Penn State looked a little different when some alumni first called Happy Valley home.

Football tickets only cost a few dollars, students hitchhiked home for the weekend, and, according to one alumnus, motorcycles occasionally made their way down the stairs of the library.

Decades later, thousands of Penn State’s more than 800,000 living alumni returned to a campus that looks far different from the one they knew, reflecting on the experiences that have stayed with them since graduation.

The Penn State They Remember

What Lee Shaw (Class of 1966) remembers most about her Penn State experience was traveling to West Point, New York, for the Army football game and staying in New York City.

He was a member of the Blue Band at a time when there were no women in the band and remembers spending much of his free time with the guys he knew.

A resident of Holmes Hall, Shaw looks back fondly on the time he convinced his girlfriend to show a sheep at the Penn State Farm Show — which, at the time, was held in the dairy barns that once stood directly across from North Halls.

Mike Fenton (Class of 1977) was initially admitted to Penn State for summer session, the equivalent of today’s LEAP program. He enjoyed his first summer so much that he returned for two additional summers, recalling performances by bands like Steeleye Span and King Crimson for the holdover students.

Above all, his fondest memory was Arts Fest, which he admits was significantly smaller than it is today. During the summers, he would hitchhike home to Pittsburgh from time to time, noting that it did not seem particularly dangerous at the time.

For Thomas Beirne (Class of 1984), an ROTC and Phi Delta Theta member and longtime season-ticket holder, the Bowery Bowl stands out most.

The Bowery Bowl was held at his fraternity but involved much of the school over its three-day span. The house was located on the grounds of the modern-day Westgate Building, as he noted that campus is a lot more built up now than it was in the 1980s.

Looking around campus, Shaw also noted that the number of buildings has roughly doubled since his time as a student. The Creamery was in a different location, East Halls did not yet exist, and Penn State had seven breeds of cattle instead of one.

To alumni, the campus they returned to for Homecoming week may share the same name and traditions, but in many ways it bears little resemblance to the Penn State they first knew.

The Stories They Still Tell

Even as the campus around them changed, the moments alumni remembered most weren’t necessarily the ones that made any history books.

Beirne’s experiences at the Bowery Bowl included everything from typical fraternity shenanigans to people eating salamanders.

When he wasn’t enjoying his time at the house, Beirne played in a band called Kornerstone, performing in numerous downtown venues. He also enjoyed attending football games; at the time, student tickets were only $3 per game.

In 1964, Penn State football entered its matchup against undefeated No. 2 Ohio State as a significant underdog. Shaw recalled Penn State being viewed as an “also-ran,” a team that struggles to win, but the Nittany Lions stunned the Buckeyes 27-0 in Columbus, Ohio.

After the win, people celebrated downtown; students grabbed a Volkswagen Beetle and rolled it down College Ave. Shaw was also at Penn State around the time Joe Paterno became head coach and remembers getting to know him as his role at the university grew.

As a chemical engineering major, Beirne helped organize an early blue-and-white card display while working in the computer center.

He wrote a program that assigned students numbered cards to hold up at different times, allowing the section to form logos and other designs. Though the project lasted only about two seasons, the concept closely resembled today’s S-Zone.

While he was not designing the program, Beirne could be found riding his motorcycle up and down the steps of Pattee Library with his fraternity brothers.

In 1976, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played a famous concert at Rec Hall during the “Chicken Scratch” leg of the Born to Run tour. Tickets were $4 each and very difficult to obtain. However, Fenton had two and planned to attend with his girlfriend. As he arrived, someone outside of Rec Hall offered to buy the tickets from him, which he accepted.

Later, he and his friend knocked on the doors of Rec Hall until someone let them in, allowing them to watch the concert anyway.

As the years pass, the strange and spontaneous moments often remain clearest in alumni’s minds. Beyond the stories, what lasted was often less about where they went or what they did than about who they experienced it with.

What Penn State Gave Them

For some, what lasted beyond graduation was not a particular game, building, or tradition, but the relationships Penn State helped create.

To Paul Buber (Class of 1982) and his wife, Joanna, who graduated from Penn State in 2015 after returning to school for nursing, the best part about Penn State is the camaraderie, especially when times get tough.

To the Bubers, football played an important part in their relationship. After dating briefly and being unsure where the relationship was going, Paul took Joanna to a Penn State football game. She became loud and rowdy, despite having been quiet beforehand. It was then that Paul realized she was the one.

Joanna Buber also recalled that her manager at work told her she was hired in part because she was a Penn State graduate. For the Bubers, Penn State fostered connections that extended beyond friendships and relationships into their professional lives.

Beirne’s Penn State connections also lasted well beyond his own time as a student. His experience in Phi Delta Theta eventually extended into his family when he introduced his brother-in-law to the fraternity 10 years later, who later joined himself.

Beirne acknowledged that time has a way of changing these memories, particularly at events like Homecoming week, where alumni can view their college years through what he called “rose-colored lenses.”

The difficult moments fade, he said, while the stories worth retelling tend to remain.

What Time Taught Them

Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of the alumni with the wildest stories were also the first to tell current students not to make all the same choices they did.

The Bubers described Penn State as a wonderful experience that is difficult to replicate later in life: “Enjoy your time here, because it won’t come again.”

Beirne had a few similar words of advice for uncertain students: “Enjoy your days here, and don’t be afraid to stick to your convictions. If something seems like it’s a bad idea, it just might be a bad idea.”

Shaw, admittedly not a Dean’s List student, said: “Study harder.”

He attributed his shortcomings in school to a lack of effort and wants current college students to remember why they are at Penn State.

Put simply, Fenton noted, “Don’t party too much, because I did.”

For Shaw, Fenton, Beirne, and the Bubers, Penn State may look very different from the one they remember, but the stories they still tell make it clear that the years they spent here never really left them.

Homecoming week just gave them another reason to remember why. No matter the decade, there’s always a reason to come back home to Penn State.