WKU welcomes Army to Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium for the first time on Saturday at 11 a.m., and many activities surrounding the game have been planned, headlined by a pre-game appearance by the U.S. Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights.
Tickets for the Army game can be purchased online at WKUSports.com or through the WKU Ticket Office at E.A. Diddle Arena or over the phone at 1-800-5-BIG RED or 745-5222 locally.
The Golden Knights, now in their 50th year of existence and considered to be the world’s best parachute team, will land inside Houchens-Smith Stadium after entertaining the crowd with aerial stunts and acrobatics. In addition, WKU President Dr. Gary Ransdell will tandem jump onto the practice field next to the stadium and present the game ball to the official leading up to the coin toss.
Fans are encouraged to arrive in their seats by 10:30 to ensure being able to watch the Golden Knights’ performance.
During the national anthem before the game, the WKU ROTC will unveil a large United States of America flag over the field.
At the end of the first quarter, WKU will unveil an honorary chair MIA-POW seat that will stand permanently inside the stadium to raise awareness for American Prisoners of War-Missing in Action. As it did when unveiling the MIA-POW seat at E.A. Diddle Arena last basketball season, WKU has once again partnered with Rolling Thunder, Inc., a national non-profit organization with the mission of educating the public on American POWs and MIAs from previous wars and helping protect and provide for American veterans from all wars.
Other featured presentations include recognition of active and retired military members who have served the country, recognition of WKU ROTC Dean’s List members, a tribute by the Barren County Junior ROTC to MIAs/POWs and those who have died serving the country and a WKU ROTC presentation to the cadets who participated in the Army 10-Miler in Washington, D.C.
The Golden Knights will be recognized on the field at the end of the third quarter.
Fans also have the opportunity to meet the Golden Knights prior to the Lady Topper Basketball game on Friday starting at 6 p.m.on the concourse of E.A. Diddle Arena, and WKU ROTC will be holding recruiting events during the week leading up to the football game.
For the sixth-straight year, WKU has been named to the Military Friendly Schools list by Victory Media, which honors the top 15 percent of universities in the country that are doing the most to embrace America’s military students and to dedicate resources to ensure their success in the classroom and after graduation.
Among the programs WKU offers to its growing population of more than 2,000 active duty military, veterans and their family members are Army ROTC, Air Force ROTC, Military Student Services, a Student Veterans Alliance, a Veterans Resource Center, Veterans Upward Bound, Office of Veterans Affairs and programs at WKU’s Elizabethtown Fort Knox campus.
The Veterans Resource Center also houses CanDoo, a therapy dog, and hosts the Textbooks For Troops program, which this semester is providing more than $73,000 worth of free textbooks. The program lends textbooks each semester to eligible military, veterans and their family members. Books are loaned out to students at all WKU locations, or shipped across the globe to our military students taking distance-learning courses.