Throughout ETSU’s 110-year lifespan, there have been many great love stories that have blossomed beneath these blue and gold walls.
Leon Humphrey, an integral member of the Preview & Orientation Leader Organization and a proud brother of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, had made both a name and a home for himself on ETSU’s campus, it only seemed fitting that he, too, would find his missing piece here: Emily Clark.
Humphrey, then a sophomore media and communications major, met Clark, a freshman psychology major, during biology lecture in the Ball Hall Auditorium, circa 2015.
“She was the reason why I actually passed biology. It was hard for me to pay attention because I was not interested,” Humphrey recounted. “But when we did our pop quizzes, I would ask her for the information, and she would help me out.”
After the semester concluded, the pair went their separate ways. They ran in what Humphrey described as “adjacent circles.” But in 2018, a bar fight broke out at Tipton’s in downtown Johnson City, and, thus, a spark rekindled.
While sitting in a booth with her friends, Clark described how she’d watched Humphrey follow the fight outside, curious – the way that any college guy would be – as to who had won. On the way back in, he’d taken initial notice of her, stopped by her table and spoken a mere three words.
“He said, ‘you’re really attractive,’” Clark said, “And then ran off.”
“A brother was nervous,” Humphrey added, laughing.
Through a combination of Instagram DMS and texts Clark sent to Humphrey (through Humphrey’s best friend’s phone, naturally) the pair hit it off and their first date, Barberitos, was eventually arranged. The relationship flourished, and in the summer of 2021, Humphrey began to plan his proposal.
“I knew I was going to propose at the clocktower the year before, in my second year of graduate school. Emily’s dream spot to be proposed to at was somewhere on campus. ETSU holds an important place in our hearts,” Humphrey explained. “I created the plan right after I graduated, got enough money to get the ring, and started planning in July and August.”
By this time, the two were living in Georgia – Humphrey finishing up his Masters at the University of West Georgia and Clark beginning hers at the University of Georgia. The couple traveled to Johnson City for the Homecoming Game in November of 2021, where Humphrey planned to pop the question.
Some of his friends and mentors had urged him to propose at halftime on the field, but he’d initially wanted something more private. Clark recounted about how, on the day of, she had been under the impression that they were getting photos taken, while Humphrey, she noted, had been unusually punctual. It had come as a surprise to her when, while standing at the base of the clock tower, he’d gotten down on one knee. Neither of them, it was clear, would have wanted to have it any other way.
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” Humphrey noted, beaming at his bride-to-be. “That’s our mantra.”
