Note: This story went up a few weeks ago, but our system ate the story, so we’re reposting for your continued enjoyment.

The butcher paper yellow brick road that the Millikan cheerleaders laid down for three very special guests last Friday looked more gold than yellow, as the campus welcomed back Ryan Bailey, Susie Atwood, and Mike Tully.  All three are alumni; all three are medal-decorated Olympians.

At the lunchtime rally, the Olympians  took the stage and greeted the students, who gave them a roaring ovation.  Bailey, class of ’94, was a silver medalist with this year’s water polo team (which he was the senior member of); Atwood, ’72, was the youngest swimmer to ever compete in the Olympics for the USA, and actually missed part of her first semester in order to travel to Mexico City; she also won medals at Munich.  Among the changes made at Millikan since she attended is the addition of a girls’ swim team—while at Millikan, Atwood had to train with a club team, as the pre-Title IX budged didn’t have room in it for a girls’ program.  Tully, class of ’74, was an Olympic pole vaulter, who captured a silver (though he was heavily favored to win a gold) in 1984 and missed another chance to take home the top prize because of the United States’ boycott of the Moscow games.

The Olympians brought their past achievements into the present with donations to Millikan’s still-forming Hall of Fame, which will be introduced some time later this year, or next.  Bailey gave his Speedo and cap from the Beijing games, and Tully donated his Olympic jersey.  According to Millikan AD Gayle Braun, the school also has a jersey from Jason Bell, a Millikan grad and defensive lineman on last year’s Super Bowl champion Giants squad.

After the rally, the Olympians signed autographs for a long line of students and fielded questions about their experiences, before moving to the library to answer more questions from student athletes.  The water polo players were especially excited to talk to Bailey, made even more so by the fact that he tossed his silver medal to them so they could pass it around and try it on.  Somebody asked him if he could come to their first game the next week, but Bailey had to decline: He’s flying to Hungary to meet with his pro team next week.

The students were honored and excited to have such great athletes come back to visit them; with the long history Millikan has sending athletes to the Olympics, from Atwood to Bailey, it would be no surprise if one of them is making the same visit in thirty years.

All photos by JJ Fiddler