In 1971 the Alumni Tour Program, through which alumni travel throughout the world on tours sponsored by the Alumni Association, was begun. The first trip to Rome was from April 26 to May 5, with 171 alumni taking the trip.
Actually, the first alumni tour was a domestic one—a trip to Los Angeles for the Rose Bowl, in which the 1939–40 Volunteers challenged (unsuccessfully) UCLA. But the Alumni Association had also furthered European travel since 1935. That year the association made arrangements with the Cunard White Star steamship line for UT students, faculty, alumni, or friends going to Europe to pay a certain percentage of the transportation or the tour in cash and to pay the remainder in monthly payments over a period of three, six, or twelve months. The general practice at the time was to require full payment of all charges at the time the reservation was made.