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MC Alumni Reconnect with Alma Mater in 2009


Look for Nancy Davis to toot her kazoo to fire up the Mississippi College football team when the Choctaws open the 2009 season against Millsaps.

A 1961 MC graduate from Clinton and former MC freshman queen, Davis is urging other loyal MC alums to turn out in droves for the Backyard Brawl Sept. 5. Kickoff at Robinson-Hale Stadium is at 7 p.m.

A Hattiesburg native, Davis is serving as president of the MC Alumni Association this school year. The Backyard Brawl with its tailgating, time for fellowship and much more is really the kickoff of the 2009-2010 season for MC's 30,000 alumni nationwide, she says.

Alumni meetings will crop up over much of the region this fall. There's an alumni luncheon in Birmingham Sept. 11, plus a luncheon for young alumni in Atlanta Sept. 19. Receptions for MC grads are booked in Tupelo Oct 8, in Pensacola Oct. 20, and Montgomery, Ala. Oct. 29, to name a few of the biggest out of town events. The semester comes to a close with a Mississippi Gulf Coast alumni reception Nov. 10 and a Smokey Mountain alumni trip Dec. 1-4.

MC Alumni Affairs Director Ross Aven released the packed schedule of alumni activities this week as MC welcomes thousands of students to fall classes beginning Wednesday, August 26.

Davis can't hide her enthusiasm for her alma mater in Clinton as Mississippi College enters its 184th academic year. The former Nancy Nielsen first arrived at Baptist-affiliated MC in the fall of 1957. As a freshman, she made sure to wear her MC beanie upon her head and knew every word as she sang the school's alma mater. The new student from Forrest County also got creative. Davis designed a poster of the MC Choctaws football team with pictures of each player. She made sure to get autographs of each player below each picture cut out from the football program.

One autograph and photo in particular stood out on her poster - that of star football player and MC senior Charles "Puddin" Davis. The happy couple later married. Charles Davis is now a retired professor of Christian Studies at MC. Nancy Davis also applied her talents as an employee on the MC team. The Clinton resident used to work in the MC alumni office in the 1980s.

Celebrating 50 years of marriage, Charles and Nancy Davis recently returned home to Central Mississippi from a fabulous Alaskan cruise. Their next journey will be much closer to home - a bunch of upcoming visits to the Clinton campus. After the Backyard Brawl, they expect to be back with fellow alums to root for the Choctaws as they face Cumberlands of Kentucky at home Sept. 12.

Nancy Davis won't predict the score, but says she looks forward to a Choctaws win against rival Millsaps Sept. 5. Millsaps soundly defeated the Choctaws 42 to 6 last year on the Jackson campus.

The Clintonian is also hoping MC alums show up at a number of the dozen or so major MC events this fall.

Other gatherings geared to alumni include the annual Mississippi Baptist Convention in Jackson Oct. 27 with alums invited to a breakfast meeting at First Baptist Church with President Lee Royce. Loads of class reunions are planned for Homecoming Oct. 31 that will see Judge Henry Lackey honored as MC's alumnus of the year.

Also targeting MC alums will be the Wild Game Dinner on the evening of Nov. 5. Typically, the Wild Game Dinner raises more than $100,000 every year for MC athletic programs.

This year's keynote speaker for the Wild Game Dinner is retired University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat.

A 71-year-old Mississippi native and former star football player for the Ole Miss Rebels and Washington Redskins, Khayat is working part-time at his alma mater in Oxford to help the school raise funds. MC alumnus Dr. Dan Jones, the former vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and medical school dean, succeeded Khayat as chancellor last month.

But first up on the radar screen for Nancy Davis is the Backyard Brawl on that Saturday evening in early September with MC star quarterback Adam Shaffer returning to action. The upcoming MC-Millsaps contest, she said, is "an opportunity to see people and cheer."

For more details on MC alumni events, contact Ross Aven at 601.925.3228 or aven@mc.edu. For football ticket information, contact Missa Turman at 601.925.3341 or turman@mc.edu.