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From the College's food service provider, Bon Appetit, to the hundreds of people who joined us for lunch and on through a five-hour football game, we hung together and celebrated as the sun set over Hollett Stadium at game's end.
To read about how the good guys came through on the gridiron, flip to the sports section. This space is reserved for thanks to all those people who came out, waited through two weather delays, and helped sing "Old Wabash" after the Little Giants' 27-20 win over Kalamazoo.
Best of all, we got the Turnover Hunger program off to a great start. Just before the first rain delay, members of the Sphinx Club were busy moving an entire pick-up truck full of food into storage. Later, the Little Giant football team will join the Sphinx Club in hauling the food to the FISH Food Pantry.
We asked you to bring a canned good. You emptied your cupboards and cabinets to show your support for the Little Giants' effort to stamp out hunger in our community.
The lunch on the mall was great, too. The parents of the Kalamazoo football players were invited to join—even if only for a few hours—our community at the picnic. I overheard a few of them talking about what a lovely town Crawfordsville is, how beautiful the campus looked, and how gracious we were to allow them to join the picnic. One parent said he wished he had known that we were collecting food at the gates; he would have brought some, too.
It was an amazing way to start our school year together—friends and neighbors, Wabash students and alumni, and parents all coming together on a nearly perfect Saturday afternoon.
And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of lightning in the distance. I silently prayed that the field officials hadn't seen it. They did, and the game was temporarily delayed. About an hour later the players emerged and the game started, and I remember saying to the alumni on the sideline how shocked I was that so many people came back.
About eight plays later, another flash of lightning. Another delay. And you came back a third time, even though Wabash was trailing on the scoreboard.
Together we cheered as momentum shifted back and forth. Kalamazoo seemed to have the upper hand after the second break. But we cheered and chanted and the team responded.
As I nervously waited during a Wabash time out with the game on the line and the ball at the one-yard line, I looked around the sideline. Sure, it was mostly Wabash fans, but a good many friends and neighbors from Crawfordsville.
Jake Knott slipped into the end zone and a few minutes later we were talking to one another about a five-hour game that most of us would never forget.
Coach Chris Creighton said to his tired troops after the game that the players had learned an entire life's lessons that day.
And as I think back on it, I sort of think we all did. The food, the fellowship, and the final score made it a great start to the year.
Thanks for joining us. Hope to see you back at the Stadium on October 5 when we celebrate Homecoming. And don't forget the canned goods!