Remember when the spotlight shone on WVU?
On November 20, 1985, Tina Turner set her sights on Morgantown and delivered a killer performance in the WVU Coliseum. Her tour helped solidify her status as a major solo artist and live performer.
Boxing champion and anti-war activist Muhammad Ali, also known as Cassius Clay, toured universities across the country speaking out against the Vietnam War. He stopped in Morgantown in 1969 at the behest of WVU students and spoke in the Mountainlair ballroom during the Festival of Ideas.
WVU engineer Dan Carder, who led the research team that broke open the Volkswagen emissions scandal, was named to the 2016 Time 100, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
On Sept. 9, 2016, the Country Nation College Tour presented by Frontier Communications featuring Brad Paisley rolled into Morgantown for a free concert held on the College of Law hill.
But it wasn't the Glen Dale, West Virginia, native's first performance on campus. On Sept. 26, 2015, Paisley led the crowd at Milan Puskar Stadium in singing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" before the football team went on to defeat Maryland. The performance aired on Countdown to CMA Awards: Country's Greatest Crossover Hits with Robin Roberts on ABC on Nov. 2.
Woodburn Circle was awash in the Red, White and Blue for the Fourth of July in 2005 as President George W. Bush paid a visit to talk about American patriotism and spirit. Around 5,000 came to hear Bush talk about the sacrifices American men and women, especially West Virginians, have made in the ongoing war on terror and in wars past.
Not everyone came to hear Bush speak. Hundreds demonstrated in front of Stewart Hall against the president and his policies.
The Flying WV turns up all over the world — and on some big-name celebrities, such as West Virginia native Jennifer Garner.