Reported by Julian Spindola

On October 18th, Madison high school held its annual Homecoming game. Thousands of people showed up for a great time. Homecoming is a Texas tradition, with Southwestern University in Georgetown and Baylor University in Waco, both taking credit for the earliest Homecoming in November of 1909.

After Homecoming, I was wondering, how many teachers enjoyed Homecoming, and what did they remember about what their Homecoming was like when they were in high school.

 

Mrs. Downen told me something pretty impressive. She was the Homecoming Queen for Taft high school in 2002. She remembered, “When I was in highs school, I actually won Homecoming queen which was pretty cool! We had our dance in the school cafeteria which I thought was interesting because other schools always went somewhere else for theirs”. She also said “The mums were a really big deal, and everybody had them. So, we had parties where we all made them together.”

Later that day, I emailed Mr. Wehe, who then responded with a pretty interesting story. He shared with me, “I had to escort this pretty young girl at halftime of the football game. There she was in her fancy blue sequined dress and her make-up and hair to the nines. The only problem was it had rained all day and much of the first half of the game. I was soaked and covered in mud from head to toe.” He grinned and continued, “I honestly felt horrible about it, but she won Homecoming Queen and she quickly forgot about my appearance and me.”

Mrs. Bates also shared a great story about Homecoming in her small hometown. “We completed throughout the week against the other grade levels.  Some of those competitions included painting a designated section of the road by the school with a spirit design, decorating a specific hallway of the school, competitions during our school pep rally assembly, decorating a float for the homecoming parade, and dressing up a different way each day of the week. “On Friday morning there would be a big homecoming parade with floats and lots of candy thrown and the whole community came and participated. Many floats included alumni and bands from previous graduating classes.”

Whether it’s a small school community or a big one, there is always something special about Homecoming, a special event that has been celebrated for more than a century.