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ROTC Rivalry Run delivering game ball Saturday

by Deanne Puca

Sept. 15, 2011 | WMU News

Photo of WMU ROTC cadet on Rivalry Run.
WMU ROTC cadet carries the ball on the Rivalry Run.
KALAMAZOO--Cadets from Army ROTC units at both Western Michigan University and Central Michigan University will once again participate in a popular rivalry tradition Friday, Sept. 16, as they stage a Rivalry Run to transfer the game ball for the Sept. 17 football showdown between the Broncos and Chippewas.

The ball will leave CMU Friday afternoon and will be handed off to WMU cadets at midnight near Ionia, halfway through the approximately 120-mile run. Up to 24 members of the WMU Army ROTC unit will take turns in pairs running the ball to WMU's Waldo Stadium prior to the noon kickoff Saturday. Cadets expect the runners to be in the vicinity of Kalamazoo by 9 a.m. that day.

The annual run is a WMU-CMU game week tradition popular in earlier times. The run takes a total of approximately 20 hours, 10 hours for each school's ROTC cadets.

For more information, contact Lt. Col. Brett Johnson of WMU's Department of Military Science at brett.johnson@wmich.edu or (269) 387-8122.