{"id":27289,"date":"2024-09-17T13:59:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T17:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=27289"},"modified":"2024-09-17T14:40:51","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T18:40:51","slug":"dorothy-dot-hicks-named-2024-homecoming-grand-marshal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2024\/09\/dorothy-dot-hicks-named-2024-homecoming-grand-marshal\/","title":{"rendered":"Dorothy \u2018Dot\u2019 Hicks named 2024 Homecoming grand marshal"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marshall University, the Marshall University Foundation and the Marshall University Alumni Association are excited to announce Dorothy \u201cDot\u201d Hicks will serve as grand marshal for the university\u2019s 2024 Homecoming activities the week of Sept. 30 through Oct. 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are proud to recognize Dot Hicks \u2014 a trailblazer, leader and legend \u2014 as this year\u2019s grand marshal,\u201d said Matt James, vice president of alumni relations. \u201cHer commitment and contributions to our university have made a significant impact, and we are honored to celebrate her service throughout Homecoming week. This has been a year of breakout women sports, so there\u2019s no better time to highlight our own Herd sports icon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Highlighting her role as grand marshal, Hicks will lead the annual Homecoming parade at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4. The popular parade is set to make its way down Fourth Avenue in Huntington before ending on campus. The parade will be a part of a full week of activities for this year\u2019s Homecoming, \u201cThe Marco Games,\u201d which takes a Marshall spin on multi-sport events from a wide range of disciplines providing unity and athletic excellence.<\/p>\n

Hicks is a former administrator, coach and professor at Marshall, and was dubbed the \u201cpioneer of the women\u2019s sports program at Marshall,\u201d during her induction to Marshall Athletics\u2019 Hall of Fame in 1990. Hicks has also left a legacy of philanthropic giving toward the university with multiple scholarships bearing her name. In March 2008, Marshall opened Dot Hicks Field, the university\u2019s softball stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing selected as grand marshal is one of the best things that\u2019s ever happened to me,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cIt\u2019s been wonderful thinking about it, and I\u2019ve thought about it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks, who is originally from Old Hickory, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, graduated from Peabody College with bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in biology and special education. She received a doctorate from the University of Tennessee in higher education and administration and arrived in Huntington in 1969 after 14 years teaching at East Tennessee State University.<\/p>\n

Hicks founded the women\u2019s intercollegiate athletic programs at Marshall. She served as an associate athletic director in the 1970s and was also a professor in the Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, which included being chair of the Physical Education Department. She coached several sports at Marshall, including tennis, golf and volleyball. She went on to serve as the director of athletics for women\u2019s sports and the liaison to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be recognized,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t trying to impress anyone. I wanted to make sure the athletes had what they needed. Teaching was my first love, and I thought women should have the same rights as the men.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1974, Hicks awarded the first two athletic scholarships in women\u2019s sports to golfer Nancy Bunton and basketball player Kathy Haas.<\/p>\n

Hicks said there was a time in her life when she thought it would not have been possible for her to attend college. Her Kiwanis Club in Nashville thought differently, and through their help, Hicks was able to receive scholarships to attend college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI promised them that when I was financially able, I would create scholarships, which I have done,\u201d Hicks said, creating numerous scholarships with the Marshall University Foundation and the Big Green Scholarship Foundation.<\/p>\n

Hicks retired from Marshall in 1999 and in 2000 moved to Woodlands Retirement Community in Huntington. Though she still has family in Nashville, Hicks said Huntington has become her home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to see the students and what they\u2019ve done with their lives,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cMarshall is the best school in the country, in my opinion, because of the faculty, students and administration. With our current administration, we\u2019ll be known all over the country and maybe even the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the Homecoming parade, Hicks will also participate in other major events on and around campus leading up to the Homecoming football game against Appalachian State University on Saturday, Oct. 5. Other highlights of Homecoming week for alumni include the Unity Walk on Monday, Sept. 30; the Alumni Association\u2019s 25th and 50th Class Reunion, and Marshall University Black Alumni\u2019s Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 4; and the Marshall University Alumni Tailgate presented by Woodlands Retirement Community on Oct. 5. More information about this year\u2019s Homecoming can be found at www.formarshallu.org\/homecoming<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshall University, the Marshall University Foundation and the Marshall University Alumni Association are excited to announce Dorothy \u201cDot\u201d Hicks will serve as grand marshal for the university\u2019s 2024 Homecoming activities the week of Sept. 30 through Oct. 5. \u201cWe are proud to recognize Dot Hicks \u2014 a trailblazer, leader and legend \u2014 as this year\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27289"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27293,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27289\/revisions\/27293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}