J. Denny Weaver, meet J. Denny Beaver.

The introduction may go something like that when Dr. J. Denny Weaver, professor emeritus of religion at Bluffton University, meets the new Bluffton mascot named in his honor on Homecoming Saturday, Oct. 9, at the university. The two J. Dennys will get together for the first time at 12:30 p.m. in the picnic tent inside Salzman Stadium.

Weaver, a leading theologian, was a faculty member from 1975-2006 and Bluffton's faculty athletics representative for 22 of those years.

The Weaver-Beaver meeting is among many events helping comprise the Homecoming celebration at Bluffton. Also new this year is a 9:30 a.m. alumnae breakfast in Marbeck Center's Kreider Room. Five past Homecoming queens have been invited to share anecdotes from their Bluffton coronations, joined by other alumnae who will reminisce about campus life-from a female perspective-and share stories of their post-graduation lives and careers.

Football alumni will also gather at 9:30 a.m., in The Commons in Marbeck, following 9 a.m. tours of the football/baseball locker facility in Burcky Gym that was upgraded this summer. Summer improvements to College Hall-including a north-side addition to the 110-year-old building-will be on display during tours there beginning at 11 a.m.

The Homecoming king and queen will be crowned at 1 p.m. at the stadium, prior to the 1:30 p.m. kickoff between the football Beavers and Manchester College. King candidates, all seniors, are Cody Litwiller from Hopedale, Ill.; Tim Nofziger from Archbold, Ohio; and Kenny Miller from Berlin, Ohio, while senior queen candidates are Ashtyn Shafer and Libby Brinkman, both from Columbus Grove, Ohio, and Jen Krehbiel from Goessel, Kan.

The weekend gets under way with a parade down Bluffton's Main Street at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8.