Fall on a college campus just wouldn’t be the same without Homecoming. For this edition of Centennial Notes, we wanted to look back at one of the most longstanding staples of college life and see how the St. Joseph Junior College and Missouri Western have celebrated it over the years.
The Homecoming tradition of a queen coronation dates back to the 1940s at the St. Joseph Junior College, but the first time the word “Homecoming” was used to describe the event was in 1954.
That year, along with a coronation, Homecoming included a parade (the first), a bonfire and a pep rally, traditions that have endured ever since. The 1955 yearbook notes that the parade downtown “made people realize that there is more than just a building up here on the hill.”
For many years, it wasn’t an official Homecoming unless there was a dance, known as a coronation ball, held at places that are now gone – the Frog Hop Ballroom and the Crystal Room at the Hotel Robidoux.
It wasn’t until the early 1960s that students started creating themes for Homecomings. Dick Sipe ’61 remembered a Western Homecoming theme where students brought their (real) guns to school and had quick-draw contests.
In 1964, according to the yearbook, “Homecoming activities started off with a blast from Pepper Shady’s air horn, which signaled the walkout and ended in a triumph with a 91-89 win over Creston.”
If that score seems higher than today’s Homecoming games, it’s because the game wasn’t football, it was basketball.
The first Homecoming for the four-year college was held Dec. 13, 1969, and for the first time, according to the yearbook, the parade started at East Hills “and proceeded down Frederick on a long, cold trip to the Downtown Shopping area.” A rally was held in the East Hills parking lot in the afternoon, and the game and dance were in the evening. The theme? “Junior Comes of Age.”
Homecoming in 1970 moved to the football season. The theme, appropriately, was “First Down and Goals to Go,” and events included a bonfire, skits, parade, a dance and a coronation.
The 1979 event was special because Spratt Memorial Stadium had been built, and the Griffons really could play “at home.” The 1980 yearbook said, “It was the culmination of the years of expectation that touched off one of the most exciting and active homecomings in MWSC history.”
Homecoming 1984, “The Greatest American Novel; The Lions’ Final Chapter,” featured a couple of different events – Twin Day and a sailboat-building competition. Students tested the seaworthiness of their boats in the fountain in front of Eder Hall.
The 1987 Homecoming, “Animated Western World,” was special because more non-Greek organizations got involved than in years past, according to CAB Chair Martha Wille. The next year, a new Sam the Griffon costume was revealed at the game. It was delivered to the field in a limousine with the parade’s grand marshal Vincent Irizarry, who at the time was the star of the television show, “Santa Barbara.”
With almost 35 percent of students considered nontraditional at Missouri Western in 1991, it probably wasn’t much of a surprise when Sandy Smith, a married mother of three daughters, was named the Homecoming queen that year. She was active in several organizations and had been nominated by the Student Honors Organization. “It had to be a miracle for someone 40 and fat to be queen,” she said in an article in the 1992 Griffon Yearbook.
In 1997, Homecoming queen candidate Carina Miller made a grand entrance into Spratt Memorial Stadium in a helicopter piloted by a Kansas City television station’s meteorologist. The Griffon News said at the time that the dramatic entrance topped the entrance of one of the queen candidates on a Harley Davidson motorcycle several years earlier.
Homecoming 1998, “MWSC Goes Primetime,” brought two firsts to campus – students voted for their queen on computers, and the Homecoming parade was held on campus.
That year, floats lined up at the American Family Insurance parking lot across from the campus on Mitchell Ave., paraded in the main entrance and rolled clockwise on Downs Drive. Although there were a few traffic problems, the trial was deemed a success.
By the 1999 Homecoming, “MWSC Celebrates the Century,” however, the campus was disrupted with the construction of Murphy Hall (then the Janet Gorman Murphy Academic Center) and the addition to the Blum Student Union, so the parade went back to downtown St. Joseph. The following year, Faraon Street past the north entrance of campus was being repaired, so the parade couldn’t be held on campus that year, either. Although the idea of returning the parade to campus was brought up several times in the years since, the 1998 Homecoming parade was the one and only held on campus.
The 2001 Homecoming featured a first – a Homecoming king. Alongside Queen Michelle Figg ’03, senior Stan Pearson ’02, was crowned Missouri Western’s first Homecoming king. The election and announcement were held the week before Homecoming, which was also a change from prior years, so that the king and queen could reign over activities throughout the week.
“Back in Time to ’69” celebrated the 40th anniversary of the University’s move to the new campus, and many students and organizations participated in Homecoming activities.
According to the Griffon News, Homecoming 2011, “Griffon Pride Keepin’ it Real,” was one of the more robust Homecomings in recent years and the best ever. The parade route was longer than in previous years, and 31 student organizations were involved throughout the week.
New events included Dancing with the Griff contest, with both faculty and students competing; an Amazing Griff Race obstacle course; Griff My Ride vehicle-making contest; and Extreme Griffon Takeover, a clean-up night on campus. Students also searched for clues across campus in an effort to win a 32” television.
Considering its long and fun history, it’s probably safe to say Homecoming at Missouri Western will continue for a long, long time.
“The Homecoming game is officially begun as Queen Susie throws the basketball out onto the court,” according to the 1966 yearbook.