The Law Alumni of the university held a reunion in 1911, but the tradition of homecoming dates from 1916, when homecoming of alumni was first organized for the weekend of the Volunteers’ most bitter football rival, Vanderbilt, on Wait Field (Tennessee won, 10-6). Approximately three thousand alumni attended. The alumni took automobile rides to the experiment station and Cherokee Farm, watched a cadet battalion drill, were honored at a luncheon, and attended an Alumni Association meeting at the Hotel Atkin.
Homecoming was held in 1919 when UT and North Carolina played to a tie in football, but homecoming was principally associated with commencement—the June 1921 Homecoming was part of a four-day extravaganza. The program included the dedication of two buildings—Ayres Hall and Morgan Hall, a dinner followed by dancing at Cherokee Country Club, and a banquet at the Farragut Hotel attended by more than three hundred.
In 1925 the Alumni Association organized homecoming in connection with the Mississippi A&M football game, including a parade, an address by Governor Austin Peay, and a vaudeville act performed by the UT Players. The oldest alumnus attending the 1925 Homecoming was William Henry Dawson, 97. Thereafter, homecoming has been held in connection with a football game each year except 1943, when students donated funds that would have been spent on homecoming to the Red Cross or used them to purchase War Savings Bonds.
A major feature of early homecomings was a barbecue. In 1926, for example, 15 carcasses of beef, 40 gallons of salad, 3,000 rolls, and over 200 gallons of coffee were consumed by alumni. In 1932 an Alumni Ball was instituted as a part of homecoming and was held in Alumni Memorial Building.
See also First African American Homecoming Queen; Golden Grad Program; Homecoming Banners on Neyland Stadium; Homecoming Bicycle Race; Homecoming Cake Walk Race; Homecoming Decoration of Fraternity Houses; Homecoming Object; Homecoming Parade; Homecoming Queen; Wait Field.