{"id":24964,"date":"2025-10-29T09:49:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T14:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/?p=24964"},"modified":"2025-10-29T09:53:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T14:53:03","slug":"did-baylor-host-the-first-collegiate-homecoming-signs-point-to-yes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2025\/10\/did-baylor-host-the-first-collegiate-homecoming-signs-point-to-yes-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Baylor host the first collegiate homecoming? ‘Signs point to yes.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

“What school hosted the first collegiate homecoming?”<\/p>\n

It’s a question that’s been long debated. But if you picture an alumni event centered around a varsity football game when you think of homecoming, then there’s no question that Baylor University hosted the first collegiate homecoming, all the way back in 1909.<\/p>\n

That’s the conclusion that the University of Illinois reached in 2005, when they began researching the question. Illinois archivist Ellen Swain put it plainly: “Baylor probably had the first homecoming<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

ESPN reached a similar conclusion in 2024 when they dug into the matter: “If history wants to remember the first, official homecoming game in college football, all the evidence suggests this [Baylor] was it<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

In the fall of 1909, Baylor alumni received a postcard signed by three professors, asking graduates to return to campus to “renew former associations and friendships, and catch the Baylor spirit again.” On Nov. 24, the first-ever Homecoming began. The next day featured class reunions, a parade with 130+ entries led by the Baylor band, and a football game at Carroll Field in which BU defeated TCU, 6-3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other schools sometimes stake a claim to having hosted the first collegiate homecoming — but each claim has its issues:<\/p>\n