By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
FHSU University Relations and Marketing

Arris Johnson stopped in his tracks, looked up at the large murals above him and smiled.

“Seeing those brings back a lot of memories,” said Johnson, a Fort Hays State University graduate and retired professor from his alma mater.

That’s what homecomings are for, recalling memories for alumni ranging from graduates from the era of the 94-year-old Johnson, who began his career at FHSU when he enrolled there in 1939, to those who received their diploma just last spring.

That’s why the FHSU Alumni Association, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, chose Homecoming 2016 as its venue to unveil the fourth in a six-part series of historical murals in the Memorial Union.

The murals, the work of FHSU’s Joel Dugan, assistant professor of painting in the Department of Art and Design, are appropriately named “The Journey.”

“The last one hundred years have been a journey,” FHSU President Mirta M. Martin said at Friday morning’s ceremony. “That journey is going to take us into the next hundred years.”

The first three murals, unveiled this past summer, represent places, Dugan explained. “These next three are about the people,” he said.

The latest mural is an image depicting students forging their legacy by hand carving the seal of the university atop a hill on the west end of campus. The last two murals will be revealed next summer.

Friday, people stood around long after the mural unveiling to reminisce.

“What a great opportunity for each of us to come here and share in those memories and history,” said Mitch Hall, a cattle rancher from Harper who graduated in 2005 and now serves as president of the alumni board.

“Each one of us has some unique opportunities and experiences over the last century we have shared,” Hall said. “Throughout our history, this institution has continued to bring good people together to find ways to make good things happen. Now, we’re going to continue that. That’s why we’re all here; we have a deep-seated love for this university.”

The alumni association has come a long way since its start. But, says current executive director Debra Prideaux, the organization’s mission remains the same.

“Our main mission years ago and today is to serve and engage the Tiger alumni,” said Prideaux, a Tiger alum herself. “We’re very excited that the association has been able to maintain ties to this great university and to strengthen friendships across the world.”

While the alumni association has been recognizing its centennial all year, the celebration promised to reach a peak at the past weekend’s homecoming when hundreds of alumni came back to campus for homecoming festivities.

The alumni association as it is known today was founded in the late 1920s by Nita Landrum, whose husband had come to Hays to teach history at the Kansas State Teachers College of Hays. Her husband died eight years later, but Nita Landrum stayed in Hays to raise her two young daughters.

Nita Landrum worked in several capacities on campus and was appointed executive director of the alumni association by President William A. Lewis in 1924. The basement of her home was first used as an office for the association before it moved to campus in 1928.

Now, there are more than 63,000 graduates in the FHSU Alumni Association’s database.

Coincidentally, this year’s homecoming activities began during the same week that the Kansas Board of Regents announced that FHSU, with its all-time high enrollment of 14,658, has become the third-largest university in Kansas.

“A very influential person in my life told me to come to Fort Hays State, that it was probably the best kept secret in the state of Kansas,” said Hall, who served two terms as student body president during his undergraduate days at FHSU. “I called him last week and told him ‘I think the secret’s out.’ ”

Keeping up with this historical growth is an ongoing challenge, but a welcome one, Prideaux said.

“As that Tiger base continues to change, we also have to continue to assess the needs of the Tiger community and adapt to changing lifestyles,” she said.

Prideaux said she and her staff believe in the same philosophy as the alumni association did back in the early days.

“They made arrangements for homecoming and the annual commencement dinner. They had a quarterly publication for alumni news and celebrated class reunions. They were engaged with the alumni audience,” she said. “Now, we look forward to the next 100 years as we begin a future full of new beginnings, which will commence immediately in 2017.”

In addition to serving as the official record keeper of FHSU graduates — all throughout the United States and 75 foreign countries — the alumni association sponsors numerous events, offers a variety of scholarships, keeps alumni up to date with both written and electronic communication and sets up reunions at homecoming.

There are several new programs on the horizon, Prideaux said, including the Tiger Mentorship program that kicked off last weekend. Alumni will meet FHSU students and act as mentors for them throughout their college careers.

“In the early years, it was the importance of that connection to the university that holds today,” Prideaux said. “We have a very strong engagement with our alumni base, and we look to strengthen those relationships and the friends at homecoming.”

Seven alumni were honored with awards given out at homecoming. Among those will be the Nita M. Landrum Award for alumni or friends who have provided sustained volunteer service for the betterment of the alumni association or FHSU.

“What an honor,” said Dennis Spratt from Lawrence, a 1971 graduate and this year’s Nita M. Landrum Award winner.

Spratt sponsors numerous alumni events in Lawrence because “that’s my way of giving back,” he said. “It’s so easy to do because of the leadership we have here at Fort Hays State.”

Prideaux, the long-time leader of the alumni association, first became associated with Fort Hays State University in 1983 when she moved with her 9-year-old daughter from Salina to Hays, where Prideaux’s parents lived.

She enrolled at FHSU as a non-traditional student, and “it wasn’t long that I had opened the door to a whole new world — the Tiger family — that I didn’t know existed,” she said.

Prideaux earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fort Hays State and worked in several capacities at the university before taking over as executive director of the alumni association in 1997.

“I’ve had ties with Fort Hays State for many, many years,” Prideaux said. “Through all that experience, my daughter became a Fort Hays State Tiger at 9 years old.”

Prideaux’s daughter, Lola Baalman, earned two degrees from Fort Hays State and is now married with four children of her own. Her husband, Mitch, also is an FHSU graduate. And their children, ranging from 7 to 14 years, are familiar with their parents’ alma mater as well.

“The kids have come to camps here; they’ve walked this campus, attended Tiger athletic events,” Prideaux said of her grandchildren, who live in Hoxie. “We hope that one of, if not all, their kids will become Fort Hays State Tigers some day.”

If Prideaux has her way, her youngest grandchild will become a Tiger alum somewhere in the early 2030s.

“These are exciting times, not only for the association but for the university at large. The best is yet to come, ” Prideaux said.

“There is no place better on this earth,” she added, “than Fort Hays State University.”