This year, the University of Wyoming celebrates its 100th Homecoming week. Though Homecoming is a commonly known celebration, there seems to be some misconception as to what it means for UW.
Although the celebration is for the 100th Homecoming, it is not the 100th year of the school being open, as some may believe. UW opened its doors to students in 1886, four years prior to Wyoming being admitted into the Union as a state.
The concept of Homecoming as we know it is no older than 115 years. There are several claims to the first Homecoming ranging between 1909-1911, and UW wasn’t far to follow.
According to the American Heritage Center, “Despite previous years of alumni gatherings, October of 1922 is attributed as the official documented date of the University of Wyoming’s first homecoming.”
However, a Branding Iron investigation has led us to believe differently.
To start, the Branding Iron team has found that in “The Wyo,” the former annual of the university, published in 1922* by the Junior Class in the Spring of 1922, stated:
“During the month of October, 1921, the Alumni Association of the University staged a great old Home-Coming week. Ex-students from near and far came home to Alma Mater once again to mingle with friends of yesteryear.” (pg. 3)
Additional Branding Iron newspaper sourced from the Oct 18, 1934 page five Vol. 40.—No.5. carries several headlines such as the following:
“Cowboys Have Won Only Two Contests During Homecoming… First Celebration Held in 1921 When U.W. Was Defeated by Colorado College 10-0…”
Outside of Branding Iron resources, the Laramie Republican from Aug. 2, 1921 states:
“As has already been announced, October 6, 7 and 8 are the dates for Homecoming Week for the alumni of the University of Wyoming…”
Although our original investigation was to resolve student confusion over the 100th celebration of Homecoming, our evidence supplies that there may be an error in record keeping either by ourselves or the University of Wyoming administration at large.
Therefore, the Branding Iron editorial team would like to clarify that we are unsure if this is a misprint of the year, or a second, separate version of the 1922 annual.
We also take into account that the University of Wyoming did not celebrate Homecoming in the year 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
