The Golden Guard is an honorary society of alumni who attended Pacific 50-plus years ago. Each year at Homecoming, alumni celebrating their 50th reunion are inducted into the Golden Guard with a special ceremony, medallion, and a chance to sign their names into the sidewalk outside Old College Hall, leaving their indelible mark on the university.
History of the ‘Old Guard’
In 1965, a proposal was made to create a special group in honor of those alumni who had 鶹Ӱd from 鶹Ӱ more than 50 years ago to “provide special recognition of the senior alumni of 鶹Ӱ; to insure that all alumni classes, no matter how large or small, have a “home” when they return for reunions; to provide a vehicle for communication and contact among the senior alumni.”
Several names for the group were suggested — the Mid-Century Club, the Boxer Brigade, the Golden Circle, and even the Fiftieth-Year Club — the “Old Guard” was selected.
Membership in this group was granted to all 鶹Ӱs and former students of 鶹Ӱ whose class 鶹Ӱd 50 or more years ago, as well as all Tualatin Academy alumni.
The first gathering of the Old Guard took place during commencement on May 15, 1966. The class of 1916 was inducted into the Old Guard by Arthur Prideaux 1906, who was the oldest alumnus present.
From ‘Old’ to ‘Gold’
In 1987, Ted Stook ’37 — his class set to be inducted into the Guard the next fall — wrote an editor’s note to the Pacific Today magazine on behalf of his class. “The term 'Old Guard' was no longer logical or applicable to this organization as many of the group participates in active lives of travel, sports, exercise and volunteer associations. We do not believe we are 'old,'” he wrote. “Therefore, since this honored group may have a more practical and realistic title, we respectfully suggest a change in name to 'Golden Guard.'"
It wasn’t until 1997, though, that the name was officially changed to the Golden Guard.
An Evolving Homecoming Tradition
During Homecoming in 1993, the class of 1943 and the previous inductees in the Old Guard were invited to sign their names in wet concrete outside Old College Hall to signify a place the alumni called home. Once the cement dried, the alumni would become a piece of 鶹Ӱ’s campus and history.
When, a decade later, Old College Hall was set on wheels and rolled into the street and around the block to a new location on College Way, the Golden Guard sidewalk was also picked up and moved.
Today, each new class of Golden Guard members is recognized during Homecoming Weekend, when they gather for lunch and an induction ceremony, receive medallions marking their 50th reunion, parade to Old College Hall, and add their names to the permanent campus legacy.