• Znine
• Campus Calendar
• My Mav
• UTA Radio
• UTA Home
• Student Email
• Libraries
• Wikipedia

• Local Forecast
• Movie Listings
• Traffic Info
• TV Listings

February 16, 2007

A Different Kind of Homecoming

25 years ago Homecoming traditions included football and a bonfire

Story by: Joan Khalaf

The Shorthorn staff

Students stared into a blazing yellow fire just by Interstate 20.

Thick smoke rose in the air and piles of wood were stacked to build the 25-foot structure. Women were dressed in thigh-high tapered jeans and men in plaid oxford shirts and cowboy hats.

It was 1980, and the university was celebrating its traditional Homecoming weekend, differing in one major detail from the celebration today — they had football.

Jeff Sorensen, Student Affairs assistant vice president, said groups competed with each other to gather the most wood for the fire.

“In the ’50s or ’60s, the bonfire used to take place where the Activities Building is now,” he said. “We weren’t the only institution doing a bonfire, it just became a matter of underwriting the costs.”

The bonfire used to be a regular practice until it was stopped around the same time football was cut. The reasons for this were liability issues and a controversy surrounding a few students getting arrested and police charged with brutality.

“The insurance alone for the bonfire was over $5,000,” said Mardie Sorensen, Student Affairs assistant vice president. “Before the issue of liability, there was more fire risk, and the owner of the land was selling it anyway.”

Instead of being presented on a basketball court, the coronation ceremony took place on an October night underneath the lights of Maverick Stadium.

Allan Saxe, political science associate professor, said that the campus community still supported the football team despite lacking community support.

“We could have a pretty good crowd at times,” he said. “And our football team had some decent players. For me, it wasn’t about wins or losses, it was just about having fun. It was about having a nice evening with your friends on a Saturday night.”