By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Homecoming football games first became an autumn staple on college campuses in the early 20th century.
 
But it wasn't until 1925 that Saint John's University got into the act.
 
By that point, SJU already had a long history of summer alumni gatherings on campus. But school officials heard clamor from graduates who wanted to return to Collegeville for a game amid fall colors.
 
So the first Homecoming celebration was officially scheduled for Oct. 17, 1925, when the Johnnies played host to Hamline.
 
A special Homecoming edition of The Record dated Oct. 6, 1925, provided a loose summation of how the decision was made, while offering a boldface (literally) challenge to graduates to make sure they were in attendance:
 
Heard at the 1925 "Stand-Up" day celebrations: "Here's something we wish to commend to the attention of the School. The Old School is up on everything else. We are proud of her. But why doesn't she get into the procession with the other schools and have a Football Homecoming? In fall, her wonderful surroundings are in all their glory. Football days are days on which we could all come without planning in our businesses. We would meet the present boys year by year and the old and new would benefit in all those things St. John's stands for. I am strong for a Fall Homecoming!!!"
 
Mightier Chorus: "Oh boy!!!"
 
The Ultra-conservative: "Yes, but you would be supplanting the big summer reunion."
 
Chorus: "Tanglefoot in your words: Supplementing – supplementing, not supplanting."
 
So – in response to that persistent call from the old grads themselves, the authorities this year decided to try on the Football Homecoming idea.
 
ALUMNI – YOUR IDEA IS ON TRIAL.
 
Once it was decided to give fall Homecoming a try, preparations began in earnest to make sure the day was memorable.
 
"Old Grads, we are ready for you," wrote Louis E. Sullivan, a member of the Homecoming executive committee in that same edition of The Record. "We promise you a real treat – a day of jollity and happy reminiscences. Present plans point to one glad and big day, not only to the home-coming old students, but also to the school body of today."
 
A pep rally and boxing match was held in the campus gymnasium the Thursday before the football game. 
 
Homecoming itself began with an alumni lunch at 1 p.m. Ushers were waiting to greet arriving alums and direct them to rest rooms in Saint Benet Hall, then to the refectory where an orchestra was on hand to provide musical entertainment.
   
"The refectory, after St. Benet's Hall the next in importance, was in gala-day attire," reported The Record in its Oct. 22 recap. "Multi-colored streamers led into an isle lined with cardinal, this broken by blue rosettes and clusters of autumn leaves."
 
After lunch, it was time for the procession to the football field (today known as Clemens Stadium). Leading the way was the St. Cloud Municipal Band, 150 members strong, and a band from Saint John's as well.
 
The game itself kicked off at 2:30 in front more than 2,000 spectators at a field decked out in festoons, streamers and pennants.
 
But the game was not as festive for the Johnnies, who were en route to an 0-5 season under first-year head coach Bill Houle. He had been an All-MIAC standout at St. Thomas from 1920-23, then played a season for the NFL's Minneapolis Marines and served as the Tommies' head baseball coach before being hired in the summer of 1925 to lead the football and basketball teams at SJU.
 
Against the Pipers, though, his team struggled to contain what the Minneapolis Journal described in its Oct. 18 edition as the "fleet Hamline backs."
 
"Hamline's Red and Gray grid machine smashed its way to a 14 to 7 victory over Bill Houle's fighting Johnnies in its first state conference game of the season, the feature of St. John's' first Homecoming Celebration," the newspaper reported.
 
"The Piper line showed up well in the game, with Capt. Swearingen, Pedlar, Hanson and Stoddard outshining their mates. McCann and Hahn were the big scintillators in the backfield. For St. John's, Nordhus, Kirwin and Durenberger were the line stars while the backfield played steadily but not brilliantly."
 
In fact, the Johnnies only score of the game came on a 3-yard touchdown pass to Don Blake set up by a pair of passes for 50 yards thrown by team captain John 'Pinky' Gleason, a graduate of St. Paul's Cretin High School.
 
"Gleason showed apt field generalship when he relieved Zimmerman at quarterback," The Journal reported.
 
But neither the final score nor the cold, stiff wind blowing through the Natural Bowl deterred the spirts of those returning to their alma mater. They were treated to a halftime parade featuring floats, including one "carried by four brawny studs," The Record reported.
 
Aboard another, "the four-in-hand College Cakes (musical ensemble) tried to outdo the bands with their ukuleles, mouth organs, zobos (and) saxophones; upon another was poised a huge football which opportunely collapsed. Out jumped Mr. Warzecha, who proceeded to present surprising arguments for his theory of convolution. He is a first-rate gymnast."
 
After the game, a dinner was held at which a prize was presented to John Caulfield, class of 1870, for being the oldest graduate in attendance. He'd first arrived on campus in 1868.
 
"The prize was an unwieldly one, and someone suspected that a freight car would have to be chartered by Mr. Caulfield to transport it to his home," The Record wrote. "It was an enormous loaf of the famous black bread, some five feet long and almost two feet thick."
 
All on hand seemed to agree the day had been a hit, ushering in a tradition that continues to this day.
 
"Homecoming day proved a magnificient success – that's what was heard on all sides," The Record concluded. "One that will undoubtedly last long in memory as the first and at the same time most gratifying beginning for closer co-operation between alumni and the college."