Utah man walks at law commencement 52 years after finishing law school

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — It took almost 52 years for F. Bryant McOmber Jr. to walk across the stage and accept his diploma from the University of Utah's S. J. Quinney College of Law.

He finally did on May 10 with the class of 2024.

McOmber's path through law school wasn't straightforward. Halfway through his 2L year, he received a draft notice for the Vietnam War and was slated to begin basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on May 1, 1971.

"That marked a day that was probably the most stressful day of my life," McOmber recalled.

He had successfully advanced through several rounds of moot court competition and was arguing the constitutionality of the Vietnam War in the finals on the day he was supposed to report to basic training.

As soon as arguments ended, he kissed his new fiancee goodbye and jumped on a flight to Nashville.

Participating in basic training for several months before joining an artillery reserve unit in Ogden necessitated a break from law school. McOmber, who remembers being the only member of his cohort drafted, was left in limbo, finishing his legal coursework in January 1973.

When asked if it was difficult to adjust to academics after a semester in the military, McOmber said his head was "kind of in law school" during his basic training. He was excited to get back and pursue criminal law at the University of Utah.

He went straight to a job at the district attorney's office in Alameda County, California, as a criminal prosecutor after finishing his schooling — which meant he missed walking at graduation with the class of 1973.

Alameda County, which encompasses Oakland and Berkeley, was "very illuminating and very much a challenge," McOmber said, especially in the early 1970s. He stuck around the Bay Area for his entire career, working in civil litigation and as a real estate broker.

McOmber made his way back to the Wasatch Front a few years ago. In a conversation with S.J. Quinney College of Law Dean Elizabeth Kronk Warner, it came out that he had never participated in the school's commencement ceremony.

"The last time I had actually walked across the stage to get a diploma was high school," McOmber said. "So the dean said, 'OK, you are marching with the class of 2024.'"

The commencement ceremony was unlike anything McOmber had expected. The school saved his name for last. When he walked across the stage, he received a standing ovation from the audience at Kingsbury Hall. His four kids and eight grandkids were there to support him.

"The fact that they made a big deal of it … was absolutely not what I expected," he said.

McOmber says his education at the U. was "tremendous." He's glad to be a donor to the school, and a member of the Golden Gavel, a new organization for people who have been Utah law alumni for at least 50 years.

He has some advice for prospective law students: Take undergraduate courses that will improve your writing and comprehension skills. And consider the U. — it's ranked No. 28 in the nation.

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Utah higher educationUtahSalt Lake CountyEducation

Emma Everett

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Emma Everett Johnson covers Utah as a general news reporter. She is a graduate of Brigham Young University.