Larry Augusta, a 1962 graduate of Sacramento State, recalls a far more spirited homecoming from the one he experienced this past weekend.

“We used to have a big parade down K Street,” he said. “All of the fraternities, sororities and residence halls put together big floats. We always had bonfire rallies, a king and queen. We had a lot of great traditions which kind of died over the years.”

Forty-one years later, Augusta, co-chair of the 2003 homecoming festivities, is working to rebuild a homecoming tradition which he feels eroded during the late 1960s and 1970s as students became “disaffected” from university events.

Prior to 2002, it had been 26 years since Sac State had ahomecoming king and queen.

This year’s winners, Izran Nalleh and Sophia Alvov, were crowned at the end of last Friday’s pep rally and were the first winners to have $200 added to their OneCards.

A king and queen selection committee chose Nalleh and Alvov based upon their GPA, campus involvement, a campus quiz and a personal statement and narrative.

Homecoming Week featured various student and alumni events around campus, including a free barbecue in the Library Quad, an alumni breakfast with former NBA star Kevin Johnson and a Students and Band Kick-off Parade through campus.

Despite the expanded festivities, Saturday’s Homecoming game was the lowest-attended home game of the year, with 6,022 in attendance. The Hornets have played five home games so far this season.

“When we win, everyone will start coming out and this will be a football school,” senior receiver Kenan Smith said.

Junior wide receiver Jason Girley, a transfer from Idaho State, feels Sac State’s commuter-campus environment has had an adverse effect on the attendance of campus events.

“Sacramento is so big, and Idaho State is in such a little town (Pocatello). It’s kind of like a football town, so they have more people coming out,” he said. “Here, it’s a Friday night, and a lot of people have other things to do.”

The Alumni Center spent roughly $25,000 towards advertising Homecoming Week to the 98,000 alumni in Northern California, according to the center’s special projects director, Craig Perez.

Associated Students, Inc. President Peter Ucovich, whiledisappointed with the turnout at the rally &- approximately 200 students &- hopes more campus events will increase involvement.

“It would be great to see more students and alumniinvolved,” Ucovich said. “But that’s part of the process. It’s hard to break the curve. And we know that traditions take time to be made.”

Augusta, who served as a residential advisor in the dorms,played for the pep band and was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity while at Sac State, understands the benefits of campus involvement.

“You don”t remember who taught you trigonometry or calculus, but you remember, “Hey, we had a great time at the football game,'” he said. “Now we”re trying to revive some of those traditions, because they are part of college life.”