Homecoming
IU vs. Northwestern
History
HOMECOMING AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY
It has been said that one "can define homecoming as a well-planned, University-sponsored annual alumni event centering on a football game."1 This statement made by the University of Illinois Archives needs to be pared down because, by definition, a homecoming is a planned event sponsored by the university in some way; for how long and how well it was planned is completely relative. While I would agree that a homecoming centered on an intercollegiate football game has become the tradition for most schools in this country, whether or not it is centered on a football game, some other intercollegiate athletic contest, or no athletic contest at all is immaterial.
1908
During the week of June 19-24, 1908, Indiana University held its first "Homecoming." This event, however, was not centered on an intercollegiate athletic contest. The event actually centered on the dedication of three new buildings on the campus. Alumni visited the campus, a "circus" was held on Jordan Field, and a banquet was billed as "the crowning glory of the week."
Although this event did not involve an intercollegiate athletic contest, it was paramount in the history of homecoming at Indiana University in the sense that students and the faculty were planning the 1908 event and had high hopes that a tradition would begin. A short article in the June 10, 1908 Indiana Daily Student speaks of the upcoming event:
"The idea of a Gala Week2, which upperclassmen in conjunction with the faculty are trying to inaugurate here, is one which has long been in favor with practically all the great Western colleges…it is a time of general homecoming and reunions, and probably more than any other one practice, it has helped to cement that wonderful college spirit, which so pre-eminently marks the larger schools, and which is so lamentably missed at Indiana."
1909
In 1909, Gala Day3 was moved to the weekend of the Indiana - Purdue football game. This rivalry began in 1890, and in 1909 the introduction of a trophy in the form of an old oaken bucket was still 16 years away. While minutes of meetings and other historical documents have not been found, we can glean from the following newspaper articles that appeared in the Indiana Daily Student (IDS) and Bloomington's The Daily Telephone (DT) that planning for the 1909 event was clearly taking place:
November 6, 1909 (IDS) — "The churches and Christian Associations of various kinds in the city, have been quietly at work for several days on plans for methods of furnishing meals for the visitors who will pour into Bloomington from every direction on the day of the Indiana-Purdue game."
November 12, 1909 (IDS) — "Arrangements have all been completed for the ‘Varsity Special,’ which will carry 500 or 600 loyal Indiana alumni and supporters to the Indiana-Purdue game…There will be a ‘smoker,’ but not a banquet at the Denison Hotel Saturday evening to arouse enthusiasm for the game…we've decided to spend our money on a band for the alumni rooters at the game instead of refreshments for the smoker…there will be speeches by several of the prominent alumni."
November 13, 1909 (DT) — "…as the downtown eating places can not near accommodate the crowd, arrangements have been made at the University for lunch stands…several church organizations are preparing to have lunch booths on the campus, and a number of enterprising young men will have eating stands around the public square."
November 15, 1909 (DT) — "Not three, but four special trains will come into Bloomington Saturday…this morning word was received that arrangements had been made for an excursion train from Evansville which will bring a big crowd of Crimson alumni from the southwest part of the state…By special request of the men who have arranged for the train, the Evansville people will be met at the station here by the University band, and there will be a parade through the down town streets and out to the University."
November 16, 1909 (IDS) — "Arrangements have been made to have bleachers all around the field, the seating capacity being brought up to 5,700. Circus4 seats will fill the space between the regular bleachers..."
November 17, 1909 (DT) — "Committees have been appointed to look after the decoration of the business section of the town and to make arrangements for the feeding of the crowd."
November 17, 1909 (IDS) — "A meeting was held Monday night at Major Louden's office and Alex Hirsch was appointed chairman of the decorating committee."
November 18, 1909 (IDS) — "U.H. Smith," Indiana University's assistant registrar and accountant, "will arrange a schedule by which different trainloads of people will be guided to different eating establishments."
November 20, 1909 (DT) — "Not only was it a great football day, but it was a great reunion…"
November 22, 1909 (IDS) — "A Precedent For Future Contests…Not for years has an event made such an impression upon Indiana alumni…Every little while a man well past years of college life would see another man, the two would greet each other as only two Indiana men can…All in all, no more successful day, from every standpoint has been held at the State institution. We won. We won without vicious rooting, and Purdue University was treated correctly. It was a precedent that will live for years."
1910
In 1908, the titles "Gala Day" and "Home-Coming-Week" were used to describe that summer's event. In 1909, only "Gala Day" is found. In 1910, the title "Gala Day" is not found at all in describing the event; only the term "Homecoming." The Indiana Daily Student is replete with articles in October and early November describing the planning of the event — all of which mention the term "Homecoming." I provide here a sampling of some of these articles as other universities do not dispute our 1910 event:
October 8, 1910 — "Great plans are being made for the Alumni Fall Home-Coming…"
October 21, 1910 — "Home Coming Planned For Illinois Game."
October 27, 1910 — "Everybody Is Behind The Big Home Coming."
Conclusion
The 1980 edition of the Oxford-American Dictionary defines homecoming as "a festive annual event usually held by a college or university for its alumni." The 1983 edition of The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "in some colleges, an annual celebration for visiting alumni." The 1988 edition of Webster's New World Dictionary defines it as "in many schools, colleges, and universities, an annual celebration attended by alumni." The current online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as "the return of a group of people usually on a special occasion to a place formerly frequented or regarded as home; especially: an annual celebration for alumni at a college or university."
If we take note that none of the above definitions mention anything about an athletic event of any kind, then we should realize that technically there could be a college or university out there that does not compete in athletics, but also has an annual homecoming for its alumni. Are we to deny these institutions inclusion in histories of homecomings? Of course not.
However, with respect to fair play and a slightly modified definition of homecoming as a planned event, centered on an intercollegiate athletic contest, meant to entice alumni to return to their alma mater, we can then answer the question that is being begged in this paper — when was Indiana University's first homecoming?
Using the definitions from the various dictionaries cited, we can say that 1908 was clearly a homecoming and technically the first planned homecoming at Indiana University. However, using the modified definition we can clearly say that the 1909 event, which was clearly geared toward alumni5, was certainly the first to be centered on an intercollegiate athletic event at Indiana University. The fact that the 1909 event seems to only have been referred to as "Gala Day" and not "Homecoming" is inconsequential.
Bradley D. Cook
Curator of Photographs
Office of University Archives & Records Management
Indiana University
August 16, 2005
1 John Franch — Graduate Assistance, University of Illinois. "Origin of the University of Illinois Homecoming." May 19, 2005. Back
2 While the Indiana Daily Student refers to the event as "Gala Week," an invitation sent to the alumni by the executive committee planning the event refers to the event as "Home-coming-week." Back
3 Indiana Daily Student. November 19, 1909. Page 1:2. Back
4 Gentry Brothers Dog & Pony Circus of Bloomington, Ind., supplied 2,500 portable circus seats for this purpose (The Daily Telephone, November 20, 1909). Gentry Brothers also received the contract to provide that day "the peanut, popcorn, and crackerjack privileges" (The Daily Telephone, November 17, 1909). Back
5 On page 8 of Mr. Franch's paper, cited on page one of this document, he states that Indiana University's 1909 event was "a relatively informal affair, Gala Day does not seem to have been geared specifically to the alumni." When one takes notice of the newspaper articles cited for the 1909 event, particularly those on November 12, 15, and 22, one can see that his statement is factually incorrect. Back