Parade links YSU past, future

By Peter H. Milliken

A hydrogen-fueled car of the future and 45 antique cars participated.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University’s homecoming parade was a combined celebration of the centennials of the university and General Motors, which showcased an environmentally friendly car of the future.

Driven near the front of Saturday’s parade was a fuel cell-powered Chevrolet Equinox supplied by the General Motors Lordstown Complex.

A fuel cell harnesses the electricity created by the chemical reaction of combining hydrogen and oxygen. Hundreds of stacked fuel cells create enough electricity to power the car, whose only exhaust is water vapor. The car can travel nearly 300 miles per hydrogen fill-up.

With military precision, the university’s ROTC color guard stepped off exactly on time at 2 p.m. from Wood Street onto Fifth Avenue to lead the annual homecoming parade to Stambaugh Stadium under cloudy but rain-free skies.

The parade was the culmination of the university’s yearlong centennial celebration.

“Alumni come back. Former athletes come back. ... There’s a pride and an ownership about the parade. It’s an enthusiastic time,” said Greg Gulas, assistant director of campus recreation and student programming and homecoming adviser.

After the parade, the YSU football team played Northern Iowa in the stadium. YSU lost by a score of 21-20.

Also in the parade were marching bands from the university, Jackson-Milton High School and Edison High School in Richmond, Ohio; floats from fraternities, sororities and the university’s Kilcawley Center; 45 antique cars; the Aut Mori Grotto clowns; and candidates for homecoming king and queen and for political office.

Winning the award for best overall float was that of the university’s Kilcawley Center and Sigma Chi fraternity, designed by John Young, the center’s associate director, and featuring historical photos of university activities.

Pulled by a pickup truck, that float consisted of a trailer normally used for hay wagon rides and adapted to the homecoming theme: “The YSU Story, Capturing the Past and Developing the Future.”

“It is an exciting year for the university celebrating its centennial. This used to be a tradition in Kilcawley, so we kind of tried to bring it back,” Young said, referring to the center’s float, which he reintroduced to the parade after a 10-year absence. Young, of Poland, received a bachelor’s degree from YSU’s business school in 1999.

Winning the most-spirited float award was that of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity and Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority, which featured a giant YSU centennial birthday cake.

The most-creative float was that of the Alpha Phi Delta fraternity and Alpha Omega Pi sorority. The float featured Alpha Phi Delta’s honorary brother, the late, legendary YSU Coach Dom Roselli, who died earlier this month.

The parade was the last in a weeklong series of more than 30 homecoming events. Those included an audience-response trivia game show, a Chi Alpha keg root beer party, a homecoming cookout, a corn hole tournament, an Alpha Xi Delta jail and bail fundraiser for the Rich Center for Autism, a disc-tossing contest, a Penguin pre-party and a battle of the bands.

The homecoming celebration will be followed Monday by a major event leading toward the university’s future — the 1:30 p.m. groundbreaking for YSU’s new $34.3 million Williamson College of Business Administration building on Wood Street, between Phelps and Elm streets.

With nearly half its funding coming from private donors, the 110,000-square-foot building will be the largest capital expenditure in the university’s history.

“This building allows us to glimpse into the university’s promising future and a second century of providing high-quality academic programs and serving as a catalyst for educational and economic growth throughout the region,” said YSU President David C. Sweet.