Welcome home, Willie Nelson!

Last Thursday night was a memory decades in the making, as Willie Nelson returned to his alma mater and took the stage at Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark.

Almost 75 years after he attended Baylor, the legendary country artist — at age 93 — performed for nearly an hour and a half on a picture-perfect evening. The performance, of course, included such classics as “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” and “On the Road Again.”

The sold-out crowd of more than 6,000 spanned virtually every age, from kids and college students on up — all brought together by a historic night.

Before the concert, Baylor President Linda Livingstone presented Nelson with his own Baylor Line jersey and an official Alumni-by-Choice decree. (Nelson attended BU for four months in 1954 on the G.I. Bill before deciding “I really wanted to play music more than I wanted to be a lawyer.”)

A cancelled concert at Baylor in 1988 led to a longstanding rumor that Baylor had banned Nelson from performing. As it turns out, the “ban” really was nothing but a rumor, and President Livingstone personally extended the invitation to Willie to return.

The night marked the first major concert event at Baylor Ballpark, but was just the latest in a series of Baylor concerts and events that has brought such performers as Forrest Frank (BBA ’17), Lauren Daigle, Hudson Westbrook, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jeff Dunham (BA ’86), and the Harlem Globetrotters to Foster Pavilion, McLane Stadium and Waco Hall.

Artists coming to Waco this summer and fall include La Fiera de Ojinaga & Los Pescadores del Río Conchos (July 19), Old Dominion (Sept. 18), and Braxton Keith (Oct. 2), with more announcements yet to come.

Sic ’em (and welcome home), Willie Nelson!

[BONUS: A cool timelapse showing Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark’s transformation, from final concert prep, through the event, and back to baseball by morning:]