Road to Homecoming storied, long

Whether it was a male Homecoming Queen or a choreographed cardboard show during the football game, UNC has always had unique traditions for Homecoming.

These traditions come and go with time and mark different eras in the University’s history.

To better understand Homecoming’s history, The Daily Tar Heel looked back through old newspaper articles and spoke with Clifton Barnes, an alumnus who has researched the event.

When Homecoming officially started in 1923, it was always on Thanksgiving, and the game was always against the University of Virginia.

The event centered around alumni, with few student events.
Originally, Homecoming King was a professor voted for by the student body, along with a student queen.

Homecoming King was later dropped, leaving no representation for men, leading to some atypical Homecoming races.

In 1975, a male senior, Delmar Williams, ran for Homecoming Queen and won, beating out several female candidates.

He told The Daily Tar Heel in 1975 that running for Homecoming Queen was something he had wanted to do for a long time.

Though a thriving institution today, Homecoming almost didn’t get off the ground.

Alumni would congregate for the game each year, but there was no official event.

Even when UNC finally got a football stadium in 1916 and could therefore tie Homecoming to a football game, the event almost never came to fruition.

Barnes said World War I and later an influenza epidemic kept Homecoming from happening. Some of the football seasons during these years were cut short or canceled, making Homecoming impossible.

A similar Homecoming drop-off occurred around World War II and during the 1960s.

“Many students’ interests were focused on a number of serious issues such as the Vietnam War, women’s equality and civil rights,” Barnes said.

He said the UNC General Alumni Association helped Homecoming grow by keeping records of alumni and inviting them back to campus.

Laura Sheppard, Homecoming and affinity reunions coordinator for the GAA, said the organization began to focus more on Homecoming in 2005.

Even before then, the concept of Homecoming King and Queen had been evolving.

By 1984, UNC added a Mr. UNC pageant and changed the title for Queen to the “Carolina Pride Award.”

In 1992, the names were changed to Mr. and Miss UNC, then changed back to king and queen — and finally in the 2000s changed to Mr. and Miss UNC.

At that point, both competitions included a service project element.

Since its beginning, Homecoming shifted from a focus on the alumni to including student events.

By the 1970s, there were parties, concerts, parades, dances, pep rallies and a decoration contest. But that large variety of events has tapered off in recent years.

Chris Keyes, chairman of the Carolina Athletic Association’s Homecoming committee, said he would like to see more and larger events.

“You have to take baby steps to larger events. I just don’t think you can implement something that fast,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at
university@dailytarheel.com.