Despite the rocky football season, campus will be crowded this weekend.

About 20,000 alumni will attend Homecoming, said Ginny Hensley, the director of alumni programming, Homecoming co-chair and a 1997 graduate.

Hensley works in the alumni relations office, which has planned 10 to 12 alumni events this week.

The events kicked off yesterday with the Chili and Cheese Luncheon, Hensley said.

Today, the Hall of Distinguished Alumni will induct three people. They are Romeo Crennel, the former head coach of the Cleveland Browns, the late Dr. Daniel McIlvoy, a Bowling Green pediatrician and doctor during the Vietnam War, and Leon Page, an entrepreneur and philanthropist.

“This is the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon an alumni,” Hensley said.

The alumni association will also tailgate on South Lawn, Hensley said. The tent is open to all alumni.

There are more than 20 other alumni events hosted by different organizations, Hensley said.

So many, in fact, that the alumni relations office had trouble securing hotel rooms for alumni.

“Nearly all the hotels are full in Bowling Green,” Hensley said.

Mary Jo Phillips, the daughter of former basketball coach E.A. Diddle, is one of the many returning alumni. A 1953 graduate, Philips lives in Nashville and said she remembers the Homecoming bonfire.

She said it took place close to where Pearce-Ford Tower now stands.

“They just had cheers and a huge fire,” she said. “They would work on it forever and ever.”

She and her husband, 1954 graduate Jim Phillips, come back to visit old friends.

“It’s just something we do and we’ll continue doing,” Mary Jo Phillips said. “We get to see a lot of old ball players and hear their stories, which get larger every year.”

Local alumni are also involved.

Ann-Marie Blythe, a 1995 graduate who lives in Bowling Green, will be in the legacy march during the parade with her sons, 5-year-old triplets Austin, Connor and Dalton and 4-year-old Evan. All of her children also participate in the Growing Up Red Legacy Program.

The program, which is open to children of alumni, allows them to participate in special events such as the parade and receive birthday gifts.

Blythe also said her children have seen Big Red so much that Big Red often recognizes them.

Blythe said this is her third year attending. Though she didn’t come back before she had children, she wants them to know she enjoyed her time at Western.

“I’ve always loved it — it’s in my blood,” she said.