Alumni activities

Homecoming, the Y2K version, kicked off to a strong start this year with the Sports Hall of Fame Luncheon and the induction of seven individual McGill Athletics heroes as well as the 1960 McGill Redmen football team. But it was the women who were the centre of this year's reunion activities. Tying into the Royal Victoria College's 100th anniversary celebrations, Homecoming had a distinctly feminine edge to it. All the head table guests at the Leacock Luncheon were missing a Y chromosome, as were the featured authors at the popular "Lunch et Livres" reading series at the McGill Bookstore. The series was as successful as ever, and after their presentations guest authors Julie Keith, Elaine Kalman Naves, BA'67, and Barbara Meadowcroft, BA'51, PhD'82, signed books for an enthusiastic crowd. Out on the Macdonald Campus, the Mac Woodsmen (shouldn't that be Woodspeople?) celebrated the 40th anniversary of their annual Woodsmen competition by hosting a breakfast followed by tricks and games with saws, axes and logs. Participants needed to make sure they had their morning coffee -- but not too much. Over 5,000 graduates from 82 classes returned to McGill this year, and the Engineering Class of '50 made their reunion count in a big way: their "Engineering '50 Millennium Project" raised one of the largest class reunion gifts ever -- $269,000 (and still counting). As always, McGill News paparazzi were out snapping candid shots on both campuses, and here are just a few of the Homecoming 2000 highlights.

Classy Dinners

Many classes returning for Homecoming organized their own satellite events. Members of Arts '40, Commerce '40 and Science '40 held a joint class dinner at the University Club.

Pictured here (all Arts'40 grads) are (back row from left): Barbara Vossnack Sauder, Henry Patterson, Rev. Charles Johnston, also MA'42, Harold Snell, Douglas Gilmour, George Grande. Front row: Barbara Whitley, also DLitt'92, Elizabeth Dyas Anthony, Ruth Paine Hart.

The Quarter Century Club

	PHOTOS: Nicolas Morin

Almost 350 graduates came back for their 25th anniversary reunion, among them Peter E. Jarvis, BEng'75, Bruce White, BCom'75, Jim Cowan Adams, BEng'75, and Robin Cohen, BA'75, who chatted at the all-faculty reception hosted by Principal Shapiro.

Good Sports

PHOTO: Claudio Calligaris

Football player Michael Soles, BA'89, swimmer Joan Orser Roberts, BSc(PE)'56, and wrestler Howard Stupp, BEng'78, LLB'83, BCL'83, show off their awards after being inducted into the McGill Sports Hall of Fame. Also joining the ranks were the members of the 1960 Redmen football team. Inducted posthumously were tennis great Dr. Jack Wright, MDCM'28; Ralph St. Germain, BCom'31, a football and hockey legend; Dr. Lorne (Monty) Montgomery, MDCM'20, a football, hockey, basketball and boxing star; and Dr. Charles Drew, MDCM'33, who led McGill to track and field championships in 1929-30 and 1931-32 and later became famous for inventing blood plasma.

Grand Reopening

	PHOTOS: Owen Egan

Flanked by Michael Richards, BA'60, BCL'63, Chancellor Dick Pound, BCom'62, BCL'67, and students, Principal Shapiro takes on linesman duties and drops the puck at the opening of the renovated McConnell Winter Arena. The McGill-University of Toronto hockey game marked a departure from the traditional Homecoming football game.

Michael Richards is presented with a Redmen sweater by the Chancellor and Principal for his work as chair of the Alumni arena campaign, raising over $552,000 for renovations. The McConnell Family Foundation made the improvements possible with a donation of $3.4 million.

Those attending the reopening of the arena received a commemorative puck, a replica of the original wooden puck used by McGill students in the first hockey games ever played.

Strength in Numbers

Dean of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Deborah Buszard presents members of the Class of '60 with the Honour Shield for best Homecoming attendance at the Sir William Macdonald Luncheon.