JONESBORO, Ark. (9/19/08) - ASU will be welcoming back players from the 1958 Arkansas State football team for a 50-year reunion at the Homecoming game against Middle Tennessee this Saturday.

A reception will be held Friday evening to welcome the former players back to Jonesboro.  A tailgate will also be held Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at the ASU Pavilion.  The players will be recognized between the first and second quarters of Saturday's game.

Fifty years ago, ASU beat Austin Peay 16-0 in its Homecoming game.  That year they also defeated Murray State, Southern State and Arkansas Tech.  The '58 team was coached by the late Hugh Taylor.

"We had a lot of true, strength-type football players on the team that year, and probably the most notable player from that time was Frank Farella out of Brooklyn, New York," said Bill Templeton, ASU Director of Planned Giving and former ASU coach and player.  "He went into the military, and then played three or four years in the NFL."

All-American Frank Farella will be attending the weekend's events.  He will also be joined by his former co-captain Jim Shermann and approximately twenty other players from the '58 team.