{"id":211689,"date":"2022-11-11T11:48:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T16:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/?p=211689"},"modified":"2022-11-23T12:41:42","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T17:41:42","slug":"returning-to-the-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/2022\/11\/11\/returning-to-the-nest\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning to the Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday\u2019s Homecoming celebration had something for everyone \u2013 games, dancing, cooking exhibitions, barbecue, family fun, clear blue skies and a pre-game ceremony honoring Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ football legend Sam Mills \u201981.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s events included a street fair with live music, food and carnival games, the annual student talent showcase at the historic Amphitheater and an alumni craft beer garden.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest events of the day occurred just prior to the Red Hawk football game against Christopher Newport University: the unveiling of a plaque to posthumously honor Mills, who was enshrined in the\u00a0Pro Football Hall of Fame<\/a>\u00a0in August.<\/p>\n

Mills\u2019 family attended the ceremony, and his wife, Melanie, said she was honored to represent Sam and his journey \u2013 at both the Hall of Fame and Homecoming ceremonies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took our place in the Hall of Fame and they encouraged us to call Canton our home, but today coming back to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ on this Homecoming, this is our home, New Jersey is our home. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ is our home,\u201d she said. \u201cWe, the Mills family, are honored to share his biggest accolade with all of you and know that you are a part of his journey. Keep Pounding!\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo Gallery<\/h2>\n

Family Fun<\/h3>\n
Photo by John LaRosa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Homecoming
Photo by John LaRosa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alumni
Photo by Shelley Kusnetz<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Family
Photo by Shelley Kusnetz<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Student Showcase<\/h3>\n
\"Student
Photo by John LaRosa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Group
Photo by John LaRosa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Aerial
Photo by John LaRosa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pre-Game Ceremony<\/h3>\n
\"Group
The pre-game ceremony honoring football legend Sam Mills \u201981.\u00a0Photo by Mike Peters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Melanie
Melanie Mills uses her husband\u2019s motto to inspire the Red Hawks to \u201cKeep Pounding.\u201d\u00a0Photo by Mike Peters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"President
President Jonathan Koppell welcomes the Mills family to Homecoming.\u00a0Photo by Mike Peters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Sam Mills\u2019 inspirational motto adorns the Red Hawks\u2019 helmets.\u00a0Photo by Mike Peters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

GAME TIME!<\/h3>\n
\"Football
The Red Hawks play a great game but end up losing 14-13.\u00a0Photo by Mike Peters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cheerleaders
Photo by Mike Peters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Red
Photo by Mike Peters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rocky
Photo by Mike Peters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Game
Photo by Mike Peters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For more photos,\u00a0visit the Alumni photo gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homecoming 2022 brings Red Hawks back to campus to celebrate with students, staff and faculty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":211770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76_alumni-news-and-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211689"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211771,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211689\/revisions\/211771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}