board members and really applaud them.”
BIG DAY, BIG BAND
Later, at the UNCG Auditorium on Tate Street, acclaimed saxophonist, and School of Music faculty Chad Eby, resplendent in a casual black suit, took the stage to introduce the legendary Count Basie Orchestra, one of a slew of performances slated for Homecoming weekend. The audience included generations of jazz fans.
Eby, a lifelong fan of the big-band sound, admitted onstage that he stole The Atomic Mr. Basie album from his parents’ record collection before he left their Ohio home, and gestured to his mother, who sat in the audience.
“So, thank you, Mom, for having that record in your collection,” he said.
IT WAS FIRE
Meanwhile, a crowd had begun to gather on the Recreation Fields to see those wooden pallets set ablaze. Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. held court with Marcus T. Johnson, the new namesake of the Alumni House, SGA President Fox Brown, Palomaski, Martin, and an enthusiastic student bedecked in UNCG gear who was culled randomly from the crowd of several hundred. Together they lowered their torches to the kindling.
The flame caught slowly, but then quickly spread. As a column of smoke began to rise, Anita Howard ’07 reflected on her first Homecoming as an alumna.
“I’m here to network and run into people I went to school with,” said the former education major and current Guilford County schoolteacher. “And I see how this campus has grown and grown and grown. It didn’t look anything like this when I was a student here.”
And then the kindling caught. On the field, students and alumni formed into a grid and danced the Wobble, music supplied by TJ the DJ as the golden flames rose in a giant flicker against the midnight blue sky.
A stacked SATURDAY
Saturday starts early at UNCG Homecoming. This year, the Athletics Hall of Fame held its induction ceremony at 9 a.m. sharp at the EUC, where tennis player Orcun Seyrek ’12, Men’s Golf Head Coach Terrance Stewart, and the entire 1986 Men’s Soccer Team, which was the NCAA Division II runner-up that year, accepted their honors.
Downstairs, Angela McNair of Dunn, N.C. filled out a postcard to be sent to her daughter Kaylen, a first-year in the consumer, apparel, and retail studies program.
“I want her to know how proud I am that she’s come this far,” McNair said. “Those first few weeks of school, there were challenges adapting to living on her own. But she has overcome all of that. I’m grateful that the school has been here for her to meet her needs along the way.”
Back upstairs, Chancellor Gilliam shook a dozen hands upon entering the lobby of the EUC Auditorium to address the parents here for Spartan Family Weekend. Before taking the podium, he stopped to speak with a few parents he recognized.
“How’s he doing?” he asked Maria and Cedric Bright about their son Andrew. “He got that second math test out of the way?”
Mom Maria was impressed.
“Andrew didn’t do well on his first test,” she said. “Afterward, he got an email saying, ‘This is how you turn it around’ with some good advice on studying for tests. The support has been fantastic.”
The group at Spartan Family Weekend, said Makalah Brownridge, a graduate assistant with Student Affairs, is comprised of “parents, family, and the people students consider as family who have helped them on their journey.”
From the podium, Chancellor Gilliam spoke reassuringly to the first-year parents who assembled.
“Your students are probably still calling home pretty regularly,” he said. “That will end in a couple of weeks — they will find their tribe. We want our students to feel as if this is their home away from home.”
MEMORIES MADE AND CELEBRATED
A couple hours later, the Black Alumni Family Reunion took over the Residential Quad with tents, tables, trucks, and trailers selling wares, food, drinks, and information on the University’s most popular programs, such as nursing and education, while dozens stood in line to ride the mechanical bull.
“When I attended UNCG, the Black community here was a lot smaller,” said Ashley Peterson ’09. “It has grown exponentially.”
Nearby, across from the statue of its namesake, Minerva’s Mobile Health Unit provided free health screenings and flu shots.
On College Avenue, the Homecoming Royalty provided a focus for the Spartan Street Fest that sprawled along the avenue with information booths, merchandise sales, food trucks, and a bar fashioned from a small Airstream trailer. Mac Koffa, a dance major, and Kat Reyes, a kinesiology major, took home top honors before The Voltage Brothers band once again took the outdoor stage.
Later, as Marcus T. Johnson ’99 walked the thoroughfare on the way to the ceremony to be held in his honor, a cluster of women approached him with squints of recognition.
He recognized them as classmates from his time as an undergrad. “You still working on computers?” he asked one of them.
“I made the connection this morning,” Cynthia Goins ’87 said to him. “You were at Mt. Zion Church? I was there!”
Later, Goins said, “I wanted to come to Homecoming this year because this is where it all started for me.” She’s now a business coach and HR specialist who just published her first book, “Mastering the Queen’s Game,” advice on business leadership for women.
A HISTORIC FIRST
As a crowd gathered on College Avenue under arcs of blue, gold, and white balloons, Marcus T. Johnson executed a quick change before the ceremony in his honor began, swapping a sweatshirt with the UNCG seal for sharp business attire.
Johnson leveraged his UNCG degree to expanding his family’s business, the Johnson Automotive Group, one of the largest Black-owned dealership groups in the nation. He also followed the call to service by founding MJOnPurpose. Johnson’s historic gift will ensure that the Alumni House — now the Marcus T. Johnson Alumni House — remains a vital, welcoming space for alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends – a center for all in the University community.
His generosity extends beyond the walls of the house: It will expand opportunities for students at the Bryan School of Business and Economics, where he serves on the advisory board, and bolster the innovative Bryan Blueprint Series.
After mingling with guests, Chancellor Gilliam ascended to the podium to pay his tribute.
“This is the first building in the history of this University to be named after a person of color,” he proclaimed toloud cheers.
“Look at this crowd!” he said. “This is how America is supposed to be!”
Following a blast from the confetti cannons and the ringing of the UNCG Bell, Gilliam and Johnson revealed the new façade bearing Johnson’s name: The Marcus T. Johnson Alumni House, a moment for the ages.
Over in Foust Park, the Omega Psi Phi cookout extended the celebratory vibe as afternoon moved into evening.
LOVING THE PLAYERS AND THE GAMES
Homecoming 2025 included not just one home game, but two.
Inside Fleming Gymnasium, the women’s volleyball team scrabbled on the hardcourt against Eastern Tennessee State University in a five-set thriller. Despite tough play by Allie Sweet, who registered her 16thcareer double-double with 18 kills and 26 digs, and Gabby Seeds, who also booked a double-double with 40 assists and 12 digs, the Spartans fell 3-2.
Over at the UNCG Soccer Stadium, the men’s team, coming off a recent win against fifth-ranked High Point University, squared off against SoCon rival Wofford College in a display of Homecoming dominance. With 15 shots on goal compared to Wofford’s 1, the Spartans emerged victorious with a final score of 3-0.
Alumni from the famed 1986 squad, still riding the high off their induction into the UNCG Athletics Hall of Fame, cheered their Spartans from the dugout and enjoyed a halftime shout-out.
“It was a must three points,” said Head Coach Chris Rich “It was at home and during Homecoming, and it was important to put on a good show for the alumni that put their blood and sweat into this program.”
THE SUNDAY WIND-DOWN
Sunday, the final day of UNCG Homecoming 2025, manifested a chill vibe with brunches for Black Alumni and Spartan Family Weekend, and a special showing at the Weatherspoon Art Museum of an exhibit on loan from the Smithsonian.
Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice draws from more than 1,300 works the artist created during the Harlem Renaissance period, a patchwork of folk-art depicting moments in history and the oft-forgotten people behind them.
From the Weatherspoon description: “With Fighters for Freedom, Johnson reminds us that individual achievement and a commitment to social justice are at the heart of the American story.”
Like the American story itself, UNCG’s history is still being written, but Homecoming 2025 provided an exceptional chapter.
Story by Brian Clarey, University Communications.
Photography by Sean Norona, University Communications.
