The History of Homecoming

PromDressShopo presents: THE HISTORY OF HOMECOMING An illustrated look back at the schools, styles and spirit that makes the Homecoming tradition a special moment like no other: START Y 1870s 1890s The idea to celebrate Homecoming has its roots on the gridiron. In 1891, the "Border War" between Missouri and Kansas, produced its own alumni game, making its the longest standing rivalry west of the Missisippi. Though official Homecoming celebrations were organized until the 20th century, during as early as the 19th century colleges would host alumni football games, bringing back many past attendees to watch or participate. Around the turn of the century, the University of Michigan also began holding a game which pitted a team of alumni against the UM varsi- ty squad. This event included participation from the UM band, glee and banjo clubs, fraternities and other groups, making it one of the first Homecoming-like celebrations. The most famous of these was held in conjunction with the annual Harvard-Yale game and dates back to the 1870s. 1900 1909 1910 Though it had held a "Gala Day" celebration to mark its annual rivalry with Purdue in 1909, it wasn't until Oct. 20, 1910 that Indi- Alumni of Baylor University received a postcard signed by three professors asking past gradu- ates to "renew former associations and friend- ana University held its first Homecoming. Also around the same time, nearby University of Illinois held its first Homecoming event. This celebration, the idea of Seniors Clarence Foss ships and catch the Baylor spirit again." This, the first occurence of a Homecoming event took place over Thanksgiving weekend and included a band concert, an "old-time soiree," class reunions and a parade with more than 100 automobiles and carriages. Williams and E. Elmer Ekblaw, has been held more often than any other school's – missing only a single year in 1918. 1910 1911 1914 Prompted by Director of Athletics Chester L. Brewer, Missouri University invited its alumni During the decade, Homecoming spread like wildfire throughout the ranks of many colleges and universities, with a number of newspa- pers noting that the idea had become "contagious." to "come home" in order to add some excite- ment to its longstanding rivalry with Kansas. Complete with spirit rally, parade and more than 9,000 fans turning out to watch the big game, this was the school's first Homecoming. Among the largest of these celebrations were Wiscon- Despite other school's claims on the origin of Homecoming, this is officially sanctioned by the NCAA, Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit as the originator. sin (1911) and Arizona (1914) as well as Baylor (1915) and Michigan (1916) who both officially started their Home- coming celebrations after earlier events failed to catch on. 1920 1923 1926 At the University of Northern lowa For one weekend in 1926, Maudine Ormsby was the most popular "girl" at The Ohio State University. Nominated by the College of Agriculture, Maudine a Holstein cow – was elect- ed Homecoming Queen after a voting process that saw 13,000 votes cast despite an enroll- ment of only 9,300 students. - an early Home- coming tradition involved a "raid" or "rush" the Regent Theatre in Cedar Falls. On the Friday before Homecoming, students would march from campus to the theatre and force their way inside without paying. Gener- ally this practice went without incident, but in 1923 students did damage behaved so badly that the Fire Department had to be called to turn water hoses on them. Unable to sort out the voting snafu, the election committee declared Maudine the winner and heralded theatre and the cow as the centerpiece of that year's Homecoming parade. 1930 1930s 1932 The idea of electing a Homecoming court has its origins in the 1930s. The first Ramblin' Wreck Parade is held on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta. During this time, Kings and Queens were chosen based largely upon the float they rode in the Homecoming parade with the individual qualities making up a small part of the vote. What began in 1929 as the "Old Ford Race" to nearby Athens, Ga., was cancelled after the race was deemed unsafe by school officials. Originally, the Homecoming King and Queen slots were reserved only for Seniors, while underclassmen were elected as Homecoming Princ- es and Princesses. After a number of student protests, the idea was hatched to hold a parade of classic cars and engineering oddities before each year's Homecoming football game. Over the years this has become one of the most beloved and unique Homecoming traditions around. 1940 1944-46 During the heart of World War II, many schools did not cele- brate Homecoming. 1940s In the wake of the war, formal styles evolved as a result of rationing. In order to save fabric, dresses became shorter with more ladies Some, such as the University of Wisconsin, turned school spirit into a show of support for U.S. troops, by cancelling its annual Homecom- ing bonfire in 1944 in favor of a weekend paying tribute to the war effort. The event brought back one of the largest crowds of alumni the school had ever seen. showing off slim silhouettes and flaunting their legs. Other side effects of rationing were the reduced use of buttons and zippers, giving up girdles, wearing wooden heels, reusing 1930s dresses and opting for plain colors such as maroon, grey and beige. By 1946, with the war over, most schools had returned to a traditional Homecoming event. 1950 1953 At Colorado State University, Homecom- ing festivities included a “Kangaro0 Court" which doled out punishment for infractions such as not wear- ing a beanie, walking on the grass or failing to show respect to upperclassmen. 1957 In a bold prank, students at the University of Oregon posed as reporters from a Seattle newspaper in order to kidnap the Oregon State Homecoming court. Ш The court would use a paddy wagon to round up rulebreakers, giving them sentencess such as scrubbing the steps of the administration building with toothbrushes, riding a bike around the Oval blowing a horn or bowing to the Homecoming Queen for five minutes at halftime of the football game. Though the victims enjoyed their abduction - which included attending a party on Oregon campus before being released - their fellow students did not. The OSU football team, which had launched a manhunt for the girls, eventually got the last laugh beating their "Civil War" rivals in the Homecoming game. 1960 1960s 1969 Styles changed dramatically during this period, morphing from the con- Though it had been celebrating Homecoming since 1912 and crowning a winner since the 1925, Kansas University stoped holding a Homecoming Queen competition in 1969. servatism of the late 50s to Mod-like styles in the early 60s to the Hip- pie-influenced looks of the late 60s. Despite the evolving social landscape and increasingly androgynous styles, for much of the decade formal styles remained femine and delicate. In the midst of anti-war demon- strations and stormy race rela- tionships on campus, a commit- tee decided to recognize those who embody the academic spirit of the university. The school now gives the Ex.C.E.L. Award annually to two students with outstanding leadership, The frocks worn to dances were pretty, yet modest and often featured bows, belts and other frilly accents including elbow-length gloves. involvement and academics. 1970 1970 1975-77 In the late 1970s a pair of Michigan schools each had unique Homecomings. Florida State University student Doby Lee Flowers is elected as the school's first African- American Homecoming Queen. This would later earn her a permanent spot on campus as part of the school's "Integration Statue" built in 2004. In 1975, Cadillac High School started cranking up KISS in the locker room before games. After a long winning streak credited to the rock band, KISS caught wind and showed up for a surpise perfomance at the school's Homecoming weekend. Others who helped pave the way for black women as Homecoming queens included winners Daphne Reid Maxwell (1967) of North- western, Mary Sue Gaines DePass (1968) of Univeristy of New Mexico and Mary Evelyn Porterfield (1970) of NC State, among others. In 1977, Northern Michigan University used Homecoming to set the record for the largest game of musical chairs with 1,674 players. 1980 1980s In an era defined by excessive consumption, the Homecoming and Prom experiences became more elaborate in the 80s, with trends including rented limos, tuxedos and increasingly over-the-top parties. 1986 A one-year coincidence that caused its annual Homecoming game to Occur on Oct. 31, led to what's become a tradition for C.E. Jordan High School in Durham, N.C. www Along with the big, teased hairstyles of the time came trends in dresses such puffy sleeves, gathers, ruffles, huge bows, fabric roses, geometric fabric insets, asymmetrical cuts and metallic fabrics. That year, the school's band dressed in Halloween costumes to perform its halftime show. Despite the fact that Homecoming now occurs in September, the band still dresses in costumes each year, with director Andrew Weiss challenging his band members to come up with the most creative costumes. 1990 1992 1999 The annual Homecoming game between Northwest- Texas A&M's well-known annual tradition, the Aggie Bonfire, took a tragic turn when 12 students were killed and 27 were injured after a 40-foot- tall pile of logs collapsed. ern State and Louisiana- Monroe became little more than a sideshow to the main Though this wasn't an offi- cial Homecoming activity - A&M is one of the few schools that doesn't cele- brate Homecoming – the incident forced many high schools and colleges to suspend their annual Home- coming bonfires. event – fight between two mascots. During the game, Northwestern's Vic The Demon and Louisiana-Monroe's Chief Brave Spirit duked it out in a brawl highlighted by Vic landing a series of haymakers after Chief Brave Spirit ripped off his head. Northeast Louisiana won the game 28-18, but police separated the mascots before a winner could be declared. 2000 2006 Beginning in 2006, Minnetonka (Minn.) High School principal Dave Adney began an effort to stop grinding tive form of dancing – at his school's Homecoming by creating a series of humorous "Anti- Grinding" videos that went viral on YouTube. 2009 You Tuhe Baylor Univeristy holds a special Homecoming ceremony to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its first Homecoming held in 1909. a sexually sugges- Despite the fact that it did not celebrate 100 Homecoming from 1910-1915, the school is the first to reach the YEARS Though the result of the videos was mixed at best, Adney continued to crusade for modesty at his school including an "Anti-leggings" e-mail to parent which received national attention in 2012. centennial mark and has since been joined by only a handful of other colleges and universities. 2010 2011 In the 1940s students Rice Univer- sity abandoned the tradition of crowning female queens, instead opting for a string of nonsensical nominees for Homecoming court. 2012 Just over 50 years since James Meredith's enrollment at the University of Missippi had served as a flashpoint in the Civil Right move- ment, the school elected its first Afri- can-American Homecoming Queen in 2012. Over the years, nominees have included a ferret, a toad, a car, a former Texas governor, the crea- ture from the Black Lagoon, Beavis and Hurricane Ike, among others. Courtney Pearson, a senior English major made national headlines for her achievement and also recieved significant attention from the In 2011, they elected Saint Arnold Centenni-Ale, a locally-brewed dark beer, as Homecoming King. media, based on her full-figured physique. RESOURCES Articles & other sources contributing to this timeline: 1. "Baylor Homecoming History": http://www.baylor.edu/homecoming/index.php?id=73724 2. "The Homecoming Tradition at Mizzou": http://www.mizzou.com/s/1002/index.aspx?gid-1&pgid-569 3. "The Origin of University of Illinois Homecoming": http://admin.illinois.edu/homecoming/history.pdf 4. "Homecoming" 5. "History of Homecoming," Active.com: http://beta.active.com/articles/the-history-of-homecoming 6. "History of Homecoming at UNI": http://www.library.uni.edu/collections/special-collections/history-homecoming-uni 7. "4 Unique Homecoming Traditions," Active.com: http://beta.active.com/articles/4-unique-homecoming-traditions 8. "When Homecoming gets weird" Active.com: http://beta.active.com/articles/when-homecoming-gets-weird 9. "The History of OSU Homecoming": http://homecoming.osu.edu/history 10. "The History of Homecoming": http://www.uwalumni.com/home/chaptersandaffiliates/microsites/150/hc_history.aspx 11. "A Brief History of Homecoming Events": http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=46046 12. "History and a Homecoming Queen," by Kerry Dexter, Perceptive Travel Blog: http://travel.usatoday.com/alliance/destinations/perceptivetravel/post/2012/02/History-and-a-homecoming-queen/625291/1 13. "NMU Homecoming History" http://www.nmu.edu/organizations/node/18 14. "Homecoming Trivia From Bygone Days" http://www.homecoming.colostate.edu/history.aspx 15. "How to Dress in 1940s Fashion," WikiHow.com: http://www.wikihow.com/Dress-in-American-19405-Fashion 16. "1960s Fashions," FiftiesWeb.com: http://www.fiftiesweb.com/fashion/prom-dresses.htm 17. "Minnesota Princple Urges Students Not to Wear Leggings" : http://www.startribune.com/local/west/201130661.html 18. "Rice Centennial Timeline": http://timeline.centennial.rice.edu/entry/367/ 19. "Courtney Pearson First African-American Elected Homecoming Queen at UM," by Edwin Smith, Ole Miss News: http://news.olemiss.edu/courtney-pearson-first-african-americn-to-be-elected-homecoming-queen-at-um/#.Ugg-7GQ4VZM Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homecoming For more info on Homecoming 2013, visit our Homecoming Hub at: PromDressShop«