The ties that bind: Maryville College Homecoming 2025 brings Scots back to College Hill
Oct. 11, 2025
As the Saturday autumn sun rose on College Hill, members of the Class of 2026 prepared for celebration, a day of touchdowns and royal sashes, a restlessness born of reunions with recent grads who share stories of success in the world beyond the Maryville College gates and the bittersweetness of experiencing a final Homecoming as students.
They celebrated the moments, clung steadfast to the present, with only the briefest idea of how fleeting it all was … or how deeply this place was writing itself into them. Only later, when the echoes of their lives here soften into memory, will they understand what all of the returning alumni with whom they shared this weekend know:
Maryville College never really lets you go. It simply waits, patiently, for you to find your way home again.
A final undergrad Hoco for seniors
Many Scots come to the realization that MC is home shortly after they set foot on campus. Waiting on the 1 p.m. kickoff between the Fighting Scots of Coach Ben Fox and the Centre College Colonels, Montina Jones ’26 was determined to make every moment of her final Homecoming as an undergraduate count.
“I’m just spending time with my friends, especially the ones that I’ve made since my freshman year — those really good friendships where we’re still going to be in contact with each other afterwards, and it just makes me really grateful for everything,” Jones said. “Maryville College is quite literally my second home, and (after graduation) I want to come back to Maryville. This College has just given me so many opportunities that I never would have imagined, and every time I’m here, it just feels like a warm hug.
“I think that’s why I love it here so much. A lot of (classmates) are kind of sad that it’s the last one, but we can always come back as alumni … so it’s not really the last one!”
The world is full of promises made and forgotten, words tossed like leaves to the wind, despite the best of intentions. “We’ll stay in touch.” “We’ll visit.” “We’ll come back.” But distance and duty are thieves, and memories fade — except here. Because when a Maryville College graduate says “I’ll be back for Homecoming,” it isn’t a wish — it’s a vow. And every autumn, they keep it. As proof, look no further than Karla Beard Heidelberg ’88 and DeAnn Hargis ’88.
Heidelberg resides in San Pedro, California, Hargis in Atlanta, the distance between the two more than 2,500 miles. It didn’t matter, because even though neither is part of this year’s reunion classes — all those years ending in 5 or 0, especially the Classes of 1965, 1975 and 1985 — this is the place where their evolution into the women they are today also imprinted upon them a palpable ache to return here for Homecoming.
“This is the place that I became an adult and the person I am now, so to come back now, it allows me to reconnect the person I used to be in high school to the adult person I wanted to be,” Hargis said. “This brings tears to my eyes every time I come back — happy tears.”
Of course, a few things have changed. Raina Boring Kant ’89, who owns Razberries in downtown Maryville, was a classmate of Heidelberg and Hargis during an era when financial difficulties had the College on shaky ground, and the student population fell to less than 500, Kant recalled.
“And you knew everybody and what color underwear everybody wore — and who didn’t!” she said with a laugh. “You became close because you knew everybody. I think as the years go on, you still have that bond, because it was fun — we had a blast! It was a great place to go to school.
“And now look at it!” she added, waving her arms at the sea of tents and canopies that lined the hill between the gates of Lloyd L. Thornton Stadium and Morningside Lane. “It’s insane! We had nothing like this when we were in school. You might have had 10 people out here where we’re all tailgating, and that was it.”
A Homecoming tradition is resurrected
Saturday, there were certainly many more than that. Official MC Athletics estimates of the crowd size — 9,258 people turned out to watch Maryville College defeat Centre 33-13, and for quarterback Bryson Rollins ’26, it made all the difference. The game was tied 13-13 at halftime, but MC returned in the third quarter on a mission, and the full stands helped them complete it, Rollins said.
“It just feels good to get a huge crowd out here today,” he said. “It just feels great to have a lot of support, and I know for me, I wanted to go off with a bang.”
With the win, the team has a 5-0 record, the first five-win, zero-loss start to a season since 1977. And while Fox had the Scots in the locker room at halftime, Doniqua Flack Chen ’15 — director of student involvement and leadership development — was looking to reclaim another tradition: The pageantry and production of an official Maryville College Homecoming Court for 2025, reintroduced for the first time since 2019.
“I always enjoy seeing students creating the campus life they want to see,” Chen said. “I was here in 2019 in a similar role when the Student Programming Board last did it. Students lost interest, and then COVID made it fizzle out of campus life, so as a 2015 Homecoming queen, it’s fun to see it return.”
Scots nominated their peers for Homecoming Court online, and this year’s court included first-year class representatives Nick Torres ’29 of Winchester, Tennessee, and Sonjia Hernandez ’29 of Springfield, Tennessee; sophomore representatives Charla Young ’28 of Douglasville, Georgia, and John Lee ’28 of Jacksonville, Florida; junior class representatives Michel Gonzalez ’27 of Lenoir City, Tennessee, and Emma Lowery ’27 of Maryville; and senior class representatives Liz Harvey-Ayers ’26 of Zebulon, Georgia, Lauren Myers ’26 of Maryville, Austin McKee ’26 Vonore, Tennessee, Clara Webster ’26 of Alcoa, Vanessa Laguerre ’26 of Knoxville, and Tyrika Small ’26 of Carthage, Tennessee.
Seniors Megan Cooper ’26 of Knoxville and Madison Smith ’26 of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, were selected as Homecoming Royalty, an honor Cooper attributed to her involvement in campus life more so than her popularity.
“It was about how much you give back to the community, and I felt like that was just such a great culture moment,” she said. “All of us were really rooting for each other, too, and I thought there was something very special about that.”
It wasn’t lost on her, however, that despite the pomp and circumstance of a formal gown and a sash declaring her a literal queen, Saturday was a milestone moment in that it would be her last as an undergrad.
“It’s like bittersweet, I would say, because there’s something special about your senior year Homecoming, and then especially being Homecoming Royalty, and it’s something that I’ll definitely remember for the rest of my life. As for coming back to Homecoming — absolutely! I feel like I’m obligated now with the sash and everything.”
A home revisited
Cooper and Smith were selected as Maryville College Homecoming 2025 royalty and were presented with sashes during a halftime ceremony, which also included recognition of the latest inductees to the Maryville College Wall of Fame. Eryk Watson ’11, inducted for basketball, couldn’t stop grinning as he checked out the murals, oversized photos and new paint patterns on the first floor of Fayerweather Hall.
“It’s awesome, man, to see all of the changes and upgrades,” he said. “I wish we had some of this stuff when I was here! Seriously, though, I’ve had a lot of teammates, a lot of friends, a lot of family come in town for this (induction). This whole ride has been just unforgettable. It’s a great welcome home, I should say.”
Smith Jean-Philippe ’00, who graduated more than a decade before Watson, nevertheless felt the same sense of belonging when he arrived in East Tennessee as a fresh-faced teen from Miami. Once he got here, he said, he never left — after graduating with a degree in Organizational Management, he’s taught at Maryville High School for 23 years now. As he manned a charcoal grill two hours before gametime on Saturday, the scene around him felt less like a college tailgate and more like a family gathering. He moved with the practiced ease of a man in his own backyard — because in many ways, he was.
“It’s those bonds,” he said, turning hot dogs with tongs. “I don’t know how many weddings I’ve been to of people I was in school with, or how many of my classmates I’m still in contact with, or how many of the players I helped coach (Jean-Philippe was a part-time assistant football coach in 2009 and 2010) that I still know. You develop a brotherhood wherever you go, from golf courses to games where your kids are playing the kids of guys you went to school with. It’s just so awesome, man.”
And outsiders recognize it as well. Dr. Bryan Coker, Maryville College’s 12th president, made reference to the unique nature of Homecoming at MC during Friday night’s Founder’s Day Showcase, and as he rode in the Homecoming parade with his wife, Sara, and Dolly — the couple’s beloved Basset hound and a welcomed guest at numerous College functions — he couldn’t help but consider how such devotion serves as both inspiration and caution.
“I always describe our Homecoming as pleasantly or delightfully overwhelming,” Coker said after MC emerged victorious in Saturday’s game. “You just can’t beat the crowds, the people, the enthusiasm — everything that our alumni and friends bring back to the campus each year. It’s truly an inspiration for me to see the love and passion that so many generations of alumni and fans have for the college and all that we do here.
“And at the same time, of course, Homecoming is a reminder of the sacred trust that is placed in our College leadership when it comes to shepherding and carrying the college successfully into the future.”
For Tameika Hampton of Lawrenceville, Georgia, Maryville College Homecoming 2025 was her third. The mother of Scots tight end Jaden Marlin ’27, she and her family wore shirts extolling Marlin’s greatness, and while her boy still has another season and another year of school in him after this one, that doesn’t mean she won’t keep coming back for Homecoming even after he’s transitioned to an alumnus.
“It’s not just a homecoming (for alumni), it’s a homecoming for all,” she said. “All of the great things this school has done … all of the accomplishments its students have made … this is just bring it back home to where it all started. It’s literally inviting you to come home, and let’s all feast together.”
A chapel without walls
From the children’s area of Scot-Land to the Alvin C. Baker ’72 Harvest Craft Fair in the Alumni Gym … from the throngs of shoppers packed into the bookstore going through hoodies and jerseys and polo shirts to the omnipresent MC Fight Song (“On Highlanders”) played by the Pep Band before, during and after the game … from the occasional intrepid climber on Mountain Challenge’s Alpine Tower to the current students who close out Saturday’s portion of Maryville College Homecoming 2025 with a dance (also!) in the Alumni Gym … there was no shortage of things to do or people to do them on Saturday. The weather was a godsend, with a slight chill dissipating as soon as the sun rose fully, and azure skies stretching wide over beloved Chilhowee Mountain.
After the traditional beer-soaked celebration on Victory Hill after the Scots victory, those alumni who come back every year to find a part of themselves they left behind seem to pause, to look around and take it all in, one last time, until next year.
“I always tell people this is about one of my top two or three favorite days of the year,” said Brian Gossett ’00, who hasn’t missed a single Homecoming since graduation. “I look forward to it like you do major holidays, because you get the chance to be together with people that you went to school with and who were here before you.
“And I think that’s the hardest part for people who didn’t go here to understand — just how deep the relationships are, and how it really doesn’t matter whether you were here in the 1970s or the 1990s, because your experiences are similar. It’s the ties that bind, is the way I look at it: It doesn’t matter what decade you were here, there’s something about this place that ties us all together, and this … Homecoming … is the celebration of those ties.”
As the day stretched toward twilight, the air filled with a tender hum — laughter rising from clusters of classmates walking toward Pearsons, the low toll of the Blount County Courthouse clock carried on the wind, the murmur of alumni reluctant to let the day go.
For them — for all of them — Saturday wasn’t merely a game, just as Homecoming is never merely a weekend. It was communion: the faithful gathered once more beneath the shadow of Anderson Hall, offering up their stories to the same old stones that have listened for generations.
“I’ve been incredibly impressed with the engagement of a wide range of alumni from recent years to more than 50 years back,” said Dr. Ben Stubbs, vice president and dean of students. “They show up in their Maryville College colors, they attend the events, they want to speak with the staff and the students, and you can just tell how much this place means to them.”
And when dusk finally slipped across College Hill — the light deepening from gold to rose to quiet gray — the campus seemed to exhale: content, full, and alive with echoes. After Sunday morning’s Service of Remembrance, the pilgrims will scatter again — to Georgia and California, to all the far-off corners of the map — but for one shining day, they were home.
And Maryville, steadfast as ever, waited for the next promise to be kept.
“When you come back,” said Rob Kennedy ’71, who drove the Cokers in the Homecoming parade, “you begin to know people who might have been in your class, but you didn’t really know them. But as alumni, you’ve got something in common — you’ve got this place. And they become dear friends that you’ll stay connected to for the rest of your life. That’s why Homecoming, to me, is the best day of each and every year.”
And as the last tail lights disappear down Lamar Alexander Parkway, College Hill will stand quiet beneath the stars — a chapel without walls, keeping the light on for those who will always find their way back home.
