Introduce Yourself

[buettnerp61]

My name is Pam Buettner, and my son Caden is an incoming freshman on the football team. He plays offensive line. We live in Northern Illinois; LaSalle-Peru. Starved Rock State Park is about 5 miles from us. I am a Western Ill Univ alumni graduating in 96’ with a BA in communications and special education. Obviously WIU is near and dear to my heart. I currently teach 5th grade special education in LaSalle. I also have a daughter Calli who is a sophomore at LaSalle Peru Twp high school. She is involved in tennis and marching band playing the trumpet. Unfortunatley, she will probably enjoy the Marching Leathernecks more than watching her brother over the next 4-5 years
I am looking forward to the season and excited for the future of WIU football. I feel extremely blessed my son has met so many outstanding young men as he starts his college academic and athletic journey. Hope to see you all soon

[GV Dad]

My name is Pam Buettner, and my son Caden is an incoming freshman on the football team. He plays offensive line. We live in Northern Illinois; LaSalle-Peru. Starved Rock State Park is about 5 miles from us. I am a Western Ill Univ alumni graduating in 96’ with a BA in communications and special education. Obviously WIU is near and dear to my heart. I currently teach 5th grade special education in LaSalle. I also have a daughter Calli who is a sophomore at LaSalle Peru Twp high school. She is involved in tennis and marching band playing the trumpet. Unfortunatley, she will probably enjoy the Marching Leathernecks more than watching her brother over the next 4-5 years
I am looking forward to the season and excited for the future of WIU football. I feel extremely blessed my son has met so many outstanding young men as he starts his college academic and athletic journey. Hope to see you all soon

I agree, so many great kids in their class, and on the team. Look forward to getting to know you and your family!

[wiu712]

I went to Western during the "Baby Boomer" era. One new dorm was opened every year that I was there: Higgins, Thompson, Tanner, and Wetzel.

There were so many students living on-campus that some were living in Typing Rooms and Floor Lounges in the dorms. Living off-campus was not as popular back in those days. And off-campus housing had to be "approved" by the university.

Classes were being held any where there was an open room. I had classes on the third floor of Sherman Hall in rooms without AC, in the basement of Garwood, and in a meeting room in Olson (a dorm).

Football games were always a big event. There was no tailgating at that time. If you wanted a seat, you had to arrive early. Otherwise, you would have to stand or find a place on the hillside.

One of the highlights of every game would come when the Peach Blossoms (Vet's Club) would arrive at the game. That would often times come during the 2nd quarter of the game, after the Peach Blossoms had made a few "stops" downtown. They would drive their pickup truck around the Hanson Field track as the game was in progress. You would not see that happen today.


The crowds back then were much louder than they are now.

[GV Dad]

I went to Western during the "Baby Boomer" era. One new dorm was opened every year that I was there: Higgins, Thompson, Tanner, and Wetzel.

There were so many students living on-campus that some were living in Typing Rooms and Floor Lounges in the dorms. Living off-campus was not as popular back in those days. And off-campus housing had to be "approved" by the university.

Classes were being held any where there was an open room. I had classes on the third floor of Sherman Hall in rooms without AC, in the basement of Garwood, and in a meeting room in Olson (a dorm).

Football games were always a big event. There was no tailgating at that time. If you wanted a seat, you had to arrive early. Otherwise, you would have to stand or find a place on the hillside.

One of the highlights of every game would come when the Peach Blossoms (Vet's Club) would arrive at the game. That would often times come during the 2nd quarter of the game, after the Peach Blossoms had made a few "stops" downtown. They would drive their pickup truck around the Hanson Field track as the game was in progress. You would not see that happen today.


The crowds back then were much louder than they are now.

Hopefully we can get some of those crowded Saturdays back at Hanson Field!

[Purple Grandma]

Nice to meet you Mary! I'm sure any embarrassing stories of Scott that you can share would be appreciated by all! LOL

Nah, there aren't any of those

True! Maybe it's a product of my age, but I only remember the good things.

[sealhall74]

Howdy, all. I started at Western in 1974 and lived in Seal Hall for the year before heading off to the joys of the US Army for three years. Returned to Illinois, went to Carl Sandburg JC for a year, played some baseball there, before returning to Western to finish up in 1981. I grew up about 45 miles north of Macomb in a small town called Alexis where my Dad taught HS for many years. After college, I went to work for the federal government in Washington, D.C. My math degree was good enough to secure a computer job with a certain law enforcement agency which has been getting lots of press lately. I stayed with them for 29 years before retiring back in 2011. Since retiring, sports and fitness have been important to me. I got a Personal Trainer certification and spend most of my time training myself rather than working with actual clients. I also travel around quite abit and try to attend several Leatherneck events during the year. I will say that Leatherneck parents do an excellent job of traveling to watch their kids play but students and just plain old alumni like me, we can do better. I do the FCS Championship game in Frisco every year, regardless of who is playing. I also do the Summit League Hoops Tournament every year and that is a lot of fun. For a change of pace, I recently got my very first motorcycle (Kawasaki Versys 650) so trying to learn how to ride that thing wiithout getting killed at the same time. I continue to keep my computer skills sharp by running the Pickem game which Scott will probably put a link to somewhere on this site. In fact, I spent a couple hours today coding away on it while watching the PGA golf. Google keeps changing things so I have to adapt but its all good. The Pickem game costs me a few bucks a year which I am gladly willing to give away to the winners but I have to say those Dakota folks seem to taking most of my money. Enough rambling. In person, I am really a very quiet person, don't tailgate too much, would show up early to the game just to see which punters and QBs are handling the wind the best, etc. That's me for better or worse.

[meganeck]

I'm a 1994 Alum of WIU. I had no connection to WIU before I went, was suggested to me by HS Counselor, as I thought I wanted to be an accountant, ended up getting a degree in Political Science. I'm a big sports nut, so when I went to Western, I attended football and basketball games. I have followed those sports and all other sports since then. I wished I lived closer to get to more sporting events, haven't been to a football game in awhile, when I have gone down it has been for a basketball game, either a men or women's game. Fun Fact -- One of my good friends at Western is now the head softball coach at Indiana St.

[ST_Lawson]

My older daughter wanted to come to WIU also but because of a disability, she ended up at WWhitewater.

That's ok, still a big purple W

True! Maybe it's a product of my age, but I only remember the good things.

Outside of a few speeding tickets here or there, I was a pretty boring teenager.

[wiu712]

Long time Western fans will remember that Bob Hope made two trips to Macomb: 1975 and 1980.

The 1980 Homecoming was marked by the presence of two nationally-known entertainment acts: comedian Bob Hope, and the band Van Halen. Hope kept his audience laughing for the entire two hours of his show Friday night, while Van Halen put on a “rocking” concert for the nearly sold out crowd at Western Hall Saturday night.

Here is a photo of Bob Hope with the concrete Rocky. In those days, Rocky was located just north of the University Union (near the Hanson Field southwest ticket booth).


During one of those visits, Bob Hope dressed-up in Peach Blossom gear--complete with the mop-top hair and plunger. I have seen a photo of it. So it may be available via a Google Image search.

[GV Dad]

We definitely need to pick a game and have a LeatherneckNation tailgate!