BY JOHN MCCANN

jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601

DURHAM -- If you've heard it once, you've heard it a million times about an Eagle being no common, ordinary barnyard fowl.

But like every other bird, Eagles come from nests.

So what happens when they return?

"For me, it's like a reunion," Raleigh's Alicia Joyner said on Saturday during N.C. Central University's homecoming parade.

This is NCCU's centennial, which made it an extra-special homecoming.

What exactly does it mean for an Eagle to come home?

"It feels like old times," Joyner said.

Coming back and seeing the growth on campus is a beautiful thing -- even though it means she's getting older, Joyner said.

Nestled in an Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. jacket, and keeping raindrops from falling on her head with a pink-and-green AKA umbrella, Joyner watched the band from Southern High School boogie down Fayetteville Street playing "Can You Feel It," a jam back in the day courtesy of Michael Jackson and his brothers.

As popular as the freakish "Thriller" theme might have been on Halloween, NCCU's homecoming parade offered a stage for tributes to the late and beloved Gloved One. Hillside High School's marching band resurrected "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" from the "Thriller" album.

A high-school band from Fayetteville and even one from Maryland more or less ignored the rain to participate in NCCU's homecoming.

But what does it mean for an Eagle to come home?

"Brings tears to your eyes," Durham's Anita Marks said. "The Eagle has landed."

Marks said there's no way she would have launched a business specializing in event planning and T-shirts without her NCCU education.

Charles Currie never made it to NCCU -- well, not as a student. The man said he was accepted into the university, but Uncle Sam came calling and he joined the Army.

But Currie swelled with pride when announcing that in 1965 on the track at NCCU he ran the mile in 4 minutes and 30 seconds under the tutelage of legendary Bull City track coach Russell Blunt.

"Wasn't but 15 years old, man," said Currie, 61. "Pastor Fozard ran the top time."

As if Currie's mental highlight reel was choreographed, the Rev. Donald Fozard emerged on Fayetteville Street. The preacher was with some of his men from Mount Zion Christian Church. They marched in the parade praising the Lord.

The NCCU parade is just what the doctor ordered for these tough economic times, Currie said.

"It's hard times now," Currie said. "People need laughter."

And Eagles need to come home ever so often to check on things.

"It's that togetherness and remembering what you had back then," NCCU grad and Eastway Elementary School principal Star Sampson said.

"Coming back home to the nest," NCCU alum Belinda Staten said.