This week is Homecoming for the University of Minnesota. The red-hot Gopher Football team will host Purdue for the Homecoming game at Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday.
But what is Homecoming and why do high schools, colleges and universities celebrate this tradition each fall?
The Definition
Homecoming has developed a deep history that is meaningful to many. Various stages of American history, and here in Minnesota as well. That history has shaped what Homecoming is today.
So, what is it? The Cambridge Dictionary defines homecoming as “a celebration at school or college, usually including a dance and a football game, when people who were students there at an earlier time can return to ‘visit’”.
The tradition mostly stems from schools inviting former students who have graduated to come back to school and celebrate with current students. But those traditions can vary greatly from school to school.
Where did the Celebration Begin?
Although the annual Harvard-Yale game has been inviting alumni to return home for “The Game” since the 1870s, the origins of the first homecoming celebration remain largely contested.
Baylor, Illinois and Missouri are three of the frontrunners, all having planned and held their first "coming home" celebrations around 1910.
Most sources say the University of Missouri is the real originator of Homecoming. It was there in 1911 where Mizzou's Athletic Director Chester Brewer asked alumni of the school to “help inaugurate the new location of their football field by coming home to attend the annual game against the University of Kansas.”
All of the early Homecomings have things in common. Most of them center on a football game. Events at the schools included pep rallies, parades, speeches and dances. The invitation of alumni and students were wildly successful over the years.
By the 1920s, based on the success of those early Homecoming celebrations, tradition spread across the country.
University of Minnesota’s Homecoming History
The University of Minnesota first celebrated Homecoming in 1914 at Northrop Field, and they happened to beat Wisconsin 14-3.
1914 was also the year the U hosted their first Homecoming Dance. Students dressed in their best clothing and used the dance as an opportunity to connect with their “special someone”.
The tradition of the Homecoming Dance ended in the early 2000’s as a result of low attendance.
In 1932, the University crowned their first Homecoming Queen. Contestants were judged on “button sales, popularity, beauty, and academic standing”. There was a Homecoming King added in 1951. Those traditions underwent changes of the years including a period of time where they were dropped, and reintroduced to better match new social expectations for the feminist movement of the 1970s and in 2017 they were renamed “Homecoming Royalty” to include more diversity.
Homecoming also underwent changes during the war years. There were rations during WWI and WWII, and the parade was cancelled from 1968-1976 because “morale dropped due to the Vietnam War”.
Homecoming in 2022
The University of Minnesota has a long list of events that take place the week of Homecoming in 2022.
Of course there is the football game between the Gophers and Purdue Boilermakers which takes place Saturday at 11:00 a.m. That is preceded Saturday morning by Ski-U-Mania, a pregame party for students and alumni at the McNamara Alumni Center.
The Homecoming Parade is Friday evening and travels down University Avenue on campus. That is followed by a free concert on the Coffman Front Plaza with headliner KayCyy and opener BKTherula.
Other special events for students and alumni include a trivia night, a blood drive, comedy show, craft night, and a Drag Bingo show.
On Friday at noon, voting will end for the 2022 Homecoming Royalty. The Homecoming Court “exemplify what it means to be a Gopher”. Two students from the Homecoming Court are chosen to represent the University of Minnesota with the titles “Homecoming Royals.”