Bouncing Bertha and Penny Ante II make an appearance at UO's campus. Photo courtesy of University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives.

The 1924 Homecoming was like this...

Editor’s Note: This fall, a new class of freshmen walked the Oregon campus with nervous anticipation as they officially started their “college lives.” They will soon discover all the things that make the University of Oregon so special for so many alumni—shenanigans in the residence halls, the street fair on 13th, the music performances outside of the EMU, late nights studying in the library, standing in the student section for all four quarters of a football game—the list goes on and on.

As Homecoming weekend approaches, the classes of 1970 and 1971—like so many others—will be flocking back to campus. Like the Class of 2025, they will see campus through a new lens. Much has changed over the last 50 years when these graduates left the university with their degrees. New buildings have popped up, professors have retired, and more classes than ever before are being offered. However, alumni will find that students today, like each generation before, still have the same Oregon spirit. It has been held intact since the first graduating class in 1878.

We are reprinting this article from the 1924 November issue of the Alumni Association’s Old Oregon monthly newsletter to show that although many things have changed, the sense of home, the pride that alumni have in their alma mater, and the magic of being on campus have endured through wars and pandemics and have transcended the decades and even centuries.

Sky Rockers¹ from Skinner’s Butte blazing defiance to the down-pouring rain –a noise parade² rivaling the gods of thunder—a cheer from the moist grandstand and dripping bleachers when the Washington band braved the showers and played It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More—the Oregon webfoot eleven, soaked, mud-colored, indomitable, on a mud and sawdust marsh—in other words, Oregon Spirit, as impervious to moisture as the yellow slickers adorning Oregon undergrads –

This was Homecoming.

Homecoming followed a week of rain unparalleled in Oregon history for persistency and volume since 1915³, according to Professor Howe⁴, which made of Eugene a city of dripping trees and slippery pavement, and the highways leading thereto wet and dangerous.

Yet somehow the call of Homecoming rang insistently in the ears of the Oregon grads, and back they came by the hundreds with their storm curtains up, their chains on, and stocked up with umbrellas and slickers, not to mention boots and galoshes.

The rally rallied Friday night. Kincaid Field⁵ resembled a duck pond, but the big bonfire burst into flame before a huge and shouting crowd which had hurried through an early dinner and out into the storm. Then the noise parade started for the Armory⁶ with steam whistles screeching, sirens shrieking, hoots and galoshes splashing in step along wet pavements, but with spirits soaring high and dry, and firework sputtering and sparkling.

On the stage were Joe Maddock, Oregon’s coach, the tea, Colonel Leader, Ed Bailey, Lyle Brown, Bob Kuykendall, Shy Huntington⁷, Bart Spellman⁸, and Bill Hayward⁹. “Obie” Oberteuffer called forth the speakers, who told the undergrads and alums what Oregon Spirit is, was, and is going to be, while the patter and splash of raindrops on the Armory roof were drowned out by the responding cheers. Freddie Martin and his staff of yell leaders, spurred on by the presence of several old timers at the game, outdid themselves in leading the “Oski.”

After the rally the music of the Campus Tramps stirred many feet, soggy perhaps, but not heavy, into action for a rally dance. Then it was home, to the smaller reunion groups for a drying out and a little rest after all the reminiscing was over.

The day of the game dawned, as had every day in the week preceding–gray and rainy. But yellow chrysanthemums soon cheered up the campus, and yellow “Hello” tags, which dampness soon curled up at the corners, appeared on topcoats and slickers. The old grads were registering, gossiping, predicting.

The alumni met in Guild Hall¹⁰ for the business of the association, and then adjourned to time men’s gym for the campus Homecoming luncheon. True to its promise, the committee provided and served the “biggest and best” Homecoming luncheon. Chicken, creamed on hot biscuits, fruit salad, bread and butter, already spread, hot coffee, and ice cream. Sandwiches were consumed in huge quantities and gave the crowd the strength necessary to live through the game that followed.

Because it took strength. Grads who didn’t get back can call up in imagination the mental anguish of a crowd compelled to witness our team holding their own against Washington for eight downs all on the dangerous side of the splashy 10-yard line. But this is getting ahead of the story.
 

Oregon Pledge Song 

Old Oregon we pledge to Thee, Our honor and fidelity Both now and in the years to be. A never-failing loyalty Fair Oregon Thy name shall be written high in liberty. Now, uncover’d, Swear Thy ev’ry son. Our pledge to Oregon. (Original version)

The grandstands and bleachers filled. The Oregon band tooted up a march and one by one theOrder of the “O”¹¹ heroes of many a battle in the past, forgetting that it was a quarter mile around Hayward field, marched past the cheering grandstands and the wild rooter section. 

Purple and gold caps appeared [in] the Washington rooter section, and a good one it was considering that it rained all the way down from Seattle. And the Washington band–Bow Down to Washington was their challenging song, answered by Mighty Oregon. A great battle was to follow.

The first half over 7 to 3 in Oregon’s favor, said the score board. The wild cheering in the grandstands suddenly died down. The glee club men stood singing, heads bare in the rain, and the harmony of Oregon’s pledge song, written by John Stark Evans, their leader, rang across the muddy field–one of the most beautiful and impressive features of all Homecoming:

“Now, uncovered, swears thy every son, 
Our pledge to Oregon.”

The minutes between halves didn't lag. From somewhere appeared a gentle old bossy, mildly protesting as she paraded around the racetrack bearing a sign: “This is no Bull. We are going to beat Washington.”

From some other place appeared a trusty nag drawing a one-seated buggy, driven by a couple dressed in the fashion of days gone by and carrying an umbrella. A card waved gaily from the back of the seat “Class of 1905.”

“Tess of the Storm Country” and her duck splashed across the muddy field, and the Living Statues, posing under the direction of Ed Bohiman, didn’t mind the rain.

The final pistol crack at last, the grandstands went wild, the rooter section rushed the field and the 11 victorious, muddy, glorious heroes of the gridiron, who had not once called time out and who had played steadily throughout the game, were hoisted on worshipful shoulders.

Two old grads danced an impromptu jig, hats went into the air, umbrellas, age, dignity, year of graduation all forgotten, the rain forgotten, the wet drive home forgotten–all obliviated by the fact that Oregon’s team–Maddock's men had won and had won against such opponents as Washington.

The Homecoming dance–three of them to accommodate the crowd–danced to campus jazz, with feet made lighter by the memories of the game. Reunion dinners, breakfasts, and fireside parties, talked of it. The sport sections of the Portland papers were sought eagerly Sunday morning, to see Oregon’s victory actually down in print and heralded before those who thought Oregon’s chances slim.

The game and Homecoming are history now, but history deals kindly with football games, especially such a game as was played with Washington, and with Homecomings like the one in 1924.

-Unknown staff writer for the 1924 Old Oregon Newsletter

 

Footnotes:

¹ Type of firework
² An annual parade at Homecoming. Each fraternity, sorority, and dormitory created “noise making contraptions” which were then voted on by the Homecoming committee.
³ In 1915, it rained so much there were fears of flooding along the Columbia River. The storms raged so much at one point that winds reached up to 75 MPH. Los Angeles Herald, Volume XLII, Number 19, 23 November 1915
⁴ Professor H.C. Howe is noted in the 1924 Oregana
⁵ Kincaid Field was located on what is now the Memorial Quadrangle. The Kincaid property was acquired by UO in 1903 and existed as an athletic field from ca. 1902 until 1922 when the bleachers were torn down. UO Libraries | Kincaid Field
⁶ The Armory was demolished in November, 1976. UO Libraries
⁷ Former head coach for Oregon Football
⁸ Spellman was part of the 1919 University of Oregon football team, which played in the 1920 Rose Bowl against Harvard. UO Libraries | 1919 Football Team
⁹ Hayward coached UO Track and Field from 1904 to 1947. 
¹⁰ Guild Hall Theater was located on the first floor of Johnson Hall and was a primary campus venue for theatrical productions. UO Libraries | Villard Hall & Robinson Theater

¹¹ On May 17, 1898, a group of lettermen founded the Order of the O
 

Related Images and Archives

UO Archives: Class of 1924 [6]
UO Archives: Class of 1924 [7]
UO Archives: Class of 1924 [4]