BOONE, N.C. — Roommates in the 1940s, Mary Black Pritchett and Mildred Southern reunited recently as Kidd Brewer Stadium guests of Appalachian State Chancellor Sheri Everts.
Black Pritchett played basketball as a college student in Boone, and Southern played tennis. A home football game against Wake Forest brought them back together.
"Today will be a special day because it's been a long time," Southern said before kickoff.
Black Pritchett turned 97 last month. Southern, a native of eastern North Carolina, is a mere 96 years old, born six months later than her longtime friend from Delaware. They are among the oldest living alumni of Appalachian State.
Sitting together in an Appalachian Athletics Center suite for the Wake Forest game, invited to Boone by Everts, they were able to put their present-day connection into perspective while also sharing fond memories from the distant past. They both graduated from Appalachian in 1943.
"Like me, she was a physical education major, so we had a lot in common," Black Pritchett said. "We were just buddies and did a lot of things together. She was like my sister."
Black Pritchett and Southern met for the first time when they enrolled as freshmen in the fall of 1939. That was the first time Black Pritchett had seen the campus at what was then known as Appalachian State Teachers College.
Both women spent time as teachers following their graduations. Their experiences as student-athletes continue to produce smiles and compelling stories.
Raised in Milton, Del., Black Pritchett said she chose Appalachian based on the advice of her high school principal. She recalls playing three years of basketball but not having a senior season because of World War II.
"It was a good program with good coaches, and we were successful," she said. "On the bus, I used to laugh and say basketball introduced me to peanut butter and pineapple sandwiches that I didn't know existed, or peanut butter and banana. The basketball team got so many."
Southern crossed North Carolina to attend Appalachian and live in White Hall with Black Pritchett. Her initial interest in tennis was as a recreational player in Boone.
"I just had a ball playing tennis and enjoyed it so much," she said. "I just felt like I was at home."
Southern began to play competitive tournament tennis at age 40 and served as the first female president of the North Carolina Tennis Association, the North Carolina Tennis Foundation and the Southern Tennis Association. She was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
In offering a reminder of her relative youth, Southern joked with Black Pritchett about her white hair color. For many years, they remained connected by Black Pritchett's annual happy birthday calls from Delaware on May 1, and their last face-to-face visit before the Wake Forest game resulted from Southern and her daughter traveling to Delaware five years ago.
Sitting side-by-side in Boone, it was just like old times.
"She's a forever friend," Black Pritchett said.
