Jim Schnorf was there when Eastern Illinois football team won the national championship following the 1978 season.

He was on one of two charter planes that carried the team and its fans to the title game in Longview, Texas, against Delaware.

When the planes returned after the 10-9 win, he was greeted by thousands of fans.

“The crowd thought our plane was the players’ (plane),” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it in Charleston. There were cars lined up three or four miles along Route 16.”

Schnorf was in Champaign on Saturday at a tailgate sponsored by Eastern’s Alumni Association that preceded the first football meeting between Eastern and the University of Illinois.

“The university got together and thought it’d be a great idea for our alumni,” said Steve Rich, the group’s executive director. “It’s a great way to get them together.”

Rich estimated that more than 400 alumni attended the event held on the lawn located just west of Memorial Stadium.

Alumni from all over the country attended, including Schnorf, who lives in Longwood, Fla., a suburb of Orlando.

He ended a business meeting in Cleveland to make it to Champaign in time for the game.

“This is significant event for the school,” he said. “I would have flown in from anywhere. I wasn’t going to miss this game.”

Schnorf is a 1976 graduate of Eastern who was born and raised in Charleston.

He works as a financial consultant and is grateful for the Alumni Association’s efforts at keeping alumni who do not reside in Illinois.

“They’ve done a terrific job of that,” he said. “Steve Rich and (Eastern president) Lou Hencken have done a marvelous job of getting out among the alumni.”

The event drew several prominent Eastern faculty and alumni.

Provost and vice president for academic affairs Blair Lord, men’s basketball coach Mike Miller, Hencken and Illinois representative and 1988 Eastern graduate Dale Righter were in attendance.

“Eastern has always had a very strong alumni association,” Righter said. “I think the attendance in this tent is evidence of that.”

Righter was wearing an Eastern polo shirt and said his allegiance was with his Alma Mater “despite the fact I have more than a few constituents who are affiliated with the University of Illinois.”

The support from alumni has been tremendous, Hencken said.

“I’ve seen people here that I have not seen for a long time,” he said. “I’ve worked with the university 41 years so it’s great.”

Although the game didn’t result in what Rich had hoped – Illinois dominated the Panthers in a 42-17 game – he said the attendance at the tailgate was a show of support for a university that did a lot for the alumni while they were at Eastern.

“It says a lot about their feelings toward the university,” he said. “It’s just about the emotional connection they still have to Eastern after all these years.”