Get ready for Jayhawk Nation.

This year’s homecoming theme refers to the tie that binds thousands of University of Kansas alumni across the country. Many KU alumni plan to return to Lawrence this weekend to relive their undergraduate days, to soak up the game day atmosphere or just to see old friends.

They come back because of their fondness for the University and the traditions they know by heart. And some of them can’t seem to stay away.

For one couple, this year’s homecoming commemorates more than a half century of Jayhawk pride.

Rich and Judy Billings are returning to campus for their 51st consecutive homecoming. The couple graduated in 1957, and this year they are making the trek from Lakewood, Colo., near Denver, to accept the first-ever Spirit of 1912 Award, which will be presented to them by the Student Alumni Association on Nov. 3.

“I just love to be a Jayhawk,” Judy said. “Our feelings for KU run real deep, and they always have, and they always will.”

Judy said that she and her husband looked forward to renewing old friendships when they came back to Lawrence.

Anne Walden, Overland Park resident and 2004 graduate, said that the Jayhawk tradition ran deep in her family as well, but being a Jayhawk went beyond the basketball team or beating K-State.

“The Rock Chalk Chant or seeing the fans wave the wheat when we score a touchdown; the feeling you get seeing those things or hearing them. It makes you proud to be part of that tradition,” Walden said.

However, Walden, who has returned to homecoming every year since she graduated, said KU traditions weren’t the only thing that kept her coming back.

“The Wheel — that’s a big part of my tradition. A Bloody Mary at Louise’s West, Wheel pizza.”

Aaron Brinkman, Dallas resident and 1998 graduate, is another alumnus who turns from Jayhawk to barfly during homecoming. He said he and his friends spent a lot of time going to tailgates, The Wheel and The Hawk after the game.

“I try to fit in as many meals as I can in as many different bars as I can in two days, ” Brinkman said.

When he’s not bar hopping, Brinkman, like many returning alumni, looks forward to seeing friends.

“To me, it’s just the perfect opportunity to reconnect with old friends and celebrate some of the great KU traditions,” he said. “And hopefully you get to see a really meaningful football game.”

The homecoming football game is a big draw for Rich and Judy Billings, too.

“We make it a point to be there for homecoming because we know there will be a lot of our friends and contemporaries that come to homecoming and don’t come to any other football games,” Rich said.

Homecoming is a weekend that Brad Korrell, 1997 School of Law graduate and Austin, Texas, resident, circles as soon as he knows the date.

“You make sure nothing else is scheduled that weekend,” Korrell said.

Although he earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri, Korrell said he was a Jayhawk through and through.

“My loyalty definitely lies with Kansas,” he said. “Going to Kansas was the best thing that I’ve done as far as preparing me for my career and the experience I’ve had. The best friends I’ve developed in my life are somehow related to KU.”

As alumni mature, however, the desire to relive their collegiate experiences often is replaced by a sense of appreciation for their experiences at the University.

When Michael Stern, Chicago resident, graduated in 2001, he looked forward to reliving his college days at homecoming. Now that he’s married, he realized that he isn’t a college student anymore.

“First there’s denial; then there’s acceptance,” he said.

Every year when he returns to campus, Stern goes for a jog on the same route that he ran in college. He said he reflected on how he had changed since college.

Jennifer Alderdice, director of student programs for the KU Alumni Association and adviser to the Homecoming Steering Committee, said that many alumni who returned habitually came to recapture memories they made as students.

“The longer you’ve been away from campus, the more sentimental you get,” she said.

For some current students, however, homecoming is an excuse to show school pride. Greg Hill, Nashville, Tenn., senior, tells his friends at home how proud he is to be a Jayhawk, but he said being on campus all year could make students complacent when it came to appreciating what the University meant.

At homecoming, he said, you felt the electricity on campus that was unmatched the rest of the year.

“It never strikes me as a time where there’s a lot of falseness going on, but at the same time it doesn’t seem that genuine all the time.”

Hill was not sure that he would return to Lawrence for homecoming in 2008, but would certainly consider it.

“Next year I can see myself being at a job and being so far removed from university life that I’d miss it. It’s the one time of the year you can channel that sense of loss (from being away from college).”

For the Billings, the last half-century of homecomings are special.

“We’ve enjoyed them,” Rich said. “All 50 of ‘em.”

Although the campus has changed throughout the years, KU alumni quickly find themselves at home, another reason that draws them back.

“Even though more than 10 years have gone by, being on campus in Lawrence, it seems it was such a short time ago,” Korrell said.

Stern said he was always curious to see how campus changed, even in the few years since he’s been gone.

“The first thing I do is walk on campus,” he said.

Jayhawk Nation calls itself a family, and alumni are proud of the buckle-shoed bird, whether considering the University’s academic or athletic success.

Rich Billings even boldly predicted an outcome for the homecoming football game against Nebraska.

“We’re going to clobber them.”

—Edited by Meghan Murphy