\u201cWhy not grow young once more in contact with the undergraduates?\u201d wrote Harry Rowe, Class of 1912, when he invited alumni to attend the very first Homecoming, then known as “Back to Bates,” back in 1920.<\/p>\n
That’s still a good definition of Homecoming: It’s like a friendly, two-day annexation of the campus by Bates alumni.<\/p>\n
Colleges began offering homecomings 100 years ago to gather a crowd for big football games. As Rowe asked rhetorically in his invitation, \u201cCan\u2019t you in memory hear the cheering as the team comes over from the Gym of ancient and noble lineage?\u201d<\/p>\n
And whooping it up at Bobcat games is still a big part of Homecoming.<\/p>\n
This year, Bates took on Colby in a game for the ages, a thrilling overtime game that wasn’t decided until first-year slotback Frank Williams of Brookline, Mass., caught a touchdown pass from Matt Cannone ’15 of Windham, N.H. \u2014 and then, as they say, the crowd went wild.<\/p>\n
Watch the Bates faithful give it their all during the football victory over Colby at Homecoming. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p>\n