I’d never seen anything like it.

At half-time at a recent beautiful afternoon of football at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, The Pride of the Dakotas marching band spelled out “‘Bye Peggy” on the field, and saluted soon-to-retire President Miller with their rendition of “Hey Baby” (inserting Peggy) at the end of the always thrilling half-time show.

I’ve seen presidential salutes before during a half-century of watching the Jackrabbits and The Pride at old State Field and now at aging Coughlin Stadium.

But I can’t recall ever seeing what happened next.

As President Miller stood to wave and acknowledge the band’s vocal rendition, spectators in the stadium began to stand, too.

First a few rose to their feet, then others, until nearly all were standing. They spontaneously turned toward President Miller, and began to applaud.

They were showing their collective-but more importantly-their individual appreciation for what Mrs. Miller has meant to them and to their university and for what she has done during her nine-year tenure at SDSU.

This diminutive, five feet, one-inch lady from a little town in Kentucky has been turning heads and inspiring applause over and over during her time in South Dakota. She hasn’t stumbled and she hasn’t fallen, as many naysayers predicted.

She’s stood up to the politicians and their minions. When she was first appointed, some were not all that pleased that the Board of Regents had selected not only an “easterner,” but someone with little experience in agriculture and Great Plains economics. And, heaven forbid, she was a woman. SDSU had never had one of those at the helm before.

Many felt she’d never be able to articulate her school’s needs to hard-headed, conservative leaders in a state not known for gold-plated coffers. They’d eat that little lady alive, some predicted. They’ll issue her marching orders and she’ll hold back a “rearin’-to-go” South Dakota State University` in its traces to trot dutifully along side, not ahead of the rest of the pack.

Does she even know what a feed lot is…or what a South Dakota ranch or farm looks like and needs? She probably thinks a Poland China hog is akin to a Noritake China wood duck.

Well, the naysayers were wrong. Since she moved into the president’s office on the first day of 1998 she’s handled it nicely.

She’s swatted flies in cattle sheds and slogged through experimental plots at field days from Antelope Station to Cottonwood. She’s rested her foot on the weathered bottom board of the feedlot and corral fences, and chatted with the farmers and ranchers about their problems, hopes and dreams in a language they understand. She’s helped keep strong that traditional bond between the Land Grant University and the citizens who make their livelihood from South Dakota agriculture.

She’s hosted world-famous artists, authors, scientists, university students from small towns like Artesian and Kaylor, and foreign and domestic dignitaries on campus and at her home. She’s made speeches to high ranking government officials, important industry leaders and South Dakota high school graduating classes of all sizes, some with fewer seniors in the audience than there are members of the Jackrabbit’s golf team.

During her watch, enrollment at SDSU has grown by 2,559 students, more than the current enrollment of Northern State, Dakota State or the School of Mines, whose president, by the way, earned a salary larger than hers and he doesn’t have nearly the headache or the challenge of leading a university community of over 11,000 students, a large, diverse faculty and a Cooperative Extension Service and Experiment Station to boot.

The number of SDSU students on scholarships has grown by 140 percent. Annual dollars for scholarships are now over $3 million, up 253 percent since 1998.

Total grant and contract income to the state’s Land Grant university has grown by 300 percent. She helped organize the new campus Research Park. Total invested in new buildings and in renovation of existing campus buildings was nearly $73 million during her years at the helm.

She’s expanded the academic offerings and created opportunities for SDSU students to study at over 125 universities around the world. She’s expanded offerings in the arts and provided leadership as the Jackrabbits’ made the successful move up to Division One in athletics. She’s accepted on behalf of faculty, students and the people of South Dakota dozens of university honors and accolades.

She’d be the first to say that she was only a part of all this, assigning most of the credit to the students, the scientists, the teachers and the others, from accountants to the plumbers and custodians, all of whom under her leadership worked together to make SDSU even better.

The small town girl from Mayfield, Kentucky, has fit in perfectly and has adopted South Dakota as her state. After retirement the last day of this December, she and her husband Bob, who has also worked tirelessly (and without pay) for SDSU, will move to their newly acquired Volga home, and join with the rest of us in our support of SDSU and of her successor, new President David Chicoine.

The Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band that recently led a spontaneous salute to her is more than one of the best in the county.

The “Pride” is all of us, too, Peggy and Bob Miller included.

I went to Frost Arena on campus last Thursday (Feb. 2) for the SDSU game against Southwest Minnesota State.

Southwest had beaten other South Dakota teams this year and embarrassed the Jackrabbits last year. But I didn’t go hoping the Jackrabbit men would be victorious, and I didn’t go thinking that they would lose.

I didn’t go to avoid having to watch the premiere of the TV show Survivor at home. And I had no yearning for Frost Arena concession stand hot dogs (although I ended up eating two-slathered with onions).

I went to the game to show my support for Coach Scott Nagy, his staff and the young men who have, perhaps more than any other Jackrabbit team in a memory of fifty seasons, put it on the line under difficult circumstances.

I figured for all the members of the team have been through this year and last, they needed to know that was sticking with them through this dry period, knowing that a bumper crop awaits them somewhere up ahead.

And from the size of the Frost Arena crowd, I believe there were many at the game for the same reason.

They were there to show their appreciation and their support for a good bunch of young men who have never stopped trying.

To say it has been the season from hell might be an understatement.

But the players haven’t cashed in or given up and gone home. Heaven knows, they’ve tried to live up to what Jackrabbit fans have come to expect of their teams.

Difficult as it must be for them, they’ve sacrificed their time for lengthy practices, missed holidays at home and have had a numbing travel schedule. Being short-handed, they’ve played beyond their reserve of stamina, and mentally they’ve work their way through some embarrassments, often televised nationally.

They show up and they play the game, and I guess in life, that’s the lesson for all of us.

They play with purpose despite having lost star Steve Holdren to a season-ending knee injury, and now this latest circumstance that has decimated the starting five by another forty percent as this is written.

Scheduling hasn’t helped make this a season to remember, either. Starting out against the likes of Kentucky and Illinois and the recent eight-day swing through the Utah desert have probably been lessons for the coaches to pack away as they begin the arduous task now of working out the kinks for next year and the seasons beyond.

So I was there for an entertaining game that will be a topic of conversation by soon-to-be SDSU alumni as they meet years from now in the clothing of old men and women, talking about the good old collegiate days.

Freshman Matt Cadwell is destined to be one of the greats in Jackrabbit basketball history. Injured teammate Steve Holdren is, too. And that late-game shot by freshman wide receiver, six-foot five Mike Steffen, who was called up to help fill the breach, will be a future highlight long remembered.

I enjoyed last Thursday night’s game more than any I’ve watched in the last two seasons. The Jackrabbits were determined. The crowd was appreciative and the students, who have been sadly lacking at most games this year, were loud, boisterous and supportive, like the student crowds of old.

The noise was an echo of how I remember it once was.

The game brought back fond memories.

This transition to another level will take time.

I’m sticking with the Jackrabbits, not matter how long it takes.

Chuck Cecil is an SDSU graduate, a former Collegian editor, a former SDSU administrator, and a retired newspaper publisher. He has watched Jackrabbit basketball since 1955, rarely missing a home game. Cecil graduated from SDSU with a degree in journalism in 1959. He earned a master’s degree in journalism in 1971. Cecil writes a weekly column for The Brookings Register and this column is reprinted with his permission.