PRESIDENT'S COLUMN DAVID COURREGES, UNIVERSITY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
Homecoming
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s many of you know, I grew up in China Spring, Texas. Though today my hometown is for every purpose a bedroom community, when I was kid China Spring was a farming town (technically a farming census-designated place). In my mind, it could have been the real-world setting of “The Last Picture Show,” if said title wasn’t already claimed by Archer City… and if it had a movie theater… or a stoplight. We did, however, have a post office, general store, and other fine establishments such as Bill and Bob’s World Famous Hamburgers, the Burger Doodle, and even a couple of gas stations that had burger counters as well. What we lacked in population and variance of cuisine we made up for in pride, and most of that pride was directed toward the finest public
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AUSTINLAWYER | SEPTEMBER 2021
high school athletic program in all the county of McLennan: the China Spring Cougars! One of my earliest memories of Cougar pride occurred at around the age of four when my neighbor and babysitter, LaDell Leach (played, also in my movie version, by Cybill Shepherd), proudly showed me the largest flower I had ever seen. It was white, and decorated with “Cougar blue” and white ribbons, glitter, and other fabulousness. Her presentation included a monologue about how people were coming from far and wide that evening to cheer on the mighty Cougars, freshly off their recent Class 1A state championship, as they were to take on the lowly Clifton Cubs. She was excited to see everyone making their way back home. This was to be, and is, my first memory of both “homecoming” and the legendary Texas homecoming mum. The origin of the homecoming tradition is, I’m told, feverishly debated throughout the U.S. The University of Missouri claims that its 1911 event was the first, which is corroborated by the NCAA and even Jeopardy. They, however, conveniently ignore the Thanksgiving 1909 Homecoming hosted
No commentary on homecoming would be complete without home. Be it in person or virtually, I do hope you will come visit us at your Bar home as often as you can. in the China Spring suburb of Waco to celebrate the students and alumni of Baylor University, who decorated their vehicles and lapels with chrysanthemum indicum. The hosts of this historic event were three professors, who
simply called upon the graduates to return to campus to “renew former associations and friendships, and catch the Baylor spirit again.” A tradition was born. I am a sentimental person who loves history, thrives on
