From Missouri to Baylor, where did the tradition of homecoming truly begin?
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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
STANDING ALONE IN the middle of the grassy Francis Quadrangle at the University of Missouri are six ionic-style columns. They are the last remaining features from the school’s first building, constructed in 1840, and when photographed with the domed, red-brick Jesse Hall in the background, it makes for a welcoming postcard.
During campus tours, it’s on The Quad where prospective students have long been given a crash course on university lore.
“There were absolutely two things that we hit on every tour,” said broadcaster Kevin Gehl, a Missouri alum and former homecoming king, who guided campus tours as an undergraduate student from 2006 to 2009. “Getting the history tied in right away was always so valuable because we could say, ‘Listen, we have the first and best journalism school in the world and the oldest continuous homecoming.’
“Now, sometimes that would get shortened to, ‘Well, we’ve got the oldest homecoming.'”
For many Missouri alums, the idea the school is the birthplace of modern homecoming — a tradition celebrated at just about every high school and college in the country — serves as a major source of pride.
It all goes back to 1911.
That’s when football coach and athletic director Chester Brewer called for alumni to “come home” to see the Tigers play Kansas in Columbia, starting a homecoming tradition on campus that over a century later remains, without question, one of the largest, most cherished celebrations of its kind. As late as the 1930s, after homecoming had become a common occurrence across the country, Brewer would perpetuate the notion Missouri started it all, and for decades the urban legend grew.
But as Mizzou’s origin story spread, so did competing claims. From Illinois to Michigan to Texas and beyond, there are differing tales of how homecoming came about. After becoming aware of this incredibly low-stakes debate ahead of Missouri’s homecoming game Saturday against Auburn, ESPN set out to answer what seemed like a simple question: Where did the tradition of homecoming begin?
IN EARLY 1910, two University of Illinois students sat on the steps of what was then the school’s YMCA. It’s there, the story goes, that they first discussed the idea for an event to bring alumni back to campus.
“They wanted to do it in the fall because they thought centering it around a football game would be a good anchor to get people to come back,” said Ryan Ross, the director of history and traditions programs for the Illinois Alumni Association. “They also wanted to have other events that people could take part in. The university had been having alumni reunions and class reunions — that sort of thing — for a long time and so what they wanted to do was move those reunions to the fall.”
One of the students, W. Elmer Ekblaw, was a reporter for the student newspaper, the Daily Illini, and used the platform to advocate for the idea during the spring. It quickly gained support and by May, an official homecoming day was scheduled for October, when the football team would host rival Chicago, coached by the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg.
In addition to the football game, there would be a baseball game, a track meet and other reunion events for alumni that planned to attend. The school’s athletic association added 5,000 temporary seats to the football stadium to accommodate an estimated crowd of 12,000, which saw the Illini win 3-0. Illinois’ first homecoming was celebrated as an overwhelming success, with the Daily Illini predicting other schools would follow the school’s lead.
“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.”
The article was prophetic in that homecoming was widely adopted and has been held at Illinois every year since, with the exception of 1918, due to the influenza epidemic. It also likely played a role in establishing widespread belief this was where the nationwide tradition was born.
“For more than a century, there’s been this idea that we created homecoming and this idea has been passed down from generation to generation and just sort of proliferated,” Ross said. “Alumni from here will get into arguments with people from other universities who claim they created homecoming.”
It was of such importance at Illinois that in 2005, graduate student John Franch was commissioned to conduct a research project, paid for by the University Archives Student Life and Culture Archival Program, to determine who created homecoming.
“I was hired to look into the matter and hopefully settle it once and for all,” Franch told ESPN in an email. “Needless to say, the answer to the question proved to be a complicated one.”
It’s complicated because the concept of alumni returning to campus to watch football wasn’t something that needed to be invented. It happened naturally. And many schools had alumni gatherings that were planned around — or just happened to coincide with — football games or other athletic events. These were common in the Ivy League during the late 1800s.
Franch’s report outlined how Michigan hosted what it referred to as “Alumni Games” beginning in 1897. The current football team would play an alumni team, and there were ancillary events designed to bring alumni together. In 1900, the format changed and the team played against Purdue in the designated alumni game. The similarities to homecoming were present, but Franch found that Michigan didn’t start using the actual phrase — homecoming — until it was printed on the cover of a football program in 1947.
Northern Illinois, then known as Northern Illinois State Normal School, traces its homecoming roots to 1906. That’s when the term first appeared in the school newspaper, but the homecoming football game, like how things began at Michigan, was played against an alumni team until 1914, when it played Wheaton College. This week, NIU will celebrate its homecoming, in what has been marketed as its 117th all time.
These examples raise questions about semantics. Should Michigan get credit for homecoming if it didn’t call it homecoming? Should NIU get credit if its early versions were missing an important part — a real opponent — of what the tradition is now?
It’s all up for debate.
What’s not in dispute, however, is that in 1909 Baylor hosted a “Home-Coming” weekend that featured all the elements that remain important today. It took months of planning and included a pep rally, a bonfire, a parade and, of course, a football game, in which Baylor defeated TCU, 6-3.
If history wants to remember the first, official homecoming game in college football, all the evidence suggests this was it.
An 82-page university document was published in January 1910 and went into great detail to memorialize everything that took place.
“The purpose of the Home-Coming was to give an opportunity for the joyful meeting of former student friends, an occasion when old classmates could again feel the warm hand-clasp of their fellows, recall old memories and associations, and catch the Baylor spirit again,” it said.
From that perspective, not much has changed.
“Just thinking about the ways that we make meaning of things and the importance of sports and our culture and the events that happen,” said Dr. Elizabeth Rivera, the university archivist and associate librarian at Baylor. “It’s documented here that human nature doesn’t change over time, and they were doing the same things that we still do today for meaning-making and traditions that mean so much to people.”
Among the attendees was the school’s oldest living graduate at the time, a man named Oscar Leland, who was born in 1826, and, notably, arrived in an automobile.
Baylor wouldn’t host another homecoming until 1915 — something Rivera said was likely due to the cost of such a large-scale event — and it didn’t become an annual tradition until the 1930s. So while Baylor likely deserves credit for being first, it didn’t have as much of an impact on the early growth of the tradition as other places.
For Ross, the existence of Baylor’s homecoming in 1909 serves as clear evidence that Illinois, in 1910, was not first, but he has found that facts haven’t gotten in the way of a good story.
“There’s still people every year who say, ‘Illinois invented homecoming,’ and you have to correct them. You can gently correct them or if it’s a top level administrator saying it, you just kind of let it go,” Ross said. “But it happens all the time. What we’ve sort of come down on is Illinois didn’t invent homecoming, but I think we have had the longest continuous homecoming celebration with the intention of it being an annual event.”
TODD MCCUBBIN, THE executive director of the Mizzou Alumni Association, isn’t exactly sure how Missouri’s claim to have originated homecoming grew so strong over the years.
“We’re very fortunate to have the sort of buy-in that we have from our community, from our students, from our alumni around this tradition,” he said. “Part of that does come from the fact that at some point we were given credit at one time for being the first in the country.
“So, I think people kind of bought into that history and tradition of it. And then, honestly, once you get past that, it has to be more about — they’re not necessarily too concerned about who’s first, we just know we do homecoming really well.”
Even this week, there were at least two new Reddit posts that share a quote from Brewer, indicating Missouri invented homecoming. They link back to an article originally published by MIZZOU magazine in 2011, that wades into the history.
“For years, third-party ammunition has fueled debates about which university can be credited with starting homecoming,” the articles stated. “Recognition from Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit is often touted as supporting evidence by Mizzou fans.”
As part of this fact-finding mission, ESPN reached out to “Jeopardy!” for the purpose of sharing the clue and answer relating to Missouri’s homecoming claim, but the exercise didn’t substantiate what was written in 2011.
In 2021, a $400 clue read: “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?
But in a statement to ESPN, Jeopardy! co-head writer Billy Wisse said: “Sorry to say that Michele Loud [the show’s other co-head writer] and I looked all kinds of ways, but we see absolutely no Jeopardy! clue ever about Missouri and homecoming other than the one from 2021.”
What’s undeniable is that Missouri’s homecoming celebration is among the best in the country. The game is always held on one of the last three weekends of October and is preceded by a parade, talent competition, spirit rally and other alumni events. There are acts of service with a food drive and what McCubbin said is one of the largest blood drives in the country.
RECORD = BROKEN🩸
We are so grateful to our Mizzou community for coming together to beat last year’s donation total with 4,959 units of blood. Thank you to every donor, volunteer and the @RedCrossMO for their help in saving 14,877 potential lives.#LeadingtheLegacy pic.twitter.com/IdcAH4eQ2q
— Mizzou Homecoming (@MU_Homecoming) October 11, 2024
“It’s the biggest weekend of the year in Columbia, by far,” he said. “Everything else pales in comparison.”
When Missouri moved to the SEC from the Big 12 in 2012, homecoming didn’t change much, but it led to one memorable exchange McCubbin had with a colleague at another school, who questioned why the Tigers had scheduled their school as the homecoming opponent.
“I’m like, ‘So what?'” McCubbin said. “And he says, ‘Well, in the SEC it’s got this kind of connotation that [homecoming is] where you kind of schedule the weaker opponent.”
That scheduling philosophy reaches far beyond the SEC, but McCubbin explained that at Missouri, that’s not part of the thinking.
And with over a century’s worth of homecoming history, during which Mizzou was instrumental in shaping an American tradition, who is it for another school to suggest how it is run?
Even if, technically, Missouri wasn’t where it all began.
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Jesse Rogers
Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg died on Monday at age 65. Sandberg, known for his power, speed and defensive prowess during his 16-year major league career, was the face of the Cubs during his 15 seasons with the franchise and a fan favorite throughout the sport.
Originally diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer in January of 2024, Sandberg was still around the Cubs as recently as spring training — and just as he did in his playing days, he made his presence felt with his signature combination of power and grace.
As the baseball world mourns the loss of an icon, those who knew Sandberg best shared their favorite stories about the Hall of Famer.
‘Ryno would be out there at 9 a.m.’
Sandberg was traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Cubs in January 1982 after struggling during his first call-up in Philly. A legendarily hard worker, Sandberg was willing to do whatever it took to make sure his stay in Chicago would go differently.
Larry Bowa, who was dealt along with Sandberg in the trade for veteran infielder Ivan DeJesus, remembers the hours Sandberg put in as he transformed from a light-hitting rookie in Philadelphia to a budding superstar in Chicago.
“I think about how he handled himself when he first got called up. He struggled out of the gate. I watched this guy not let it affect him. It might have affected him on the inside, but the way he handled himself on the outside was great,” Bowa said.
“Ryno would be out there at 9 a.m. [Manager] Jim Frey would tell him [to] hit every ball over the tarp and into the seats down the left-field line in foul territory. Hit it with authority over that tarp. Ryno looked at him like he was crazy. ‘I want every ball with authority over that tarp,’ Frey kept telling him. He did it for a week straight. That’s how he learned how to pull the ball.”
‘Just ungodly consistent’
2:27
How Ryne Sandberg will be remembered in Chicago
Jesse Rogers reflects on Ryne Sandberg’s career in Chicago after he died on Monday at the age of 65.
After his power stroke clicked, it didn’t take long for Sandberg to take his game to the highest level. He was named National League MVP in 1984 after hitting .314 with 19 home runs and 19 triples, stealing 32 bases and leading the Cubs to their first postseason appearance in 39 years.
Perhaps no one had a better view for Sandberg’s dominant campaign than his close friend, Cubs leadoff hitter Bobby Dernier. The two batted 1-2 in the Chicago lineup and earned the nickname “The Daily Double” as they combined to score 208 runs that season.
“Just ungodly consistent,” Dernier said of what made Sandberg so great. “And the style of game back then demanded a little bit of baserunning prowess and being capable of stealing bases and scoring a lot of runs. And so that was our style. He was tremendous.
“Pitchers were always paying a little more attention to me on the bases than him at the plate, and that was a big mistake and he’d take full advantage. He’d almost giggle about it, is what I remember in the dugout.”
Sandberg cemented his legacy during that season with a signature game against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 23, forever known in Chicago as “The Sandberg Game.” He hit two game-tying home runs off Hall of Fame closer Bruce Sutter in the ninth and 10th innings before the Cubs won the game in the 11th — in front of a national TV audience.
“After he tied it up, I ended up hitting the ball off the wall, but if mine goes out, it’s probably never called the Sandberg game,” outfielder Gary Matthews said with a laugh. “He was great at everything that he did. I hit behind him and he was always on base.”
‘He had a perfect swing for his home ballpark’
Sandberg hit 282 career home runs during an era of baseball where second baseman weren’t known for that kind of power, but he was more than just a long ball threat. Six of those home runs — the second most off an opposing pitcher — were hit off Hall of Famer John Smoltz, who recalled one memorable afternoon for Sandberg.
“I gave up two home runs to him in a game and I had a [autograph] card show after the game and everyone in the world knew I gave up two home runs to Ryne Sandberg,” Smoltz said. “One was an inside-the-park home run. Those fans at the card show reminded me of that.
“He had a perfect swing for his home ballpark. He had a flatter swing that worked great for the angles at Wrigley Field, especially when the wind was blowing in.”
Sandberg was more than just an offensive threat; he also won nine consecutive Gold Glove awards during his time with the Cubs and posted a 123-game errorless streak.
“I used to tell Joe Morgan, ‘This guy doesn’t have to take a second seat to anybody on defense,'” Matthews said. “Morgan would say Ryne’s uniform was always clean. I said, ‘Well, you have to dive because you can’t get in front of it! Don’t get on him for perfecting the backhand.’ In the end Joe said, ‘You’re right.'”
‘He’s in a class by himself’
For all of his accomplishments on the field, the way Sandberg handled himself as a competitor and away from the game is what many who knew him best will remember about him.
“He’s an outstanding human being,” Bowa said. “That’s what I think of. Such a good family guy. His mental toughness is off the charts. Don’t let people deceive you by that little laugh he has all the time. He wanted to win as much as anybody. I’ve been around Pete Rose, and Ryno is right there.”
Smoltz added: “He’s in a class by himself. You would never know he was one of the greatest players ever, just by the way he carried himself and the ‘aw, shucks’ type attitude.
“I love competing against greatness that has integrity and character like Ryne Sandberg had. The way he carried himself, the way he was as a person is what I think about. It sure was nice to see him represent the sport and the city he played for.”
“Joy,” Dernier said. “That’s the first thing, and way so many more happiness types of stories. And it’s a grin on my face to think about him. And yeah, right now it’s melancholy that we know he’s gotten called up to the real big leagues. But I’m glad I knew him and I loved him being underestimated.”
‘Oh, man, I loved Ryno, but he’s lucky he was that good at baseball’
Of course, there were a few moments in Sandberg’s career where he wasn’t as gracious. In the Cubs clubhouse, teammates saw a different side of the Hall of Famer — a playful troublemaker and prankster.
“We had those chairs directors they use making movies, held together by sticks,” Matthews said. “Ryno would always take the sticks out, put the seat back in, and daily I’d fall to the ground. He’d be over there snickering or walking away.
“Or he would load your cigarette up and make it explode in a non-harmful way. Then when you figured it out, he would put two of those in the pack. He thought that was the funniest thing.”
Despite that kind of back-and-forth, Matthews and Sandberg often golfed together.
“I would ask for a few strokes,” Matthews said. “He would politely say, ‘no strokes, play better.’ He would hit some balls you couldn’t believe. Ball after ball. He would hit one and know it’s a good one but he’d ask, ‘Do you think that was any good?’ And just smile at me.
“Oh, man, I loved Ryno, but he’s lucky he was that good at baseball,” Matthews said with a laugh.
“He’d stir the pot and then walk away and look over his shoulder,” Bowa added. “He’d be cracking up after getting us going. He was so quiet outwardly with you guys [media], but not with us.”
‘He made such an impact on me ‘
After his playing days, Sandberg served as the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies from 2013 to 2015 before returning to Chicago, often putting on a uniform as a spring instructor and imparting the lessons from his Hall of Fame career to a new generation of Cubs.
“I just think it’s cool that he’s somebody that has kind of done everything in our sport but still doesn’t approach the game with any kind of ego,” current Chicago second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “He doesn’t talk like he has the answers to everything or the conversation is never about him.
“He’s kind of softspoken, but then if you got him going on something he really cared about, it’s really cool to hear him open up, whether it’s routines he had or how he took care of his body or just fun memories with teammates or playing at Wrigley.”
Shortstop Dansby Swanson added: “Just such a top-shelf human being. He made such an impact on me even in my short time of being able to be around him. Just an unbelievable human being and someone that I’m very, very grateful to have met and spent time with, whether it’s talking about life or talking about ball.”
It’s those attributes, the ones the baseball world got to see on the field and the ones only his teammates were able to witness, that were missed in retirement. But his attitude about life stands out for everyone.
“We talked about a lot of things, about defense and offense, but we talked about life, too,” rookie third baseman Matt Shaw said. “When he first came up, he struggled a little bit early on and he was like, ‘No matter what happens, you just got to keep believing in yourself and keep going.’ And I definitely take that to heart, and that’s something that I definitely think about a lot — is that belief to just to keep going.”
CHICAGO — Ryne Sandberg, a Hall of Fame second baseman who became one of baseball’s best all-around players while starring for the Chicago Cubs died Monday at age 65.
Sandberg was surrounded by his family when he died at his home, according to the team.
Sandberg announced in January 2024 that he was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. He had chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and then said in August 2024 that he was cancer-free.
But he posted on Instagram on Dec. 10 that his cancer had returned and spread to other organs. He announced this month that he was still fighting, while “looking forward to making the most of every day with my loving family and friends.”
Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said Sandberg “will be remembered as one of the all-time greats in nearly 150 years of this historic franchise.”
“His dedication to and respect for the game, along with his unrelenting integrity, grit, hustle, and competitive fire were hallmarks of his career,” Ricketts said in the team’s statement.
The Cubs said they would wear a special jersey patch to commemorate Sandberg for the rest of the season.
Sandberg was born and raised in Spokane, Washington. He was selected out of high school by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 20th round of the 1978 amateur draft.
He made his major league debut in 1981 and went 1-for-6 in 13 games with the Phillies. In January 1982, he was traded to Chicago with Larry Bowa for veteran infielder Ivan De Jesus.
It turned into one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history.
Sandberg hit .285 with 282 homers, 1,061 RBIs and 344 steals in 15 years with Chicago. He made 10 All-Star teams — winning the Home Run Derby in 1990 — and collected nine Gold Gloves.
“Ryne Sandberg was a legend of the Chicago Cubs franchise and a beloved figure throughout Major League Baseball,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said. “He was a five-tool player who excelled in every facet of the game thanks to his power, speed and work ethic.”
Even with Sandberg’s stellar play, the Cubs made only two postseason appearances in his time there.
He was the National League MVP in 1984, batting .314 with 19 homers, 84 RBIs, 32 steals, 19 triples and 114 runs scored. Chicago won the NL East and Sandberg hit .368 (7-for-19) in the playoffs, but the Cubs were eliminated by San Diego after winning the first two games of the NL Championship Series at Wrigley Field.
The 1984 season featured what Cubs fans still call “The Sandberg Game,” when he homered twice and drove in seven runs in a 12-11 victory over St. Louis in 11 innings on June 23.
The Cubs paid tribute to Sandberg and that game when they unveiled a statue of the infielder outside Wrigley Field on that date in 2024.
“He was a superhero in this city,” Jed Hoyer, Cubs president of baseball operations, said during a TV broadcast of the team’s game on July 20. “You think about [Michael] Jordan, Walter Payton and Ryne Sandberg all here at the same time, and I can’t imagine a person handling their fame better, their responsibility for a city better than he did.”
Sandberg led Chicago back to the playoffs in 1989, hitting .290 with 30 homers as the Cubs won the NL East. He batted .400 (8-for-20) in the NLCS, but Chicago lost to San Francisco in five games.
Sandberg set a career high with an NL-best 40 homers in 1990 and drove in a career-best 100 runs in 1990 and 1991, but he never made it back to the postseason. He retired after the 1997 season.
“When you examine the offense and defense, you’ll find some years where he was the best player you’ve ever seen in your life,” former Cubs first baseman Mark Grace said.
Sandberg was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, receiving 76.2% of the vote by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in his third year on the ballot. The Cubs retired his No. 23 that same season.
“Ryne Sandberg had a relentless work ethic and an unshakable positive outlook,” Hall of Fame chair Jane Forbes Clark said. “With it, he inspired all those who knew him.”
Sandberg also managed the Phillies from August 2013 to June 2015, going 119-159. He got the interim job when Charlie Manuel was fired, and he resigned with the Phillies in the middle of a difficult 2015 season.
Sandberg is survived by his wife, Margaret; his children, Justin, Lindsey, Steven, BR and Adriane; and 11 grandchildren.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
DETROIT — Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star third baseman Eugenio Suárez hopes he avoided a major injury when he was hit on the right index finger by a pitch late in Monday night’s 5-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Suárez, who is a candidate to be traded to a contender, was struck by a 95.6 mph sinker from Will Vest in the ninth inning. Suárez immediately doubled over in pain and quickly left the field.
“The good news is that the X-rays were negative, but it still obviously hurt,” said Suárez, who was not bending the finger. “There are more tests scheduled for [Tuesday], and we will go from there. I’ll come back as quickly as I can.”
The 34-year-old infielder is hitting .248 with 36 homers and 87 RBIs in 104 games this season — the seventh time he has hit at least 30 homers across the past eight full campaigns.
“He’s very tough, and he never even winces,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “When he reacts like that, you know it isn’t good.”
Lovullo said he didn’t blame Vest.
“I don’t think there was any intent there,” Lovullo said. “He’s one of the most impressive hitters in MLB, and you don’t want to take those type of players off the field.”
The Diamondbacks are 51-56 and already have signaled they will be unloading players at the deadline. One of the teams believed to be interested in Suárez is the Tigers. The Venezuelan was signed by Detroit at age 17 and made his debut for the club in 2014, before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds after that season.
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