A. THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
HOMECOMING
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2004
University sweethearts
University sweethearts These couples found the loves of their lives at the University, some of them following in the footsteps of their parents, and sometimes grandparents. page 3A
Faculty return These KU faculty chose to give an education where they recieved theirs Alumni talk about what's changed since their time as students on the hill. page 7A
Black Student Union royalty After a year hiatus, the Black Student Union continues to crown homecoming royalty. jage 5A
How to build a float to be proud of Learn about the evolution of homecoming floats and how to make one of your own. page 13A
Favorite haunts
Students return long after graduation to their favorite watering holes. There are pleny of old ones, and new places have followings of their own, too. jungle 15a
Editoi's Note Louise Stauffer
this university is a place many love to call home. So in following this year's homecoming theme "Hawktoberfest, : Home Is Where the Hawk Is," the staff has written about people who call the University home in one way or another. Some chose to return after graduating to teach, some participated in homecoming traditions, and some went on to fame. No matter where all of us end up calling home, we'll always have one at this university as well.
Barbara Keating (then Schmidt) was crowned homecoming queen in 1962.
University Archive
Past queens reminisce on reign
Marily Carson, Joy Bates (then Godbehere) and Gwen Harger get recognized during halftime at the KU-K-State game in 1945.
By ANNIE MCENROE
correspondent@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
When the homecoming parade makes its way down Jayhawk Boulevard Saturday morning, a few University of Kansas homecoming queens might be waving at the crowd, but their crowns will be no less than 35 years old.
KU crowned its last homecoming queen in 1969. Citing an adverse political climate, it did away with the tradition the next year
"There was a lot of unrest then — there was the Vietnam War, and a lot of people protesting and everything." former homecoming queen, Cynthia Geiger, said.
coming queen, Cynthia Geiger. The Kansas Alumni Association has invited the University's past queens to return to Lawrence for homecoming and participate in Saturday's parade.
Saturday's parade.
Although Geiger says she probably won't attend, she still remembers her reign vividly.
Geiger was crowned queen by then Governor William Avery at halftime of the football game against Nebraska in 1966. But even on the field, she could feel that times were changing.
An important face was missing from the crowd. Having received a military draft notice, Geiger's fiancé was away completing basic training.
Geiger's sorority, Pi Beta Phi, nominated her to compete with representatives from other living groups on campus, including residence halls and scholarship halls, for the title of homecoming queen.
"They made a really big deal of it — we traveled all over the state and did interviews on TV." she said.
Barbara Keating, crowned in 1962, also found that her duties as queen extended
She remembers appearing on one television program between track star Jim Ryun and future NFL hall-of-famer Gayle Sayers.
a convertible.
Along with the University of Missouri's queen and the American Royal queen, Keating presided over the grand opening of Kansas City's Ward Parkway shopping center, where they waved their "magic wands" and were escorted by a group of handsome young men.
beyond riding around Memorial Stadium in a convertible.
Keating learned of her selection as queen at a gathering in front of Strong Hall before the football game that year. After a parade down Massachusetts Street, Chancellor Clarke Wescoe and Governor John Anderson crowned her at halftime.
"They each kissed me on the cheek, and was just kind of an exciting thing," she said.
According to 1945 queen Joy Bates, the University didn't always take the homecoming queen tradition so seriously.
Bates doesn't owe her selection to careful deliberation by faculty and staff. The year of her reign, the University entrusted the decision to the K-State football team.
Bates said homecoming organizers interviewed each candidate on color film, then shipped the tapes away to K-State, where the rival team made the final decision. The University played K-State in the homecoming football game that Saturday.
Bates' coronation was equally lighthearted. On the Friday of homecoming week, the candidates gathered in South Park before the beginning of the parade down Massachusetts Street.
Massachusetts Street "Dean Malott was the chancellor, and had on a nightshirt — he was a real tall, very handsome man — and then he announced that I was the queen," she said.
After the ceremony, Bates and her two attendants climbed into a convertible with the pajama-clad chancellor, and the four led the parade down the street.
Considering the silliness of her experience as queen, Bates hates to see that the tradition has ended.
"I just considered it a nice compliment and a fun thing," she said. "You didn't put a lot of emphasis on it."
But according to Jennifer Alderdice, director of student programs at the Alumni Association, the tradition had begun to seem politically incorrect by the 1970s, when it was discontinued.
"Homecoming queen" has a connotation of a popularity contest," she said. "The last year they did it, they decided it was inappropriate."
Instead of a crown, the University began presenting two students with an award for leadership, scholastic achievement and community service in 1991.
continuing services.
After completing an application and interview process, one male and one female student receive the Ex. C.E.L. award, which includes a $500 cash prize, at halftime of the homecoming football game.
Geiger doesn't mind leaving the queen tradition in the past. If she returns to KU this weekend, she won't be seeking the royal treatment
"I think my parade days might be over," she said. "But I'll see."
- Edited by Ryan Greene
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