History of
Vintage Purples Alumni Club

When you talk to Purple alumni regarding their time at the University of Montevallo, they cherish the time spent at UM. They particularly cherish the memories created as members of the Purple Side, which for most led to lifelong friendships and has shaped who they are in their professional, adult lives. It is clear that Purple alumni hold a special place in their hearts for their University and their Side. Not only do they want to reminisce about those experiences, they actively give back and continue to support the College Night tradition.
   Since 1921, the Purple Side has been producing outstanding alumni, many of whom have returned to Montevallo as audience members at one time or another. As the College Night tradition has continued to grow throughout the years, so too has the greater body of Purple Side alumni. In the Fall of 1999, Lee Griner and Blair Dyson began organizing and disseminating information to Vintage Purples. Through this and the work of the inaugural Vintage Purple Planning Committee, Vintage Purples across the country were finally connected to their side beyond graduation. In the years following, the group consistently set up a hotel room block in order to ensure best pricing for out of town alumni. In the first year, there were a total of 10 rooms in the purple room block and that number has continued to grow every year. Needless to say, things took off after that. Each year, more alumni come back to College Night and the Vintage Purples Alumni Club works to make that experience a memorable one. We now make more welcome bags than ever, are in contact with more alumni than ever, and are persistent in our efforts to preserve the game of College Night.
   While Vintage Purples have always been a presence at the College Night festivities, increased communication to the body of alumni out there has made a profound impact on the number of alumni that get involved with our organization. This lead to a number of planned activities that take place over the College Night weekend and required more volunteers to make them a reality. As Facebook has become a go-to source for information and updates, we needed someone to organize social media. And the list goes on and on… so we got organized. We invited anyone and everyone who wanted to help to jump in and lend a hand!
   In the Fall of 2013, a new wave of volunteers and a final push for official recognition led to a proposal to be included as an official alumni organization by the University of Montevallo Alumni Association. Every other alumni club for the UMNAA is geographically based, mostly in major metro cities around the US. They get together a couple times a year for dinner. The Vintage Purples Alumni Club is quite different. We have more people in more places around the world, we get together for an entire weekend every year and we communicate throughout the year to our members. There are many advantages of recognition by the UMNAA, such as the ability to share photos and updates when we have gatherings, listing our annual homecoming brunch in the official schedule of events, and having an account with UM so that your donations are always tax deductible.
The group is and always will be entirely run by Vintage Purples who volunteer their time and talent to the group. Those volunteers will change over time as will the group, but isn’t that the beauty of our purple family? We are always growing, changing and forever celebrating the joy of being purple. Being an alumni club has allowed us to reach out to even more purple alumni to ensure that vintage purples across all generations who want to come back to College Night and be “in the know” can do just that. There are so many great ideas, projects, and opportunities, and now we have the structure and support of the UMNAA to grow.
   Special thanks goes to the original Vintage Purple Planning Committee and to all the Vintage Purples who have donated their time, money, talent and support. This organization belongs to every one of us and there is no limit to what we can accomplish on behalf of our University and the “Side we love so well.”