Homecoming week is upon the University of Arizona, and along with numerous celebrations, students and alumni alike are taking a moment to think about the history of the Wildcats and their Homecoming week traditions. This reflection begs the question: what happened this week in Wildcat history?

10 years ago, in 2014, the UA celebrated both 100 years of Homecoming and 100 years of Greek Life. This centennial anniversary was memorialized with a 38-20 win against the University of Colorado Boulder Buffaloes and the first-ever live-streaming of the Homecoming bonfire.

In 1947, the Homecoming court tradition began with the crowning of Homecoming queen Ruth Tackett, a member of the Alpha Phi sorority. The tradition has since grown into the voting extravaganza it is today.

In addition to the royalty tradition, the annual lighting of Tucson’s Sentinel Peak, or “A” Mountain, has continued each year during Homecoming week. According to a Daily Wildcat article by Kiara Adams from 2022, this tradition was fully revived in 2008 after it disappeared for a few years, solidifying its presence in Homecoming week ever since. 

Lighting the “A”  dates back to 1967, when a group of fraternity brothers decided to take on a pledge project and establish a tradition that they hoped would stick. Led by Sam O’Shaughnessy-Stangel, the fraternity brothers spent two days installing about 70 concrete stakes, 700 feet of electrical wire and 100 sockets that attached to said wire and light bulbs onto the “A.”  While this process has changed throughout the decades, the lighting of the “A” remains a proud UA Homecoming tradition.

Unlike the lighting of  “A” Mountain, however, the underwear run of 2009 was unsuccessful in withstanding the test of time. 

Started by senior Jamal Boddie in 2009, the underwear run was an unofficial tradition publicized over a Facebook group that intended to bring UA students together during Homecoming week by having them strip to their underwear and run from the Campbell Avenue end of the Mall to University Boulevard. All of the stripped clothes were said to be donated to a local charity.

This unofficial tradition was deemed a success after its start in 2009 and was taken over by  ZonaZoo in the following years in an attempt to create a student-led and oriented tradition. ZonaZoo also attempted to make the run a philanthropic event by collecting donations for the Tucson Unified School District Clothing Bank, Casa De Los Ninos and other local places that accepted clothing. 

A 2015 Daily Wildcat article by Emma Jackson quoted a ZonaZoo member who said, “We’re trying to appeal to all the different student markets, [… ] and we’re really just trying to promote to all of them the overall cause of donating all of their clothes that they don’t use.” 

While this was a theoretically solid plan, this article is the last record that the Daily Wildcat has of this tradition, rendering it unsuccessful. 

In terms of sports, 110 years ago in 1914, the UA hosted its first-ever Homecoming football game, which was christened by the Wildcats’ win against Pomona College. While this game took place on Thanksgiving Day instead of in October, it marked the school’s first Homecoming victory and solidified the importance of a Homecoming football game for the years to come. 

From football, to “A” Mountain, to unsuccessful underwear runs, this week in Wildcat history carries layers and layers of tradition that the 2024 Homecoming can only hope to add to, with this year’s traditions including:

• The lighting of the “A” at Sentinel Peak on Oct. 13 at 6:00 p.m. 
• The Club Olympics, which begin on Oct. 15 and last for three days on the UA Mall
• The Homecoming mud tug-of-war on Oct. 17 at 11:00 a.m. on the UA Mall
• The Bear Down Friday Pep Rally on Oct. 18 at 5:00 p.m. in Main Gate Square on University Boulevard followed by the Homecoming Bonfire and Royalty Crowning
• The Homecoming football game against the University of Colorado-Boulder on Oct. 19

Follow the Daily Wildcat on Instagram and Twitter/X