Back to where it all began: Class of 1976 returns to Tulane

Members of Tulane University’s Class of 1976 are returning this spring for their milestone 50th reunion — an opportunity to reconnect with friends, revisit formative experiences and see how the university has evolved.

For reunion co-chairs Debbie Darnell Rees (NC ’76, B *77), Tom Hopkins (A&S ’76) and Mark Oswald (A&S ’76), that return means coming back to a campus transformed and more nationally recognized, while still rooted in the experiences that defined their time as students.

Each came to Tulane for a different reason.

Oswald, an economics major, attended Tulane University on a scholarship through Exxon, where his father worked. 

Rees, a history major, was recruited for swimming, even though, in the early days of Title IX, there was no women’s team. Instead, she became part of a transitional moment in college athletics, training and traveling with the men’s team and helping manage the program.

“I was the only female athlete at the training table with all the men for four years,” she said, adding that she practiced and traveled. “I was on the same schedule as all of the men.”

Hopkins, a New Orleans native, grew up with Tulane as part of his life — his father graduated from Tulane undergrad and medical school and served on the medical school faculty. Several of his siblings, and later both his son and his daughter, attended. But for him, Tulane became more than a family tradition; it was where he formed his closest friendships.

“My most intense lifelong friendships — and I’m fortunate to still have them over 50 years later — came from Tulane, and I really value that.”

So, too did Oswald find far more than an education at Tulane — he discovered a lifelong community that continues to shape his personal and professional journey. The friendships he forged during his time on campus evolved into enduring relationships that have remained central to his life long after graduation.

It was also at Tulane where Oswald’s passion for the restaurant and hospitality industry first took root, beginning with his role as Kitchen Manager for his fraternity. Managing meals, coordinating logistics, and creating shared dining experiences sparked a deep appreciation for foodservice that would ultimately guide his career path. Reflecting on those foundational years, Oswald shares, “What started as a responsibility to feed my brothers quickly became a passion. I realized that bringing people together through food was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

One memory takes Rees back to the winter of her freshman year, when something deeply uncharacteristic happened in her hometown: it snowed.

“The whole Newcomb quad was white. We were throwing snowballs at one another. We had a great time.”

She also remembers when the Super Bowl came to Tulane Stadium. “I can remember walking in, and, in the fourth quarter, we could just walk into the end zone and watch,” she said. “Security wasn’t like it is today.” Her senior year brought another milestone: the Superdome opened, and Tulane played its first game there. Rees was on the homecoming court. “I just remember how large the dome looked when you’re on the field,” she said.

Those four years turned out to be surprisingly good preparation for what came next.

After graduation, Oswald went to work at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, starting as a host and working his way up. That experience eventually led him to Atlanta, where he built a restaurant group that now includes 11 Ruth’s Chris Steak House franchise locations across the Southeast and a second restaurant concept, Up on the Roof, with locations in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

Rees joined Ernst & Young after graduation, working in auditing and tax consulting before being recruited by a drilling company with operations in Venezuela. She later co-founded a clothing company with Margie Schwegmann Brown (B ’82) called Margie Darnell, which sold in major department stores and specialty shops across 35 states.

Hopkins studied accounting at Loyola after graduation before joining KPMG, where he spent more than 30 years and became a tax partner, working across Louisiana, Texas and California’s Bay Area.

Even as their careers took them in different directions, all three remained closely connected to Tulane.

Hopkins served as president of the Tulane Alumni Association. In 1998, he found himself on the field during Tulane’s historic undefeated football season, tasked with crowning the homecoming king. He introduced himself to the young man and asked his name.

The answer was Mike Tiger.

“God put me there in the year that Tulane had an undefeated football team,” Hopkins said, “so I could crown Mike Tiger from Baton Rouge, Louisiana as Tulane’s homecoming king. That is a true story.”

Now, as they prepare to return for their 50th reunion, the focus is on reconnecting with their classmates and with a campus that looks little like the one they left.

Oswald, who serves on the Business School Council, points to Yulman Stadium, which returned Tulane football to campus in 2014 after four decades downtown, as a spectacular transformation.

He hopes others will come see the campus for themselves. “Come back and remember the good times at Tulane and in New Orleans.” “I enjoy seeing people I haven’t seen in years,” said Rees, a resident of New Orleans, whose husband Rick Rees (A&S ’75, B *75) was co-chair of his 50th reunion last year. She currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the Tulane School of Social Work. “It’s a very happy place for me.”

Hopkins, now living in College Station, Texas, said that one institution has remained remarkably constant since their student days — the Boot. He was there the day it opened, when it transitioned from a grocery store into the new spot everyone was talking about. “It still looks pretty much the same.”

The 50th and Emeritus Reunion Weekend is May 14-16, offering a full slate of events. Festivities for the 50th and Emeritus Weekend kick off on Thursday with a campus tour, alumni lunches and the Under the Oaks Ceremony, followed by an elegant evening honoring the Class of 1976 and Emeritus Club alumni at the induction cocktail party and dinner at the Audubon Tea Room.

On Friday, celebrants can explore Tulane’s past and future through educational sessions at the New Orleans Museum of Art, then reunite with classmates for the Class of 1976 luncheon at Ralph’s on the Park. The weekend concludes Saturday with Tulane’s Unified Commencement at Caesars Superdome at 5 p.m.

For the Class of 1976, the weekend is a return to campus and a return to the friendships, memories and moments that first made Tulane feel like home.