Ever since 10-year-old VanNocker went to his first football game between MSU and Michigan in 1951, he has attended 56 of the rivalry football games and missed only a handful for funerals or emergencies.

“You just kind of build up a sort of a passion,” VanNocker said. “Sometimes, it seemed like my happiness or unhappiness would rest upon whether Michigan or Michigan State won the next football game.”

When he retired in 2001, VanNocker and his wife, Karen, decided to move from Royal Oak, Mich., to East Lansing, foregoing the conventional relocation to Florida popular with their peers.

“It was just the idea, ‘Where would we feel that we were more at home?’” VanNocker said.

The VanNockers have attended nearly all of the football and as many basketball games as possible since they have been married. As a result, they traveled frequently before moving to East Lansing more than eight years ago.

“It sounds like a little insanity, but there were a few times when Michigan State football games were just locally televised in East Lansing, but not anywhere else,” VanNocker said.

“We came all the way up just to see the game on television. That gives you some of the flavor as to why we ended up here.”

Coming home

More than 10,000 people and alumni, including the VanNockers, are expected to attend the Homecoming parade Friday, said Laurie Robison, director of marketing and media relations for the MSU Alumni Association.

“(Homecoming) welcomes the alumni back to the university and is a highlight in terms of showcasing the different programs and diverse groups we have on campus,” Robison said. “It really is a time to shine and let the community we serve know what it’s all about.”

Alice Topping, an international relations senior, is one of the 10 students on this year’s Homecoming court.

“I was kind of shocked when I learned that I had been nominated,” Topping said. “I had never expected it. For me, it was why not? It’s once in a lifetime to be part of the Homecoming experience.”

Topping said it seems strange to think about returning to campus in the future when she will no longer be a student, but an alumna.

“(I’ll) be able to come back and think about all of my college experiences,” she said. “I’ve had so much fun here in the past four years. It speaks a lot about MSU and the experience here — a lot of people want to come back and be a part of that.”

Wilson “Bill” Livingood, the U.S. House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms and MSU alumnus, flew to East Lansing from Washington, D.C., on Thursday to take part in the Homecoming festivities.

Livingood was one of four alumni to be presented with the MSU Distinguished Alumni Award from the MSU Alumni Association the evening of his arrival.

“I’m honored,” Livingood said. “I’m the type who doesn’t like accolades, so I’m very humbled by this.”

After graduating from high school in the mid-1950s, Livingood enlisted with the U.S. Navy for three years.

“I knew I wanted to be a federal agent or a policeman for my whole life,” Livingood said.

Because of the reputation of MSU’s program, Livingood graduated with a degree in police administration in 1961.

He said his mentors during college gave him invaluable advice and wisdom that has been applicable throughout his life.

“They instilled that sense of ethics and professionalism,” he said.

“Every one of them was so professional and dignified. I looked up to them and I never forgot that.”

Originally from Texas, Livingood said he initially was concerned about attending a campus as large as MSU’s during his first year.

“I was worried about a sterile environment where people weren’t friendly and you couldn’t get individual help,” Livingood said. “I found just the opposite. They were so friendly, the other students and the faculty would go out of their way to assist you with problems in your studies.”

After graduating from MSU, Livingood worked as a patrolman and policeman in Michigan and eventually had an internship with the Secret Service.

“I didn’t love every minute — I loved every second,” Livingood said. “It was like being on a team or a family.”

While working in the Secret Service, Livingood said he worked both presidential protection and criminal work until his retirement after 33 years as an agent.

When a headhunter first told him about the position of Sergeant at Arms, he was reluctant because of the politics involved.

However, the position had changed such that Livingood said he accepted and has been in office for 15 years.

While in East Lansing, Livingood said he is staying at Kellogg Center.

Being able to see Bryan Hall from his window brought back a flood of memories.

“I feel energized and I’m so proud of Michigan State,” Livingood said. “(Being here) renews that sense of pride in me.”

Moving back

VanNocker said he considers himself and his wife to be part of a growing trend of alumni who are moving back to the communities of their alma maters.

“We purposefully chose this house, a one-level house with easy access, because we plan to stay here,” Karen VanNocker said. “This is it.”

Bob Thomas, director of marketing and communications for University Advancement, said such a specific trend has not been tracked but he knows many alumni congregate to hold reunions on campus.

“People do tend to get more nostalgic as they get older in life,” Thomas said. “They’ve got fond memories and they want to relive them and they come back for homecoming to do that.”

Perry, Mich., resident and MSU alumnus Fred Swartz, who has known Jim VanNocker since VanNocker moved to East Lansing, said he and his family will be attending this year’s Homecoming events, which are opportunities to reconnect with friends and other alumni.

“There’s a strong positive image that Michigan State conveys and that its people convey,” Swartz said.

“I don’t feel any standoffishness. I just feel like, for the most part, MSU people consider themselves as real people. I don’t know what it is, but something of that nature.”

For more than seven years, Jim VanNocker has met with three other alumni, including Swartz, to have weekly Monday morning coffee meetings to discuss MSU basketball and football.

“We would rehash what we thought the coaches did right, and what they didn’t do right,” Swartz said.
“Someone brought up the idea that we better pick some games and have a contest within ourselves.”

Jim VanNocker is the current possessor of the groups’ traveling trophy, a toilet plunger, for winning the last category of predictions, which can include everything from the NCAA Tournament to bowl games.

“It was just something that would be as obnoxious as possible in the way of a trophy,” VanNocker said.

Throughout the course of time the group has been meeting, one toilet plunger has expanded to three and as the group has attended various public events together, the plungers have gained signatures from prominent figures in MSU athletics, including head coaches Tom Izzo and Mark Dantonio.

“The reaction is usually pretty positive,” Swartz said, on getting the plungers signed. “The players catch on to what we’re doing immediately.”

Although the whole group and their wives are avid MSU fans, Swartz said Jim VanNocker is one of the most ardent.

“He has more information on the tip of his tongue in regards to football and basketball than anyone,” Swartz said.

“He can cite statistics from way back from the ‘50s forward. He just knows a lot and impresses us all the time.”

At the football game on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Jim VanNocker said he was struck by not only the number of the people attending the game, but the huge crowds outside of the stadium supporting MSU.

A self-proclaimed pessimist, VanNocker said the football season thus far has been a “dream” and he is excited for the Homecoming football game this weekend.

“People coming back and kind of reliving some of their days of youth and so forth — what could be a healthier pastime than doing something like that?” he said.