Spirit and camaraderie ran high at this year’s Homecoming, as alumni, friends and family members streamed onto the Newark campus beginning Friday evening, Oct. 13, to attend reunion and other special events and to gear up for Saturday’s football game in which the Blue Hens defeated Hofstra University.

“More than 80 members of the Class of 1956 returned for their 50th reunion celebrations,” Sharon Dorr, director of alumni and University relations, says. She estimates that about 400 alumni visited Reunion Row outside the stadium on Saturday, and more than 500 guests attended the Homecoming reception for donors and the Class of 1956 at the Center for the Arts on Friday night.

In a typical display of UD spirit, many alumni also participated in the numerous activities held all weekend, Dorr adds, from attending UD’s Professional Theatre Training Program’s performance of Peter Pan to cheering on the men’s soccer team in a Sunday game against Georgia State.

Good showings from affinity alumni groups on Reunion Row included members of UD’s Black Alumni Organization and Honors Program, as well as College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy alumni, physical therapy alumni, spirit alumni (which included alumni marching band members, cheerleaders, dance team members, mascots, Blue Hen Ambassadors and Ag Ambassadors), former UD baseball players and members of the classes of 1961, 1976, 1986 and 1991.

To see more of Homecoming, photos of returning alumni are featured in the Class Notes section of this Messenger, and information about special honors presented during Homecoming weekend appears in the Alumni News section.