Tradition of Homecoming began on train ride from New York City

by Sara Bisker
Staff Writer

            This weekend Ohio University alumni will return to Athens for Homecoming by car or plane, but the tradition began with a train ride from New York City.

            Homecoming originated in 1904 when a small group of New York alums stepped off the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad one Saturday to boost the cheering section at OU's football game, according to a 1954 Post article.

           Homecoming has been an annual occurrence since 1921, when the celebration coincided with the inauguration of OU's 13th president, except 1943 and 1944 cancellations because of World War II, according to the article.

Homecoming traditions have changed throughout the years, but reasons returning to OU have stayed the same.

James Jordan, organizer of The Inn Group, said alumni come back to Athens for friendship. The Inn Group is composed of alumni who graduated between 1942 and 1952 and have returned for Homecoming since 1950.

             "Friendship is the catalyst," Jordan said. "But there's no question about their love for the university."

      Jordan attended OU in 1980 and did not graduate. He took over the role for his father, Sid Jordan, former group organizer who died last year.

           In 1939, festivities included a Homecoming football rally that featured singing by sorority and fraternity members and swing dance music provided by OU's 120-piece marching band, according to a 1939 Post article.

A Saturday night dance was the climax of many Homecomings.

"Informal dress for the affair rules corsages taboo," according to a 1954 Post article.

            The football game also was a main Homecoming event, said Bob Baur, who attended OU in 1940 but left to fight in World War II. He came back in 1946 under the G.I. Bill and graduated in 1948.

            "We usually had a Homecoming dance in the Men's Gym (now Bentley Hall)," Baur said. "There was usually big band music of the '40s."

           The football game was as exciting and popular in the past as it is today, Baur said.

            "When we won, we would have a snake dance," he said. The cheerleaders would lead fans yelling and singing across the football field to Uptown.

            Decorating floats for the Homecoming parade also was a much larger event in the past.

"There were more floats because each fraternity and sorority had one as well as independents," Baur said. "We didn't have as many (marching) band members, and high school bands did not participate."

The parade once was sponsored by the Men's Union and was divided by sex, according to a 1940 Post article.

Float judging also was different.

"The judges will determine the winner on the basis of originality, work done and, for the women's floats, beauty," according to the 1940 article.

Leona Hughes, a 1930 OU graduate, recalled how she helped prepare floats for the parade as a member of Phi Mu sorority.

            "The sororities built beautiful floats," Hughes said. "I remember poking cocktail napkins through chicken wire for weeks on end to have a presentable float."

             For many alumni returning to campus this weekend, memories of old times rush back as they pass under College Gate and return to former residence halls and popular hangouts.

            "I'm coming home," Hughes said.