Sec. C Page 4 Missoulian Centennial U Homecomings Started in ’19
U Homecomings Started in ‘19
Montana State University’s first homecoming, at least in its present form, was staged 41 years ago on Thanksgiving Day in 1919.
It was the year after World War I and the University was resuming football after wartime cancelation of grid contests.
Returning alums saw Montana pitted against one of the best teams in the history of Washington State College for the homecoming event. Despite the 42-14 outcome, the first homecoming alumni were happy. Montana scored more points against WSC than any other of its opponents in the west, and fans saw University quarterback Harry Adams score early in the game and then in the final quarter grab a WSC pass and run 80 yards for a touchdown. Bernie Bierman was the Montana coach.
An earlier mention of a University homecoming appears in an early University yearbook, with the brief mention that “in 1914 President Edwin B. Craighead designated the first home coming,” but no record of it appears in the alumni office.