A blur of brown and blue surrounded her, and shouts of "Go Jumbos!" rang out from the crowd as seemingly gigantic football titans raged across the field. Little did Maggie McClory, a seven-year-old resident of Melrose, MA, know at the time, but her grandfather's idea of a babysitting excursion to a college football game would be a premonition of her career as a Jumbo athlete.
McClory's grandfather, Anthony DeTeso, was the captain of the Tufts football team in 1943, and throughout his life, he often visited Tufts to cheer on his alma matter while babysitting. "He was really big on Jumbo pride," said McClory, now a Tufts sophomore
For this weekend's homecoming festivities, Tufts invites its alumni to campus to celebrate school spirit with the student body. And for a few young Jumbos like McClory, whose relatives graced the Hill in previous generations, homecoming will be a family affair.
Continuing her family's athletic tradition, McClory will play her second season with the softball team this spring as a pitcher and outfielder. Though long exposed to her grandfather's pride in Tufts, it wasn't always clear that McClory would wear the brown and blue. "My interest in Tufts was definitely affected by [my grandfather], and he was very happy when I told him I was interested in coming here," she said.
"I'd say it wasn't all of my decision, but it was a factor," McClory said. "I knew I wanted to play college sports and that the softball team here was very successful."
In keeping with her grandfather's involvement in Tufts athletics, McClory, like her teammates, maintains her Jumbo pride off the field. At home football games, the softball team volunteer selling pretzels and programs to fans.
But the McClory family's love of Jumbo sports extends beyond her athletic contributions. "My parents are also really into the Tufts thing and, living so close to campus, they come to most of the games."
Though this weekend will draw hundreds of alumni affiliated with Tufts' various intramural athletic teams, club teams also find support from program alumni throughout the year. This fall, the women's and men's Ultimate Frisbee teams will host an alumni tournament that will attract scores of 'bee chuckers that have graduated since the club's inception in the 1970s.
One possible attendee may be club founder Jim Pistrang, whose son Dave also took up frisbee when he enrolled in Tufts last year. "I played in high school," the younger Pistrang said. "I guess in some ways I've thrown a frisbee all my life."
Dave chose not to play Ultimate this year and said his father supports his decision. "He's fine with me doing things other than playing Ultimate and he's still involved with the sport on his own," Pistrang said.
Jim coaches a middle school ultimate team in his hometown of Amherst, MA. "He sort of just teaches them how to play the game," Dave said. "It is a lot like what he was doing when he was at Tufts. Nobody really knew how to play back then so he was just teaching them how when he started the club."
The torch of the ultimate frisbee legacy has also been passed from sister to sister in sophomore Birgit Unfried's family. Unfried's sister, Kirsten (EN '99), started playing ultimate in her sophomore year and since graduating from Tufts, she has found success on the west coast playing frisbee in San Diego. While taking classes at UCSD, Kirsten played for the school's ultimate team, "Team Psycho," and competed at Tufts when the Medford campus hosted the National Ultimate Frisbee tournament last year.
Though they were both involved in other sports in high school, coming to Tufts proved a good move for the sisters' frisbee playing exploits. "I didn't know I was going to play ultimate before I came here, but had I planned on it, I definitely would have chosen to come here because of the ultimate program," Birgit said.
There is also a legacy of sisters in Tufts' a cappella world. Sophomore Lerone Lessner met the a cappella group Shir Appeal, for which she now sings, before she came to Tufts. While visiting campus with her sister, Ravit, a Shir Appeal alumnae, Lerone got acquainted with the group members. "If she had rehearsal while I was visiting I tagged along," Lerone said. "The people in a cappella groups tend to be pretty tight so I got to know the people in the group."
Living in nearby Brookline, Lerone said her sister will come to campus for the homecoming festivities this weekend, though Shir Appeal has no gig scheduled. While many of the athletic programs see this weekend as a chance to reconnect with the past on the gridiron and the fraternity basement floor, groups like Shir Appeal choose a different setting for their reunions.
"She came to parents weekend for a concert," said Lerone of her sister's visits to campus. "We also organize dinners and such that aren't always at Tufts."
