A Romney Has Finally
Returned to Utah State
By Hannah Romney
A01253380
Logan, Utah- When seeing the name
of the Utah State Football Stadium as “Romney Stadium,” it would be assumed
that several descendants of the legendary football coach, E.L. “Dick” Romney,
have attended and are attending Utah State University. As it turns out, none of
Dick Romney’s posterity has been attending this school for more than 40 years. Hannah Romney, great-granddaughter, has set
out to break this drought and make her great grandfather proud.
E.L. “Dick” Romney became the Athletic
Director at Utah State when he was 23 years old. Along with being the director,
Dick also coached the football and basketball teams. In the end he coached for
31 years winning 128 football games and 224 basketball games. And in September
1969, the Utah State Football Stadium was named after him in a ceremony for all
of his friends and family to see.
After attending the University of
Utah for two years, Hannah decided it was time for a change. So she enrolled at
Utah State University so she could bring the family name back to Logan. She
said; “I was starting to become bored with my routine in Salt Lake, so when I
looked at other schools I decided to come to Utah State because I have a lot of
family history here.” By making this decision Hannah has made her family very
proud. When telling her Grandmother, Veda Romney (Dick’s daughter-in-law), It
brought Veda to tears. Veda was born and raised in Logan and is very proud of
it. You can often catch her telling stories of how she used to climb to the top
of Old Main with her best friend, Martha Peterson, who happened to be daughter
of the President of Utah State University at that time. She said; “Every Sunday
Martha and I would steal the key from her Father and play at the top of Old
Main for hours.” Utah State also holds a special place in her heart because it
is where she met her husband, Dick Romney, son of the famous coach.
Dick and Veda raised their four
children in Salt Lake City and taught them to be Aggie fans. But since their
third daughter, Carol, attended USU none of their children or grandchildren has
been here since. This is surprising because with such rich family history in
Logan, several would jump at the opportunity to come here.
Hannah Romney is majoring in Public
Relations and hopes to be part of Aggie Athletics from an administrative
standpoint someday in the future. She is
an avid sports fan and follows many teams in different sports including Aggie
football and basketball. Hannah states,
“I guess I won’t be able to coach football like my Dad’s grandpa did, but I can
definitely watch it and think about my great grandpa and all he contributed to
this place. Who knows? Maybe while I’m here I’ll be able to make my
own mark on the university. Hopefully,
if nothing else, I’ll be able to pass down a love of this place to my children
and grandchildren so that more of Dick Romney’s posterity can feel as proud as
I feel to be here.”
