Memories through the Music

Athens, Ohio is a city of constant change. Buildings are demolished, new ones built in their place. Businesses come and go as quickly as the students do. But every year when the alumni make the trek back home to Ohio University for Homecoming, they know there are a few guarantees during their visit. Football is a constant, as is the parade and the Marching 110. You’ll see Rufus, even if you once knew him simply as “The Bobcat” or “Mr. Bobcat.” Friendly faces, whether it be old friends, roommates, or classmates will be somewhere in town. But there’s another traditional Homecoming activity that may be easy to overlook, though it often sits closest to the hearts of alumni: music. Through the years, musical performances have been a big part of the entertainment of OHIO Homecoming for both students and alumni. Starting in the early days of Homecoming with bands playing at the Homecoming dance, turning into some of the biggest names of the day playing at The Convo, Bobcats have been dancing and grooving through Homecoming nearly as long as we’ve been coming back to Athens for the sake of nostalgia.

Ohio University Libraries is taking a brief look into some of the music you might remember best. They weren’t always classics, after all...

Written by Taylor Burnette, BSJ ‘23, Digital Collections Social Media Editor, Ohio University Libraries

Sample the songs of the performers we highlight in this exhibit!

In 1946, Homecoming celebrations started up again after World War II, as it was postponed because of the war effort, and ushered back in a beloved tradition that originally began  around 1919 . Rex Koons and his band played the 1945 Homecoming dance, a “pre-war attraction,” as quoted from the  1946 Athena yearbook . The group was a popular local favorite through the 1930s and 1940s. Billy Butterfield, known for his powerful trumpet solos, played at the 1947 dance—what that year’s  Athena yearbook  described as “the climax of the hilarious week-end.” It’s easy to see how fond people were of the dances, with two bands playing at two separate dances during Homecoming 1952. Chuck Frank’s Orchestra (Men's Gym) and Howie Chapman and Orchestra (Armory)  played across town,  with lucky couples dancing the evening away with their college sweethearts.

Note: Curious about earlier OHIO Homecomings? See our 2021 digital exhibit,  It’s All Coming Back…: Stories from OHIO’s Homecoming History .

Carrying on the tradition of the 1940–1950s, popular jazz trombonist Kai Winding and his band, as well as The Kirby Stone Four, played at the 1962 Homecoming dance, with a poster advertising the weekends' events with the title “The Sounds of Homecoming.” But 1965 brought folksinger Bill Crofut and singer and guitarist Steve Addiss to a pre-dance concert at Grover Center, sharing folk songs from around the world with Athens according to an  Oct. 12, 1965 Post article . And 1966 brought folk powerhouse The Kingston Trio, who played to a record-setting crowd of more than 6,000, as listed in the  Oct. 31, 1966 edition of The Post , along with rock band The Kingsmen, who played the Homecoming dance. A combination of R&B/soul and rock treated students and alumni alike with The Association and Martha and the Vandellas in concert, and Tommy James and the Shondells for the dance, all in Athens for 1967 Homecoming weekend.  The Homecoming program  from that year claims “Ohio University has long been noted for its outstanding Homecoming entertainment,” but some of the best was yet to come with even more big names in the next ten years.

Simon and Garfunkel christened the Convocation Center, packing in a full crowd to the newly constructed arena for Homecoming 1968,  nearly two months before the basketball team did . The  October 24, 1968 edition of The Post  reports that there were 70 ushers on hand to assist the smartly dressed audience to their seats. However, because the wrong blueprints were used for seating arrangements, ticket and seating numbers didn’t match.

And the decade wasn’t over yet. Dionne Warwick came in 1969 and played to a crowd of 10,000, bringing a message of love and happiness to Ohio University students and alumni alike. Backed up by the Constellations, Warwick created what  The Post October 13 edition  called “a good escape.” Also performing that night was folk artist John Hartford.

Riding off the success of the ‘68 and ‘69 Homecoming performances, Bobcats wanted more. In 1970, Three Dog Night rocked the Convo to a crowd of more than 11,000, with a short intermission for the presentation of Toni Haut, the year’s  Homecoming Queen . In 1971,  the Carpenters  played during a low-key, Oktoberfest-style Homecoming in Memorial Auditorium.  Ike and Tina Turner  were booked for the 1972 Homecoming concert,  but cancelled . Eddie Kendricks, a couple years out from his time with the Temptations, performed for Homecoming in 1973. As stated in a letter from Augustus Ervin to the editor in the  October 23, 1973 edition  of the Post, the Black Student Cultural Programming board worked hard to bring in a top-charting performer who would resonate more with minority students on campus. John Denver also performed in 1973. According to the  October 26, 1973 Post , the student body was very excited to see all the talent in one OHIO Homecoming weekend. With both concerts at different times, it was easy to attend both.

Later in the decade, pop singer Helen Reddy played to a Convo crowd of around 2,300  in 1978  in what Spectrum Green—OHIO’s yearbook title for about a decade—described as an overall scarcely attended Homecoming. While the parade and football game, where the Bobcats lost to Toledo, did see some crowds, most other events didn’t fare so well during what the yearbook described as a “still struggling revival of Homecoming.”

Styx  came in ‘79  to rock out the end of the decade, leaving the crowd “ecstatic” after their performance, as reported in the  October 1, 1979 issue  of The Post. The band played featured favorites including “Come Sail Away” and “Renegade.” But it wasn't only Bobcats taking up those Convo seats. A  September 18, 1979 edition  of The Post explained that around 3,500 tickets, at that point in time, were sold in Columbus, with more to be sold before the actual date of the concert. Ohio State students had an interest in OHIO concerts, because more big name artists came to the Convo. At just over 13,000 seats, the Convo was not only the largest venue for 150 miles, but in the top three biggest venues in the state.

Also in 1979, OHIO alum Sammy Kaye, big band leader and songwriter who came to fame in the 1940s, returned to lead The Sound of Rhythm and Brass for the Homecoming dance. Kaye was interviewed in the  October 1, 1979 issue  of The Post.

The Convo didn’t hold the title of the third largest concert venue in the state forever, and OHIO didn’t hold on to the Convo concert tradition quite as long as might have been expected. But that didn’t mean there weren’t concerts in the following decades. In 1980, Spyro Gyra played to a nearly full Memorial Auditorium, according to the  October 11, 1980  edition of The Post. The band was topping jazz charts at the time of their performance, and they elicited an excited response from their OHIO audience.  The dance  once again featured the band The Sound of Rhythm and Brass, confirming that year’s Homecoming theme of “The 80’s & all that Jazz.” Spyro Gyra was only the first to lead in an era of jazz performances in the early 1980s. The rest were part of OHIO’s Performing Arts Series doing double duty:“Three Great Jazz Pianists” (Marian McPartland, George Shearing, Teddy Wilson) played in 1982, and popular instrumentalist  Chuck Mangione  performed in 1983. Trumpet virtuoso and bandleader  Dizzy Gillespie  performed in 1984, and fellow trumpeter Maynard Ferguson performed the next year in 1985.

After a few years of other types of performances, or even a few years without any entertainment outside of OHIO celebrations, Homecoming concerts returned in 1993 with blues singer and guitarist  Kenny Neal . Neal was brought to campus by the University Programming Council, Black Student Cultural Programming Board, and Minority Student programs and Public Occasions.

Many of these 1990s concerts were the same types of acts who played in Athens during the golden age of the Homecoming concert, hinting toward a play at alumni nostalgia while also giving current OHIO students a chance to hear some of the classics.  The Kingston Trio , returned to Athens in 1994, this time alongside the Mamas and the Papas (both had played here in 1966). The crowd of 1,500 consisted mostly of alumni, with a few current students here and there.  Mary Wilson , of Supremes fame, performed with accompaniment from the Ohio University Orchestra in 1995. She brought Athens a mix of Motown favorites alongside classic ballads. The Coasters, The Platters, and The Drifters, now Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, brought Rock & Roll/Doo Wop in 1996.  The Post’s October 13, 1996 headline  read that they “rocked alumni.” And John Hammond and Leon Redbone  brought blues  to Athens in 1997.  Bowzer’s Rock n’ Roll Party featuring The Shirelles , widely known for launching the girl group genre, offered a unique opportunity for students and alumni alike to dive into nostalgia. The popularity of the past playing into the highlights of the ‘50s and ‘60s, would make the event exciting to students and alumni alike, as promised by an advertisement in the  October 16, 1998 edition of The Post .

Diane Reeves, with the Count Basie Orchestra performed after the rededication of the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium during Homecoming 1999, bringing together jazz vocals and big band for a powerful performance, according to  a poster for the event .

“Are you happy now?” asked a  Post article from August 2003  discussing the year’s upcoming Homecoming concert. After a few years without a big concert, OHIO students were hungry for another performance. In 2003, kicking off the University's bicentennial year celebrations (which would peak on  Founders Day  2004), pop and rock star Michelle Branch and up-and-comer Jason Mraz performed at the Convo. It was the first concert back in the Convo in four years, and the Post article said that only around 6,000 tickets would go on sale because of the size of the venue, a sharp contrast from The Convo’s glory days of attracting a Columbus audience.

In 2006,  Tyrone Wells performed a free Homecoming concert  at the Howard Hall site.

And after that, there were fewer concerts performed by people outside the university for Homecoming. OHIO moved toward showcasing the Marching 110 and its concert band, as well as other musicians and performers from across the university. It was a sharp contrast to concerts of days gone by; the ones that many alumni still reminisce over during Homecoming every year.

There were many more bands and music festivals, and even more Homecoming concerts, through the years. This is just a small selection showcasing some of what we have preserved from these events in the  Ohio University Archives   Digital Archives .

If you are planning on attending in person, don't miss the 2022 Ohio University Archives hands-on table display, “ Lasting Memories: Your Annual OHIO Homecoming Display ,”on the  Alden Library  4th floor, during Homecoming week. Open October 3-7, 8am-8pm, and Saturday, October 8, 10am-8pm, the physical display features many tables covered with yearbooks, posters, photos, artifacts, and more. ( See on OHIO calendar .)

After the parade on Saturday, visit Alden Library to make your own Homecoming 2022 souvenir. Look for the button making station outside of  Alden Library  4th floor, 11am-1:30pm. There will be extra copies of past yearbooks to help make the perfect memento.

•  Blog post  by Taylor Burnette on creating this exhibit.
• On OHIO’s musical guests, see our  Musical Guests Pinterest board .
• History of OHIO Homecomings in our 2021 digital exhibit,  It’s All Coming Back…: Stories from OHIO’s Homecoming History .
• Images of OHIO Homecomings, see our  Homecomings Pinterest board .
• OHIO’s history in the  Digital Archives  including  yearbooks ,  student newspapers ,  alumni journals ,  photos, posters, maps, and more .