Coming home is low-key for Tigers

Come support Princeton football tomorrow as the team takes on Harvard in our Homecoming Game," USG president Alex Lenahan '07 wrote in an email to the undergraduate student body on Friday, offering free pizza and "rally towels" to any student who showed up at Princeton Stadium.

If they took the time to read Lenahan's message, most students would have been made aware that this weekend was homecoming. But perhaps because of impending midterms or the general lack of homecoming traditions on campus, Princeton's homecoming was a fairly subdued affair.

Designated each year as a home football game against traditional rivals Harvard or Yale, homecoming at Princeton is far less of a spectacle than at many other schools.

"In high school and at the colleges that my friends go to, there is a weeklong celebration," Georgia native Mary Marshall '10 said. "People get dressed up and elect a homecoming king and queen."

"But, I still had a lot of fun at the game," she added.

A perusal of the Mudd Manuscript Library's archives sheds little light on the origins of homecoming. The event seems absent from documents on dances, celebrations and athletic traditions.

Research at Mudd did, however, reveal that the first homecoming celebration in the United States took place in 1910, and that Princeton held its first bonfire — the traditional celebration for defeating Harvard and Yale in football in the same season — in 1926. It's likely, then, that Princeton homecoming was introduced at some point in the 1920s.

A quick look at the crowd at Saturday's game or at the tents set up for tailgating indicated that homecoming is an event for alumni, who flock back to campus for a chance to meet up with old friends, rekindle some Tiger spirit and relive their college days. Recent alumni mingled with members of classes from the 1950s at tailgates sponsored by individual classes and by the Alumni Association.

Alumni sporting garish orange and black regalia brought spouses and children along, contributing to above-average attendance at the football game — a statistic Princeton's event shares with more traditional homecomings.

Some alumni make the trip every year, including Charles Yeo '75. Homecoming "brings alumni back to the four greatest years of their lives," he said. "They all remember the parties and the activities."

"It's a lot more special," he added, "if our team is 5-0 and playing Harvard who're also 5-0."

For other alumni, homecoming is a prime opportunity to return to campus after years away. Eating clubs catered to former members by setting up special brunches and hosting cocktails and other events.

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"It's been a while since I've been back," Karen Courtnage '94 said at the Class of 1994 tent near the stadium entrance. "It's a beautiful time to catch the foliage."