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HISTORY
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Failed traditions
ANGELA HAWKINS editor@kansan.com
PHOTOS COURTESY SPENCER RESEARCH LIBRARY
As this is the University's 99th homecoming celebration, many traditions have developed in time. Erin Rossiter, a senior from Omaha, Nebr., said she thinks this is part of what makes the University great. "KU is more than just a place where people teach and go to school," Rossiter said. "The traditions stay alive because without them wed just be any other school." However, for better or worse, some traditions have faded to oblivion.
Here's a look back at some of the University's failed homecoming traditions
Here's a look back at some of the University's failed homecoming traditions
Students gather for Doc Yak's medicine show in 1946
Doc Yak's Medicine Show
Back in the 1940s, Homecoming Week featured an event called "Doc Yak's Medicine Show." For it, an actor dressed as an old-fashioned doctor handed out sugar pills that he claimed would boost the school spirit in KU students and ensure a win in the homecoming football game.
Hobo Dav
In 1922 the first annual Hobo Day was celebrated. For it, students dressed in clothes resembling those of a hobo. Students also brought along old clothes to sell or exchange. In a 1928 Hobo Days celebration, students in two vegetable trucks on campus had a vegetable fight.
The event was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s, but eventually faded away.
Concerts in the Fieldhouse
There used to be massive concerts in Allen Fieldhouse for students to enjoy the week of the big game. In 1971, Student Union Activities brought Bob Hope to perform in Allen Fieldhouse.
RIGHT: Bob and Delores Hope talk with students at Allen Fieldhouse in 1971.
A candidate for homecoming queen rides into Memorial Stadium in 1965.
Homecoming Queen
The University crowned its first homecoming queen in 1925. The tradition continued on an annual basis between 1933 and 1969. However, by the early 1970s, anti-Vietman War sentiment overshadowed the tradition and the University stopped crowning homecoming queens. At the same time, sororites and fraternities
were encouraged not to decorate their houses for homecoming.
Eventually, sororities and fraternities got back into decorating their houses, but homecoming queens have not been crowned since. Now, the University celebrates two students' leadership, service and academic efforts with the Ex.C.E.L. Award.
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Duck Race
In 1935, students tried to orchestrate duck race on Potter Lake. Reports show that there was a good student turnout at the event, but the morning was pretty chilly and the ducks just huddled in the
middle of the lake
Eventually the Marching Band's duck crossed the finish line — but it wasn't enough to save the
nough to save the tradition.
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