Come home.

The 1963 Homecoming Parade Draws Crowds in Downtown Columbia (University Archives, C:1/141/6, Box 4a, FF Homecoming MO vs. Neb) Picture obtained from: http://muarchives.missouri.edu/homecomdisp.html

It’s homecoming weekend at my alma mater, the University of Missouri.

If there were any way I could go and any way I could make people come with me, I’d be there.

I don’t know why, but this year more than any other year, I’m longing to go back to Mizzou, to wander around the campus and revel at the changes. To be that annoying old person who says things like, “Things were different when I was here!” To stand along the sidelines at the parade wearing a bright gold Mizzou sweatshirt. To sing the fight song and the alma mater with the crowd and feel connected though I wouldn’t know many of them.

This year, I’m reminded of all those years when I’d wake up early on that Saturday morning in the dorm, listening to the cadence of the drums (my dorm parking lot area was a staging area for the parade). I heard a sound similar to that when walking into the Y a few weeks ago and I was instantly back at Mizzou, cheering for the parade—in my mind at least.

I bet you didn’t know that the tradition of homecoming actually began at the University of Missouri, did you?

Well, if I’m going to be honest and unbiased in passing along this information, I have to say that there are 3 universities who claim that honor: Mizzou, the University of Illinois, and Baylor. (It would be rival schools, wouldn’t it?) Missouri’s tradition has its roots in the Border War game between Missouri and Kansas, a tradition that began in 1891. The game was usually played on neutral ground, but then there was a regulation change and in order to ensure the crowd was big enough at the first game on Mizzou’s Columbia, Mo., campus, the athletic director and others invited alumni to come home for the 1911 game and the celebration, which featured a parade and spirit rally. Nearly 10,000 alumni showed up, even though the game ended in a tie. The NCAA, Trivial Pursuit, and Jeopardy! all give Missouri the honor of hosting the first homecoming.

The University of Illinois and Baylor hosted similar events in 1910 and 1909, respectively, but either weren’t repeated or weren’t officially sanctioned by the university or called a homecoming until much later.

But if you’d like to understand a little of the magic of a University of Missouri Homecoming, check out ESPN’s College GameDay this Saturday. It will be broadcast from the historic Francis Quadrangle at Mizzou—and I hope with the beautiful, historic columns that are my university’s trademark in view. The Missouri-Oklahoma game will be broadcast on ABC, I think, later in the afternoon.

All I can say is GO TIGERS!