Idealized in teenage films, homecoming is an annual event that every high schooler and college goer knows. Hosted in fall, this week-long celebration typically consists of dress-up days, a pep rally, a parade, a Friday night Football game, and a dance. Some have unique festivities such as Arizona’s State University’s Lantern Walk or the state of Texas’s custom of exchanging homecoming mums (body-length corsages worn by both genders). No matter the ritual, it’s a time of high spirit and pride in your school.
It is agreed that the tradition began in the early 1900s in colleges and universities, where it then spread to high schools in the 1920s. But it has been highly debated who exactly started the tradition of homecoming.
The University of Missouri has the most popular claim to fame; one of the first things said on school tours is the proclamation of, “We have the first and best journalism school in the world and the oldest continuous homecoming,” according to broadcaster Kevin Gehl- a Missouri alum and former homecoming king, who guided campus tours as an undergraduate student from 2006 to 2009.
The urban legend states that in 1911 football coach and athletic director Chester Brewer called for alumni to “come home” to see the Tigers play Kansas in Columbia. “For years, third-party ammunition has fueled debates about which university can be credited with starting homecoming,” said a 2011 MIZZOU magazine article. “Recognition from Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit is often touted as supporting evidence by Mizzou fans.”
However, Jeopardy! has only the found evidence of a 2021 $400 clue archived; “An early version of this tradition was in Nov. 1911 when the U. of Missouri’s athletic director had alumni visit for the Kansas game.” The correct response: What is homecoming?
Another wildly popular origin was the University of Illinois. The tale goes that in early 1910, two students were thinking of ways to bring alumni back to the school. One of the planners, student reporter of the Daily Illini, W. Elmer Ekblaw, used the student paper to advocate the idea of homecoming. The official date was set for October when the football team would host rival Chicago, coached by the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg. Additionally, there would be a baseball game, a track meet and other reunion events for alumni that planned to attend. “The echoes of the events of this great home-coming will be heard as long as the University endures, for it is now almost a certainty that it will be adopted as a permanent annual institution the like of which no other University can boast,” the paper wrote. “Illinois may well pride itself on being the originator of the plan for drawing home the alumni, a plan which will undoubtedly be adopted generally.” Homecoming has since been held every year, except for 1918 due to the influenza epidemic.
Other schools have declared that they originated the idea. Michigan hosted what it called the “Alumni Games” beginning in 1897 with a football game. However, it didn’t use the phrase ‘homecoming’ until 1947. Northern Illinois, then known as Northern Illinois State Normal School, first used the term in 1906 when it appeared in the school newspaper, Although, a homecoming football game wasn’t introduced until 1914. In 1909 Baylor hosted a “Home-Coming” that involved a pep rally, a bonfire, a parade, and a football game, where Baylor defeated TCU, 6-3. Baylor wouldn’t host another homecoming until 1915, and it didn’t become an annual tradition until the 1930s.
What isn’t up for debate is that Homecoming is a fun way to celebrate one’s school. So, enjoy the events this week!
References:
Bonagura, K. (2024) Breaking down who truly started the long-held tradition of Homecoming, ESPN. Available at: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/41813350/2024-college-football-homecoming-tradition-missouri-baylor-illinois (Accessed: 24 October 2024).