Slate of festivities set for Hall of Fame Weekend
Tim Cato / Senior Staff Writer
The upcoming Hall of Fame Weekend represents one of the busiest weekends for the Mean Green athletic program, highlighted by a slew of festivities on Saturday.
“It’s a big weekend with all these things,” head football coach Dan McCarney said. “It’s a Mean Green weekend all the way. We’re hoping we’ll have a great turnout.”
The primary appeal of the weekend is two annual events: the Hall of Fame Induction Luncheon and the Green-White Spring Football Game. The five-member hall of fame inductee class – Ron Linscomb for track and field and C. Dan Smith, Walter Chapman, Brandon Kennedy and Jamario Thomas for football – brings the total number in the Mean Green Hall of Fame to 171.
Tickets to the luncheon are no longer being sold.
The Green-White scrimmage will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday and admission to Apogee Stadium is free, as the Mean Green football team’s spring schedule comes to close. The team will hold a final practice on Monday without pads.
“It’s exciting, but it’s bittersweet,” junior linebacker Derek Akunne said. “We don’t get to put our pads on again until August when we come back for fall camp.”
Events begin as early as 8 a.m. Saturday with the fourth annual North Texas Touchdown 5K, where runners start and finish at the 50-yard line of Apogee Stadium. At 9 a.m., there will be a grand opening of the Ernie Kuehne Basketball Practice Facility in Mean Green Village. The building was recently renovated with the help of Kuehne, a major Mean Green donor.
Following that is the GoMeanGreen.com Flag Football Game at 10 a.m. – an annual event that will take place at Apogee Stadium. Included with the game is a silent auction that will benefit the Andrew Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund. Smith was a former UNT quarterback who won the first bowl game for the Mean Green since 1946 but was killed in a car accident in 2004 at age 21.
The results of the All-Century Football Team will take place at the start of the Green-White game. During the scrimmage, there will also be an athletic surplus garage sale, featuring cheap apparel and equipment of all types.
Mean Green fans, old and new, have plenty of events to choose from.
“I’m really excited for the spring game,” kinesiology freshman Steven Rose said. “The football team had an average season, but I think they can turn it around next year in the new conference and hopefully get to a bowl game.”
Read full schedule at MeanGreenSports.com
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