Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 17, 1921
Originating in 1914 when the Rams were Aggies, Homecoming has grown and is indeed one of the foremost campus traditions. Let’s start with the very first Homecoming.
At Colorado Agricultural College, plans were made to hold an “Alumni Day” on October 3, 1914. This was held about two weeks before the season’s first football game with the University of Colorado. A friendly football game with the Aggie Alumni vs. Aggie Varsity Football Team was held at Colorado Field. That evening, a banquet was held, presided by President Charles Lory. The theme was “1944” where everyone dressed up like it was 1944 (or how they thought people would dress thirty years in the future).
1914 was the first of many years of a traditional torchlight parade around the campus with students wearing pajamas. Brooms dipped in oil and set on fire were carried by students from the campus to downtown. There were complaints occasionally in the community because their brooms left outside would go missing. Accompanying the torch bearers were freshmen dressed in their pajamas and wearing their requisite beanies. The pajama parade ended in the 1950s and the torchlight parade appeared to end in the late 1960s.
Pajama Parade, 1955
Although the tradition of a torchlight parade ended, parades continued until the COVID-19 pandemic. It has since been replaced with the Festival on the Oval, which offers hands-on, interactive experiences hosted by various units on campus as well as the community.
In 1945, the first reference of a Homecoming Queen election occurred in the Rocky Mountain Collegian, instituting a tradition that 
would last until 1987. The ritual of the crowning became a little less serious when, in 1964, a cow named Agatha won with 54 percent of the vote. The miffed organizers found a way to disqualify Agatha and Susan Hamborg was declared queen. In 1965 a duck named Aga was entered as a write-in candidate into the balloting as a protest by members of the Young Democrats, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and in 1966, Agamemnon the duck was a candidate. The practice of entering poultry in the elections ceased after this.
In 1970 CSU crowned its first ever Black Homecoming Queen, Trudi Morrison, during halftime at the October 31st homecoming game versus the Utah State Aggies. Morrison was crowned at Hughes Stadium, and in her excitement raised her fist in the air to celebrate. This raised fist was misunderstood to be a Black Power salute, which caused controversy in her crowning. The following day a brick was thrown through the front window of her apartment. Additionally, she later wrote in a newspaper article that she was nearly run over by a Fort Collins motorist who swerved to hit her.
It is also worth noting that the bikini portion of the Homecoming competition was eliminated in 1970.
In 1971, the practice of entering animals in the contest was reintroduced when two dogs were entered in the competition as interest in Homecoming royalty waned. Other events were a juxtaposition to this such as the 2nd Annual Consumer Concerns Conference, “Food 1971” and a new alumni seminar called “The Natural Sciences’ Impact on Society.”
On October 19, 1974, Theron Abbot was crowned “Homecoming Person” at halftime of the football game at Hughes Stadium. Voting was done by putting money in the gallon glass jar with the candidate’s name written on it. The jars were set up on a table in the Flea Market outside of the CSU Bookstore and students could vote with as much money as they wished to drop in the jar of their choice. When the money was counted, Mr. Abbot had been given more votes than all the other candidates combined. The message was clear that many students disapproved of the old Homecoming Queen stereotype. The leadership of the CSU Alumni Association was very displeased and generally pulled all support from the event. There was a gap in Homecoming royalty from 1975 to 1977. Royalty resumed in 1978 and a king was officially added to the court.
In October 1988 the CSU Homecoming tradition quietly came to an end. Rather than having a Homecoming Queen and King, the students selected as Pacesetters would be honored. Pacesetters are a small number of students each year who are selected based on campus involvement, leadership skills, service in the community, and academic excellence. This is a tradition that has existed until at least 2019.
Students seem to have a fondness for fire. The torch parade was not the only tradition that involved flames. Bonfires are a tradition that has continued to this day. In 1923 the torch parade snaked through downtown Fort Collins and ended with the lighting of a bonfir
Bonfires were a popular attraction not just at Homecoming. For a time, bonfires were lit before every football game. In 1915, students and the Fort Collins community welcomed the Aggies championship football team home with a 1:45 a.m. bonfire just east of the train depot. Bonfires were often staged in the downtown area but eventually moved to the campus. Bonfires would be lit in a pasture behind Rockwell Hall or Arthur Ditch. In 2011, the outdoor amphitheater near Arthur Ditch was constructed and became the permanent fire pit.
The tradition of lighting the “A” began around 1948 and continues to this day. During drought conditions, the “A” is not lit to prevent wildfires.
The marching band has been a central part of Homecoming celebrations for more than a century. Colorado Agricultural College’s band took part in the Homecoming parade and rally as early as 1921. The Rocky Mountain Collegian first mentioned the band performing at the Homecoming game’s halftime in 1921, though it is likely this tradition began several years earlier.
CAC’s first musicians played for the college’s military drills. The college linked band participation with military service until the 1930s. The Collegian announced the creation of a concert band that allowed non-military members on October 16, 1935. The band’s members were all male until the late 1940s. Conflicting Collegian articles say women were featured members of the marching band in 1949 or 1950. Majorettes appeared in front of the band in 1950.
The marching band has bolstered festivities for Homecoming (and other football games) by performing at halftime, marching in the Homecoming parade, presenting Homecoming royalty, and playing for rallies, assemblies, and the bonfire. The organization now has approximately 250 members and is the largest student organization at CSU.
The annual egg fight between the pledges of the Sigma Chi and Phi Delta Theta fraternities became a Homecoming tradition as early as 1929. These fights took place behind the Chemistry Building (now the Weber Building). The men of the two pledge classes stood about twenty feet apart and hurled hundreds of raw and usually very smelly rotten eggs at each other, ending after about twenty minutes. The eggs were shipped in from Denver and usually over 1,100 were used each year. The tradition lasted until at least 1958 and no mention was ever made of who cleaned up after the affair.
In 1929, a new tradition in the Homecoming celebration was instituted. A Greek house decoration contest to welcome the visiting alumni began a years-long feature. The Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity each won cash prizes of $5 for the best decorated Greek houses that year. Eventually, dorms were included in the contest and local businesses also decorated in the spirit of the event. According to alum Jan Woods, part of the fun was trying to tear each other’s decorations down, presumably after greeting the alumni.
In 1970, the Collegian noted that Greek organizations "were making their Homecoming entries in the form of floats this year instead of house decorations."
Decorated house, 1961
The CSU Adult Fitness Program in what is now the College of Health and Human Sciences sponsored the first Homecoming Fun Run on campus in 1980. Director Sheri Linnell and the students who gained clinical experience through the Adult Fitness Program offered the run to Fort Collins adults who participated in the AFP. In 1981, for $5, adults entered a 10-kilometer run, and "youngsters and toddlers" entered a 1-mile race the morning of the Homecoming football game. For more than a decade, AFP students staged and staffed the race, which remained a small event.
The size and the length of the run changed over the years. In the 1990s, Dr. Richard Gay Israel opened up the race to the wider community, and participation greatly increased. Funds raised by the race benefited heart disease prevention for first responders. Eventually, benefactors of race proceeds rotated between scholarships, the AFP, and Cancer Fit. Today, the Adult Fitness Program hosts a 5-kilometer race and children's fun run for anyone who wants to run or walk as part of Homecoming festivities.
The 1986 CSU Fitness for Life Homecoming 5K Race printed the slogan "Remember Tom Sutherland" on the back of all race t-shirts in support of Sutherland, a former animal science professor had been held captive in Lebanon for more than a year. Over the years, other community members have been memorialized on race t-shirts.
One of the traditional fall blooms became the traditional Homecoming flower at Colorado Agricultural College (now Colorado State University) as early as 1919. The large yellow mum adorned the dresses of women as they attended the Homecoming game and bouquets of yellow mums provided further decoration, selling in 1923 for $3.00 a dozen. By 1940 this tradition was firmly ensconced. While there is no record of how the flowers were decorated earlier, by 1959 the yellow mums were trimmed with green and gold ribbon with a green felt “A” at the top. This tradition remained until at least 1986.
“A new tradition has been established as a result of this day’s work. Doubtless loyal Aggies will hereafter praise the patriotic impulse of each newest Freshman Class, which through inspiration from above, provides year after year a golden tinge to the ever waiting “A”.” -Silver Spruce 1925, page 315
Students first designed, constructed, and painted the “A” for Aggies on December 12, 1923. This first “A” did not appear quite right from the campus due to the angle of the hill so the “A” was redesigned, rebuilt, and made larger on September 19, 1924. A 99-year lease with the Maxwell family acquired the hillside land for the sum of one dollar. Since 1924, Aggie and Ram freshmen have made the pilgrimage up to the “A” to repaint it and begin their lifetime connection with CSU.
The painted “A” serves as an aerial landmark that can be seen by pilots as far as 60 miles away. Each summer, as a part of Ram Welcome, freshman students hike to the “A” and leave a small white pebble as a symbol of the impact they will have on the University. The “A” is painted with non-toxic white paint that is checked and deemed environmentally sound by CSU's Environmental Health Services.
Early on, Colorado Agricultural College called its sports teams the Aggies after the agricultural focus of the school. Farmers do not necessarily make great mascots, so during the early years at Colorado Agricultural College, athletic teams identified several people and animals as mascots.
A 1901 article in the Collegian noted "Bishop Dalton, a staunch friend of C. A. C., has presented to the College a mascot - a tame eagle. Sam, which is his name, is a magnificient type of this majestic bird. We should certainly be victorious hereafter in our work in athletics and the school." There is no evidence that Sam the eagle actually performed any mascot duties for CAC athletic teams.
CSU’s first official mascot was an English bulldog named Peanuts. Owned by the Alpha Pi Lambda fraternity brothers in 1913, he made his campus debut during a September chapel service. He was well known on the campus for his antics. Biting car tires and occasionally giving chase to pedestrians made Peanuts famous. Peanuts attended all home football games and served as mascot through two football championships in 1915 and 1916.
He led Aggie rooters onto the field during halftime parades and enthusiastically barked throughout the games on the sidelines. Peanuts even accompanied the Battery “A” artillery unit when they were called into service in World War I. He lived with the men over the months in training camps from Colorado to New Jersey and also marched with his fellow Aggies through the streets of New York City, making quite an impression with the east coast press. Peanuts was not allowed to board the ship taking the soldiers to Europe so was returned home in 1917, never seeing battle.
Sadly Peanuts died in 1918, a victim of poisoning by an unknown perpetrator.
Following the death of Peanuts, the year 1919 saw a new mascot - Teddy the Bear. Teddy was a 15-month-old black bear owned by Frank Miller, proprietor of the Northern Garage in Fort Collins and former member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Miller brought Teddy, sporting an Aggie team sweater, to the football games and parades.
A bear mascot proved irresistible to pranksters from the University of Colorado; an article in the Collegian reported that attempts were made to steal Teddy's green and gold sweater. Although the bear could very likely defend himself, two dozen Aggie freshmen jumped in to prevent this caper. Teddy the Bear only lasted about a year as a mascot. Wrestling to clothe a bear was likely an ordeal!
Gallant DefenderIn September 1936, Glenn Morris, reigning Olympic decathlon champion and former Aggie football and track star, presented the Colorado A & M student body with a white English bulldog named Gallant Defender. Morris, fresh off his win at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, also presented the college with an oak tree sapling awarded to winners.
A victory gift to Morris from the Denver Kennel Club, Gallant Defender looked almost identical to Peanuts. His collar read “A Champion for a Champion, ” and Dean of Men, Dr. Floyd Cross, provided him with a green and gold cape emblazoned with a large “A”. Gallant Defender served as mascot for two years, accompanying the Spurs (the women's pep organization) to games. It is not known what he did after his stint as mascot.
CAMIn 1945, the students voted to call themselves “Rams”, and a new mascot was born – the Aggie Ram. It was not until 1946, however, that the first live mascot, a gray-white two-year-old ram named Buck, made his debut at an A&M-University of Denver basketball game in Denver.
An official name (and the end to the moniker ‘Aggie Ram’) for the wooly mascot was finally announced in 1954 when President William Morgan declared that the ram would henceforth be known as CAM the Ram. This was the result of a naming contest sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Collegian, and while CAM handily rhymes with ‘ram’, the name is actually short for Colorado A & M. A live CAM the Ram has faithfully served as mascot, accompanied by student ‘ram handlers’ ever since. A costumed (two-legged) CAM debuted in the 1980s also hypes up CSU fans.
College Days was a tradition dating back to 1910. The event occurred in late spring and was intended to increase college loyalty, camaraderie, and relief as students neared the end of the term. The day included a parade with floats created by campus organizations, the election of the College Days queen, dances, and the Skyline Stampede rodeo.
Prior to 1948, the celebration was known as College Day. The college YMCA organized the first College Day. Classes were dismissed and students, faculty, and staff took a train up the valley to the Greeley Waterworks. The outings began to be held near Bellvue, becoming more organized each year and in 1919 moved to a meadow west of Horsetooth Mountain. The event moved to campus in 1927, where it remained until the last event.
As the tradition continued it became more troublesome. Some students would engage in shooting off firearms to the consternation of city officials, the college administration, and most students. In 1957 the city sustained $554.00 in damages to lights that were shot out and one student sustained an eye injury as another student shot a blank near his face. Trouble continued through the years as students were arrested for drinking and College Days became known as the place to party for the region. Drinking infractions grew and rioting became common. College Days ended in 1987 after such a riot broke out involving 1,500 participating, 124 arrests, and 100 injuries.
Tailgating at CSU is a half-century-old tradition. The first tailgate took place in October 1974 with 200 to 300 student participants. The organizer publicized it in the first home game football program, KCOL, and the Coloradoan. The Collegian noted that tailgating was an eastern U.S. tradition and by adopting it CSU was moving to the mainstream of college traditions.
Tailgating quickly became popular. By the 1980s, fraternities staked out claims to the wall against Hughes Stadium early--sometimes the night before a game--and brought kegs, sound systems, and food for pre-game parties. Other CSU alums and fans filled in the gravel parking lot with similar set ups, and CSU organizations used the opportunity for outreach. Underage drinking, drunk driving, damage to property, and noise complaints were common problems identified by neighbors and CSU police. The State Board of Agriculture and campus police tried to deter the worst behaviors through regulations such as only allowing 3.2 beer, requiring permits, or limiting the size of individual gatherings. Unsurprisingly, students resented and pushed back against these policies.
When football games moved back on campus in 2017, so did tailgating. Permitted parking all over campus fragmented the first on-campus tailgating celebrations. In fact, the student organization tailgate moved to the TILT parking lot, halfway across campus. Student participation was low. Today, students may tailgate just south of Canvas Stadium. Tailgating occurs all over campus, and the intramural fields host centralized Ram Town tailgating activities.
In 1987, junior Susan Trautmann wrote a paper for her public relations class that held the idea for what became C.A.N.S. Around the Oval, Larimer County's largest annual food drive. During the first event, held in November 1987, Trautmann challenged seven fraternities to collect 2,500 pounds of food. Instead they collected more than 5,000 pounds of food for the Food Bank for Larimer County (FBLC), and they lined part of the Oval with cans. Victoria Keller, a graduate student working in the Office of Community Services (now SLiCE), developed an official CSU event with FBLC that corresponded with World Food Day (October 16). The FBLC director named the event Cans Around the Oval.
C.A.N.S. (Cash And Nutritious Staples) has traditionally started in mid-September and ended mid-October. The CANpaign's CANtributors collect non-perishables and and promote awareness of food insecurity at CSU and Northern Colorado. In 2019, organizers officially added monetary donations to the collection competition. Over the years, student groups, academic departments, local schools, community groups, and individuals have challenged each other to see who could collect the most money and food. The CANpaign month usually includes CANversations, a month of hunger education events, CANstruction, an event for building iCANic sculptures out of collected cans, and Collection Day, which often coincides with Homecoming.
C.A.N.S. Around the Oval continues to raise thousands of dollars and pounds of food.
The Stump is a longstanding tradition at CSU. It was first created by a few Rocky Mountain Collegian employees who wanted a platform for students to communicate current events. The 3-foot diameter stump was purchased in 1964 by John Hyde and Shelton Stanfill from a lumberyard for $4.50. On Fridays, it was brought out for student participation in discussions exploring various contentious topics.
When speakers came to CSU, they spent some time speaking from the stump to the student body at large. Some of these individuals include Malcom Boyd, Dorothy Healy, Gov. John A. Love, future governor Roy Romer, and the Reverend Bob Geller. The Stump also traveled to Denver in 1966 when students gathered at the Capitol to protest legislative cuts to CSU’s funding. The day after John Lennon’s death in 1980 the Stump was moved out onto the plaza and 300 people gathered to mourn the singer’s death. They spoke about his life, music, and impact on the world. Even though it was only a piece of wood, it united the student population in the highs and lows that they experienced.
Three years after the tradition began, the Stump disappeared. It was missing for four years until Collegian staff member, Alan Worline, set out to find it in 1971. He wrote extensively about the Stump in the Collegian and offered a reward for its return. Soon enough, an anonymous source mentioned that the Stump was located in a ravine west of Horsetooth Reservoir. When they went to retrieve it, it was gone. Fortunately, another source mentioned it being used as a coffee table. It was then ransomed for $10 and two cases of beer and returned to the Collegian.
This was not the Stump’s only adventure. In the mid-1970s, the Stump vanished again. In the fall of 1980, it was found tucked behind a cabin on the Poudre River where it had been used as a chopping block for firewood. The editor of the Collegian at the time, Mark Silano, recovered it. He purchased a brass band to keep the Stump together and attached wheels.
Since 1992, the Stump has been replaced by ASCSU every time deterioration of the wood sets in. It remains to this day as a campus symbol of free speech.
The three books below are excellent histories of CSU in general.
The books below tell the history specific campus events or academic departments.
Students published the Silver Spruce yearbook from 1895 until 2002. They provide information about Colorado State University student activities and opinions over the years. They document traditions, ceremonies, clubs, sports, and more. Please note that these materials must be viewed in the context of the relevant time period. Researchers may encounter racist, sexist, and violent photographs, art, and language. Colorado State University does not endorse the views expressed in such materials.
The Rocky Mountain Collegian is CSU's longest-running student newspaper (1891-present). Its issues provide information about Colorado State University student activities and opinions over the years. They document traditions, ceremonies, clubs, sports, and more. Please note that these materials must be viewed in the context of the relevant time. Researchers may encounter racist, sexist, and violent photographs, art, and language. Colorado State University does not endorse the views expressed in such materials.
The Collegian has undergone several name changes over the years.
| Rocky Mountain Collegian | vol. 1, no. 1 (December 1891) to vol. 67, no.18 (December 5, 1958) |
| Colorado State University Collegian | vol. 67, no. 19 (January 9, 1959) to vol. 72, no. 117 (Friday, May 29, 1964) |
| CSU Collegian | vol. 67, no. 37 (March 31, 1959) |
| Collegian | vol. 73, no. 1 (Friday, September 18, 1964) to vol. 79, no. 152 (August 18, 1971) |
| Rocky Mountain Collegian | vol. 79, no. 153 (September 20, 1971) to vol. 83, no. 24 (October 4, 1974) |
| Collegian | vol. 83, no. 24 (October 7, 1974) to vol. 83, no. 31 (October 16, 1974) |
| Rocky Mountain Collegian | vol. 83, no. 31 (October 17, 1974) |
| Collegian | vol. 83, no. 32 (October 21, 1974) to vol. 83, no. 143 (May 30, 1975) |
| Rocky Mountain Collegian | vol. 84, no. 1 (June 19, 1975) to vol. 84, Special Edition (May 7, 1976) |
| Fort Collins Daily Journal | June 16, 1976 to August 5, 1976 |
| Fort Collins Journal | August 30, 1976 to August 6, 1980 |
| Rocky Mountain Collegian | vol. 89, no. 1 (September 3, 1980) to present |
Besides the Collegian, Colorado State University staff and students have published newspapers over the years.
The Transition was a weekly Colorado State University student newspaper and an alternative to the Rocky Mountain Collegian. Only published in 1969, it provided commentary on local and national issues and, per its editor Steve Watts, was intended to hold "…the key to 'open' doors of dissent and opinions of All members of C.S.U. regardless of race, color, or political beliefs and affiliation."
CSU Comments was an employee newsletter from 1971 through 2011.
The following collections are especially useful when researching CSU history.
Other archival collections can be viewed on the University Archive finding aid webpage.
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