OXFORD — A banner sat motionless above University Avenue, welcoming visitors into The Grove. Its blue backdrop was topped by white text reading, “Welcome to Ole Miss orientation.”
Beyond it, academic buildings were locked. University vehicles were untouched. The chirps of birds were met by leaves crunching under the footsteps of locals out for a walk. Seventeen blue and red trash cans were scattered around the Grove Pavilion, awaiting a weekly summer concert series.
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A mile away, Oxford’s Square was much the same. Families moseyed around following brunches and church services. Shoppers emerged from boutiques bragging about the next shorts in their collection.
It was a typical Sunday afternoon in Oxford. But at 4:56 p.m. — moments after Ole Miss baseball took down Oklahoma 4-2 for its first national title — a new late-June scene arose.
Shouting came from The Library sports bar as fans, many of whom left a Swayze Field watch party shut down in the fourth due to storms in the area, celebrated with beer showers.
The band Queen’s “We Are the Champions” rained down as patrons inside the bar hugged, made FaceTime calls to loved ones and watched on the multiples TVs as Ole Miss dog-piled 700 miles away in Omaha, Nebraska, after taking the College World Series by storm.
Mike Dubrueler was the first in The Library to react when Brandon Johnson fanned Oklahoma’s Sebastian Orduno to complete Ole Miss’ sweep of the Sooners in the best-of-three-games series. Before the ball hit catcher Hayden Dunhurst’s glove, Dubrueler shouted, “It’s over!”
He lifted his arms over his head before quickly using them to cover him from the beer pouring down on him. Dubrueler has been an Ole Miss fan for about 40 years and moved to Oxford in 1993. The only scene he can remember resembling Sunday’s came when Ole Miss football defeated Alabama in 2015.
“Unbelievable. Really unbelievable,” Dubrueler said. “We’ve come close a lot of times, it just didn’t happen. Now it has.”
Dan Clynch isn’t as familiar with the agonizing history of Ole Miss baseball. But his daughter Grayson, who graduated from the university this year, made sure he was in Oxford to experience the jubilation.
They drove from Chicago on Sunday morning just in case the Rebels pulled it off. Dan watched from just outside the crowd as fans danced, screamed and cried.
“You never know what pitch is going to end it,” Dan said. “Once that third strike happened, this place just went crazy.”
Outside the bar, drivers honked their horns and shouted, “Hotty Toddy” as they passed through The Square, a locale of boutiques, restaurants, bars and more in the heart of campus. One women danced with her baby. Another helped guide a drunk friend home — both drenched in rain and beer.
Jordan Hoecherl was a Rebellete while attending the university, and she always dreamed of being at The Library for a moment like this. With her powder blue baseball jersey on, she sat among those closest to the TVs when the final out was recorded.
She called Ole Miss a “high mountain, low valley” team after the Rebels went from a No. 1 ranking this season to a team announced as the last at-large team to crack the NCAA Tournament field. But much of the agony spurred the magnitude of the celebration.
“They did it for us,” Hoecherl said. “They fought for the University of Mississippi. They did so (expletive) good.”
Incoming freshmen will return for Ole Miss’ next session of orientation Monday, perhaps to the scene of select fans still recovering from Sunday night’s celebration.
The Class of 2026 will learn lessons of newly created legends, see a city preparing for a parade and pass a Walk of Champions holding a new meaning.
And in eight months, they’ll see a new banner go up at Swayze Field.
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @skrajisnik3.