Celebrating 75 Years of Coming Home to Calvin
The first Homecoming at Calvin was organized by the Varsity Club and Prism student leaders and held in February 1952. That year featured a Calvin-Hope basketball game at the Civic Auditorium in downtown Grand Rapids. In 2009, Homecoming festivities moved to the fall, aligning with Family Weekend.
While some traditions stand strong, others have faded into history. In 1952, the student body voted to select five Homecoming hostesses who would officially welcome returning alumni. By 1956, the title changed, with organizers favoring a glamorous touch because, as they remarked, 鈥渃ommittees are impersonal.鈥 That year, a student motorcade escorted the Homecoming Queen and her attendants downtown to the Civic Center, where the president of the alumni association crowned the Queen. The last Calvin Homecoming Queen held court in 1970.
The performing arts became a part of Calvin鈥檚 Homecoming traditions in the mid-50s. The 鈥淧ageant of Memories,鈥 Alumni Players productions of Gilbert & Sullivan musicals, Calvin College Radio Program, Calvin Music Festival, and River City Improv are among the many celebrations of the arts that have entertained audiences over the years.
鈥淜offee Kletz,鈥 a coffee social for alumni and friends, remained a post-basketball game tradition until the early aughts.
Athletic competitions have held a place of honor at Homecoming since its inception. Over the years, men鈥檚 basketball often took center stage, while women鈥檚 basketball, men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 soccer, women鈥檚 volleyball, and men鈥檚 hockey also had opportunities to shine. In 2023, Calvin students and alumni embraced a new tradition, gathering for the first Homecoming football game. This year, the football team will host its Homecoming game on campus for the first time.
Though some traditions fade, student activities have always energized Homecoming with laughter, fun, and plenty of school spirit. From 1984 to 2015, Airband competitors danced and lip synched onstage in the fieldhouse, followed by the annual Homecoming Dance. In 1999, the boldest members of the Calvin community took the icy plunge into the Sem Pond at the first annual Cold Knight Club jump. Since 2018, the wild and wacky have gone on display at the Grand Prix Bed Races.