Longtime friends among alums in this Saturday’s ceremonial Baylor Line run
The Baylor Line will be stronger than ever this Saturday.
More than 900 Baylor women who attended BU between 1970-94, back when the Line was a male-only organization, will take the field at McLane Stadium on Saturday for a Ceremonial Running of the Baylor Line before the football game against UT. These women will get to live out a distinct Baylor experience for the first time, customized line jerseys and all — and check an important item off their Baylor bucket list that’s been years in the making.
Among those running the Line Saturday will be a group of women whose bond goes back more than 30 years, to when the four of them were freshmen in North Russell Hall. Debbie Bryant-Smith (BBA ’89, MBA ’90), Chera Bain-Jackson (BS ’89), Jamie Noland-Smith (BBA ’89) and Kristen St. Peter-Brown (BBA ’89) bonded over meals at Penland and sessions spent scouring the old Freshman Annual, the way to see who was who in the days before social media.
Their story, like so many others in the Baylor Family, is a story of friendships that stayed strong throughout the ups and downs and life, long after their time on campus was through.
After graduation, life took Debbie, Chera, Jamie and Kristen to different cities, with family and careers the focus of most of their time. But the time they spent together, in spite of their obligations and the distance between them, made their bonds even stronger. About a decade after graduating from Baylor, the quartet began to get together once a year for a girls’ trip to a spa or other destination, traveling both far (Puerta Vallarta and Miami) and near (Dallas and Waco).
“The neat thing is, it doesn’t matter how busy the year has been, I know this will be my opportunity to completely relax and be with girls who completely understand me and know me,” Debbie says. “We’ve got so much history. Three of us don’t have sisters, so this little group has become our sisterhood. It’s an unconditional love sort of thing. We all have demands and professional jobs, but when we get back together, it’s like we’re 18 again. It’s nice to have that little family you can always go back to.”
Saturday, all four will run together in the Baylor Line. Jamie, a football season ticket holder whose son, Grayson, is a Baylor freshman, contacted the rest immediately upon hearing about the ceremonial running. She didn’t want to miss out on a chance to run on the same field as her son, and she didn’t want to do it without her sisters. They all agreed, and their jerseys will tell the story of their shared history together (“MamaSpaBear” 1, 2, 3 and 4).
“It’s like a re-do for us, and we’re excited to be a part of the evolution of this tradition,” Debbie adds. “Baylor is such a huge part of our lives, and to be able to share in this with them and other Baylor women is special. I work with the Baylor Women’s Network of Houston, and I’m constantly amazed at the creativity, community, poise and professionalism of Baylor women. It’s exciting to be a part of that community and to share in this with so many other Baylor women running.”
Sic ’em, Debbie, Chera, Jamie, Kristin, and all Baylor women running the Line Saturday!