A 40-foot banner hung across the bleachers of Irving Gym in 1983 the first time Denise Van De Walle returned to Ball State as an opposing volleyball coach.
Van De Walle, who had graduated from Ball State in 1976 and been an assistant coach with the Ball State women's volleyball team in 1982, was entering the gym as the Bowling Green coach.
The banner hanging on the bleachers simply read "Welcome Home Denise."
Upon seeing it, Van De Walle couldn't hold back.
"I lost it. I just started bawling," she said.
As the long-time Bowling Green coach prepares her team to play Ball State on Saturday at 7 p.m., she'll also be preparing to coach her last match in Muncie.
After coaching the Falcons for the last 28 years, Van De Walle announced earlier this year she will retire following the end of the 2011 season.
Her career and life has impacted the lives of countless people, not only at Bowling Green and Ball State, but in the entire sport of volleyball. That includes the life of Ball State coach Steve Shondell.
"We've been friends since college," Shondell said. "I always wish her the best every year and just think she's a really classy person. I know she's looking forward to her retirement."
The two MAC coaches first met in the early 70s while both were attending Ball State. At the time, Shondell was the women's volleyball beat writer for the Ball State Daily News, while Van De Walle played on the women's volleyball team.
The two quickly developed a friendship as they grew to know each other through volleyball. That relationship only continued to grow as Van De Walle began coaching at Northside High School in Muncie while Shondell started his coaching career at Burris Laboratory School.
"We were so close back then," Van De Walle said. "[Ball State] is where I got my start. I worked with Don Shondell in the 70s, I've worked with Steve. These guys are like family to me,"
After that, the storied careers of two longtime women's volleyball coaches blossomed through the 80s until today.
Now as Van De Walle closes her final season as Bowling Green's coach, her final match as an opposing coach in Muncie may be just as emotional as her first.
"I have nothing but positive memories from my experience there," she said. "Knowing the Shondell's, knowing the Munciana people - I've got former players in the area, and it's going to be very tough to go in there."
Once the 2011 season reaches its conclusion, Van De Walle will move to South Bend to take care of her mother. She hopes to keep volleyball in her life, either by working with the Notre Dame women's volleyball team, teaching private lessons or coaching club volleyball.
For Ball State and Shondell, the focus is simply on playing Bowling Green following its match against Miami on Friday at 7 p.m.
But the real sentiment is obvious. Saturday's match will be one of the most emotional matches of the season for Van De Walle, Shondell and both Ball State and Bowling Green.
"To be at one university for over 30 years, you don't really find that very often in college volleyball," Shondell said. "Anybody who can be at a university for over 30 years, that says an awful lot about that person and the impact that she's had on a lot of young lives at Bowling Green."
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