Alumni Return to Gainesville for Homecoming

Author: Unknown Publication Date: Friday November 18, 2011

Can you move like Bernie?

Having a little fun with a recent dance craze — in which one dances with head thrown back and limply swaying arms in the manner of the corpse from the 1980s movie “Weekend at Bernie’s” — UF President Bernie Machen and his backup dancers showed off their moves earlier this month at Gator Growl.

“Believe it or not, I’m a skilled dancer,” Machen said during a video broadcast during the pep rally. “I even made up my own, and it’s pretty hot these days.”

Watching the university president get down and boogie was just one of the highlights last weekend as alumni from across the country gathered in Gainesville for UF’s Homecoming.

The event — which has expanded beyond a single weekend to incorporate celebrations and pageants as much as two weeks before the football game — kicked off in earnest Nov. 3 as the university hosted Get Up and Give, a one-day, all-out, give-what-you-can donation drive for students and alumni. Several hundred people made gifts to UF to help support various programs, including Florida Opportunity Scholars.

Traditional celebrations started Nov. 4. Alumni, students and the community gathered to run in the two-mile Gator Gallop and watch the annual parade before attending Gator Growl that night. This year’s show, which saw the return of fireworks to the world’s largest student-run pep rally, featured hosts Ken Block and Andrew Copeland as hosts, comedian Joel McHale and musical guest the Goo Goo Dolls.

The weekend was topped off Nov. 5 by the Gator Nation Tailgate at Emerson Alumni Hall and the Game Day Alumni BBQ before the Gators beat the Vanderbilt Commodores, 26-21.