Alumni Award winners Three accomplished graduates will be honored by the NAU Alumni Association during Homecoming this week. Sherman Frederick, a 1977 journalism major, Alberto Esparza, 1994 master's in counseling graduate, and John Bridger, a 1974 graduate with a degree in management, will be honored as the 2008 Alumni Award recipients during halftime of the NAU-Weber State game and during a reception. Sherman Frederick Frederick, who earned the NAU Alumni Association's Dwight Patterson Alumnus of the Year Award, is president of Stephens Media Group, parent company of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and recently was inducted into the Nevada Press Association Fame. Alberto Esparza Esparza, founder and president of the non-profit Si Se Puede Foundation, has won the Dr. Cliff Harkins Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award. He also has served on and chaired the boards of directors of both Chicanos por la Causa and the Salvation Army Advisory Board as well as the city of Phoenix Human Relations Commission. John Bridger Winner of the Joe and Marie Rolle Spirit of NAU Award, Bridger serves as executive director of the Thunderbirds, a public service group that organizes the PGA tour's FBR Open. He advocates for the university through his work with The W.A. Franke College of Business Advisory Board and as a supporter at the major gift level.

A super Homecoming weekend awaits alumni, friends

The return of Lumberjack legends will highlight a weekend of activities during NAU's 84th Homecoming celebration Oct. 24-26 on the Flagstaff campus and in the community, including the annual parade downtown.

"This year's Homecoming celebration should be particularly appealing to our alumni and friends," said Neil Goodell, director of NAU Alumni Relations. "We have some very special guests and very special celebrations that we're sure everyone will enjoy."

The 1958 football team—the only NAU football squad to earn a spot in a national bowl game—as well as other football alumni will return to Flagstaff to help dedicate the field in Lumberjack Stadium in honor of legendary NAU coach Max Spilsbury.

Spilsbury coached "Maxer's Axers" from 1956 to 1964. His record of 58 wins was in place for more than four decades until current coach Jerome Souers recorded his 59th victory earlier in October.

The dedication ceremony starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, which also will feature the 50th anniversary reunion of the undefeated 1958 Arizona State College Team that earned a spot in the Holiday Bowl.

Prior to the Spilsbury Field dedication will be the annual Homecoming Parade, organized by NAU's Blue Key student group, with the theme "Superheroes: Your Lumberjack Power Revealed."

Beginning at 11 a.m., the parade will start at Beaver and Elm streets in downtown Flagstaff. Former Gov. Raul H. Castro, a 1939 and 1967 NAU graduate and the first and only Latino governor of Arizona, will be the grand marshal. Beverly Amer, a lecturer in The W.A. Franke College of Business, is the 2008 Homecoming dedicatee.

Stalwart representatives from the Edge Leadership Experience and the NAU Chain Gang lend a hand during practice for pulling the logging wheels in Saturday's Homecoming Parade. Photo courtesy of the Office of Alumni Relations

This year's parade features the return of NAU's celebrated logging wheels. Restored to pristine condition through the efforts of the Alumni Association board of directors, the logging wheels will be part of the parade after a years-long absence.

Members of the Edge Leadership Experience,
a new freshman organization, and Chain Gang—with a little help from an NAU truck—will guide the wheels through the parade route.

"It has been a long time since our alumni have had a chance to see the logging wheels in action," Goodell said. "I think they'll get a real kick out of it."

The Homecoming football game will kick off at 3 p.m. Saturday when the Lumberjacks host Big Sky rival Weber State in the Skydome.

Homecoming weekend also features an array of other activities, with reunions, the annual Cafe au Louie Alumni Breakfast at the Weatherford Hotel, pre-game barbecues and tailgating, and receptions throughout campus beginning Friday and ending Sunday.

Visit the NAU Alumni web site for a complete schedule of events.