Homecoming evolves over time

Peanuts, popcorn and crackerjacks were staples at IU’s first Homecoming event.
Since then, Homecoming has transformed from just a football game to an entire week of events.

Homecoming Week, with events such as the Nearly Naked Mile and Yell Like Hell, originated with Gala Week, IU’s first attempt to bring alumni back to support the campus.

1908
Homecoming originated in 1908, with an event in June called Gala Week, according to the IU Alumni Association’s website. Even though there was no football game attached to the event, it was the first time an event had been planned for alumni to return to campus. The event was focused on the dedication of three buildings and was celebrated with a circus on Jordan Field, the football stadium at the time.

1909 to 1910
In 1909, Gala Day was moved to the same weekend as the IU-Purdue football game. Alumni were encouraged to attend the game between the budding rivals, and in 1910, the word Homecoming became the official title of the event.

1958
The first Homecoming parade took place in 1958. Conor McIntyre, director of student programs for IUAA, said the first Homecoming parade was not like the one we know today.

“The first Homecoming parade was a march from the train station to greet alumni,” McIntyre said. “The band then walked everyone back to campus.”
The parade has had various routes as well.
“In the ’80s, the parade used to go along Fee Lane to 10th Street around to Woodlawn and ended at the fountain for the pep rally,” University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said.

1969
In 1969, the IU Homecoming Queen contest was cancelled for the first time since 1930, according to the Indiana Alumni Magazine. That same year, 14 African-American football players staged a boycott for alleged discriminatory practices by the coaches.
Gros Louis said the boycott occurred around the same time that black students laid on the Little 500 track to protest for an African-American and African Diaspora Studies department at IU and they fought for an African-American dean.

1970
Homecoming wasn’t always full of fun times. At Homecoming in the early 1970s, a student was killed during the parade.

“A float in the parade had a cannon on it,” Gros Louis said. “A young man was killed when the cannon backfired and the student got hit.”