Here, on this 4th anniversary of is passing, is a letter to the editor he wrote to the BG Sentinel Tribune on 10/23/2000... Thankfully, student attendance has really been on the upswing these past few years... I only wish dad could see this team and this program today!
And Mark (Rightupinthere), my thoughts are with you this day as well, my brother...
BGHoward wrote: I am asking the following favor of most of those who consider themselves students at Bowling Green State University:
When you go back home, when you are with old friends, when you fill out a job application, when your Maiden Aunt Tillie asks you what you are doing these days; please say only that you are "taking classes at Bowling Green". DO NOT SAY "I GO TO BOWLING GREEN"! You do not , in fact, "go to Bowling Green" because that implies involvement in the college experience as a whole. "Going to Bowling Green" includes, among many other things, attending football games and supporting your school by that attendance!
The hordes of empty seats at the three home football games this season speak volumes about student apathy and lack of involvement. There is much more to a college education than simply going to classes and earning a degree.
A college education includes supporting institutional goals, and it includes learning that simply because something is not totally successful, does not mean it is unworthy of support! Your lack of support hurts your team, your school, and most important of all, it harms you, the student, most of all. You are depriving yourselves of the fun, excitement, and diversity of the full college experience.
So, please, don't present yourselves as students who "Go to Bowling Green". Be honest, say that you "Take classes at Bowling Green".
Of course you could always head on out to The Doyt the first two Saturdays in November and cheer yourselves silly supporting your team win or lose. Then you could honestly answer good old Aunt Tillie at Thanksgiving: "I'm going to Bowling Green, and I'm really learning a lot!"
Howard D. Cummings
