Lucky for her, Nancy Suchomski’s undergrad years just so happened to coincide with two Illini legends who’d go on to achieve fame and fortune in the NBA.
“Seeing Eddie Johnson and Derek Harper play ball at the Assembly Hall" tops the 1982 grad's lengthy list of happy memories from those days. "I was a huge fan of Lou Henson."
Other favorite flashbacks from the director of resource development at the United Way of Champaign County:
— “Participating in the Block I with my parents during one of our Dad’s Day Football games. Even though our football team did not perform well that day, we still managed to have fun.
— “Spending time on the Quad in the spring. It was my go-to place for studying when it was warm, playing Frisbee or just hanging out with friends.
— “Making several lifelong friends from my dorm days at Carr 0 in the Pennsylvania Avenue Residence Hall. Our floor was in the basement of that building and our windows opened out onto the courtyard. The women who shared that floor with me helped broaden my outlook as we were a very diverse group.
— “Working at a small deli on Green Street called Bubby and Zadie’s. They had great deli sandwiches and a fantastic salad bar. We had a constant flow of students coming in who loved our food. Right down the street from Bubby and Zadie’s was Mabel’s, a very laid-back bar that had a wide variety of music and bean bag chairs for seating.
— “Studying many late nights at the Illini Union vending room on the first floor. There was a group of us and we ate lots of vending machine popcorn and drank coffee from a machine to help us stay awake as we studied for our biology and chemistry exams.
— “Serving on the Volunteer Illini Project team. We volunteered in many different ways to support the Champaign community, including doing a continuous dance-a-thon for a whole weekend without sleep in order to raise funds for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
“The university will always hold a special place in my heart and helped make so many memories of my undergrad years there.”
