Each fall, alumni return to Western’s campus to reconnect with friends and teammates, reminisce about old times and cheer on the Bronco team. The stamp on the Homecoming and Family Weekend activities is always the football game—thousands set up early to tailgate, and as they trickle into the stadium the crowd buzzes with the promise of a good game. The band plays, the opening package shows on the video board, the team enters the field and the crowd goes wild for their beloved Broncos!
Homecoming is a special time of year for the entire WMU community. This year, College of Education and Human Development student Thomas Delves and alumna Allison Frontczak (B.S.’13, Recreation) helped create that magical feeling of reunion through their work with WMU Athletics. Both Delves and Frontczak will graduate with their master’s degrees in sport management this semester.
Frontczak, assistant athletic director for special events, helps coordinate tailgates for companies and former sororities and fraternities, plans events as part of annual reunions to welcome back different athletic teams, and coordinates on-field recognitions during the game. Her favorite part of the weekend is the excitement the community has surrounding our student athletes and football. “It is great to see all the fun events and people coming together along with alumni returning to campus. I love hearing all their stories and how things have changed from when they attended school,” she says.
Delves came to Western in 2016 to work on the Western Michigan Athletics staff and is now the assistant athletic director for Bronco Productions. He and his team produce the experience of attending a football game from the way the game is announced, the graphics on the videoboard and the music pumping up the crowd. Through Delves’ on-the-job engagement with Dr. Jim Lewis, College of Education and Human Development associate professor of sport management, he decided to get his master’s degree in sport management. For Delves, Homecoming and Family Weekend is all about the alumni. Putting on a great show is his way of saying, “thanks for being here, and thanks for being an awesome alum!”
Thanks to Alison and Thomas for continuing the tradition of homecoming success!