Oct. 11, 2002
Bowling Green, Ky. - Homecoming 2002 - Once Upon a Hill - will be celebrated on the Western Kentucky University campus the week of Oct. 21-27 and among the special guests for the annual autumn activity will be the members of the 1952 Hilltopper Football Team.
WKU and the '52 Toppers will celebrate the golden anniversary of one of the greatest of the many great football teams to represent Western through the years. The '52 Toppers finished that season 9-1, complete with both an Ohio Valley Conference championship and a victory in the school's first-ever postseason appearance - 34-19 over Arkansas State in the Refrigerator Bowl in Evansville.
The 24 members of the Toppers who are expected to take part in Homecoming festivities will have a busy weekend.
First, there's the annual Homecoming parade (5:30 p.m., Friday) which will feature the '52 Toppers as grand marshals. Then, the team will have its 50-year reunion dinner at the Craig Alumni Center on campus followed by a visit to the annual Homecoming Pep Rally - Big Red's Roar - set for 7:30 p.m. (CDT) at Old Western Stadium (now the amphitheater of the Ivan Wilson Center for Fine Arts near the top of the Hill).
Then, Saturday's activities begin with a visit to the Kentucky Museum at 9:30 a.m. to see the U.S. Bank Bill "Whitey" Sanders Comic Opera exhibit. Sanders, a member of the '52 Toppers, was a Pulitizer Prize-winning political cartoonist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A member of the University's Hall of Distinguished Alumni, Sanders is retired and living in Florida. That exhibit is slated to open Tuesday, Oct. 22,
From the exhibit, the '52 club moves on to the annual "W" Club brunch, which is set to begin at 11 a.m., at the Carroll Knicely Institute for Economic Development on the University's South Campus on Nashville Road. In addition, the annual lettermen's Homecoming function will feature the induction of two former Hilltopper athletes - track and cross-country star Sean Dollman (1989-92) and football standout Gene McFadden (1950-53) - in the University's Athletic Hall of Fame.
Finally, fans will get a chance to welcome the 1952 Toppers in ceremonies during the Homecoming Football Game that afternoon. Coach Jack Harbaugh's Hilltoppers take on Gateway Football Conference foe Indiana State at 4:30 at L.T. Smith Stadium / Jimmy Feix Field.
Members of the 1952 team expected to be on hand include: Walt Apperson (Murray), Bobby Bilyeu (Bowling Green), student coach Bob Eimer (Beaver Creek), Jimmy Feix (Bowling Green), Joe Goodman (Louisville), Jimmy Hale (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Guy Newcom (Jeffersonville, Ind.), Ray Nutter (Bowling Green), Arnie Oaken (Louisville), Tom Paterson (Ashland), Jerry Passafiume (Louisville), Bill Ploumis (New Rochelle, N.Y.), co-captain Willard Price (Louisville), William "Whitey" Sanders (Ft. Myers, Fla.), George Sauer (Louisville), Cecil Schirtzinger (Tell City, Ind.), Robert "Bubber" Simpson (Bowling Green), Don Sparks (Jackson, Tenn.), Max Stevens (Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.), Elliott "Buddy" Sydnor (Fernandina Beach, Fla.), Jack Theuerkauf (Evansville, Ind.), co-captain Willie Watson (Fernandina Beach, Fla.) and Ed Worley (Marrow, Ga.).
