Mizzou Homecoming – Tradition Set in Stone
Community and campus celebrate 99-year anniversary with traditions old and new
October 19th, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The birthplace of Homecoming is celebrating a 99-year-old “Tradition Set in Stone,” uniting past with present in a monumental celebration of school spirit, service and community. The University of Missouri will celebrate the tradition the school is credited with beginning in 1911 by honoring old traditions and celebrating new ones. For the first time, the MU campus will host ESPN College GameDay on Saturday morning, leading up to the Tigers’ football showdown with Oklahoma at 7 p.m. The university community also will also celebrate the dedication of the new MU Student Center, which opened this fall.
The MU Student Center dedication will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday on Rollins Road, on the south side of the center. Speakers at the event will include Chancellor Brady Deaton. Mort Walker, MU alumnus and Beetle Bailey creator, will be present following the ceremony for a book signing from 5-6 p.m.
The Saturday morning festivities will begin at 8 a.m. with ESPN College GameDay, which is a live three-hour broadcast that will be aired from the Francis Quadrangle on the MU campus. MU cheerleaders, the Golden Girls, and Marching Mizzou will be present to help lead cheers. The event is free and open to the public. MU fans are encouraged to arrive early and wear gold.
The annual Homecoming parade on Saturday will begin at noon and wind throughout campus and downtown Columbia. The route can be found at http://mizzou.com/homecoming/. The 2010 Grand Marshal will be Russ Mitchell, who graduated from Mizzou in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Mitchell is the anchor of CBS Evening News Sunday Edition and a CBS National News Correspondent.
MU officials will dedicate the official MU cornerstone Saturday evening at 5 p.m. in the foyer of Jesse Hall. The stone was the original cornerstone of Academic Hall, which was destroyed by fire in 1892, and has rested for many years at the north entrance to MU on the corner of Eighth and Elm streets. During the ceremony, the cornerstone will be placed in the foyer of Jesse Hall in a display designed by students from the MU department of architectural studies in the College of Human Environmental Sciences.
The 2010 Homecoming events revolve around popular board games. Fraternity and sorority members will decorate Greek Town as part of Campus Decorations; the theme also extends to the talent competition, parade and barbeque competition. Downtown Columbia will be adorned with black and gold as part of the “Decorate the District” event.
The 29 Homecoming student organizers consider community service of paramount importance; homecoming includes several events where students, faculty, staff, alumni and Columbians can give back. On Oct. 1, the university hosted Tiger Food Fight, which collected an equivalent of more than 35,000 meals for the Central Missouri Food Bank. Organizers for the 25th annual Homecoming Blood Drive, which took place in Columbia and at satellite locations around the country, donated more than 4,000 units of blood, which will be used to help save more than 12,000 lives. A new tradition is the Homecoming Service Challenge, which challenges students and alums to serve a combined 10,000 hours in the name of Mizzou Homecoming. To see the volunteers’ progress, visit http://mizzou.com/homecoming. Some times have changed for other events. For a complete listing of homecoming events, please go to http://mizzou.com/homecoming/.