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Homecoming

The event of Homecoming has variously existed as a tradition at Trinity College since the early 1940s. Although the specifics of the celebration have changed over the years, the general impetus of Homecoming has been to welcome alumni back to campus and celebrate the achievement (or soothe the defeat) of the College’s football and soccer teams after their final games of the season in November. Typically, the Homecoming game is played against one of Trinity’s Northeast rivals: Amherst or Wesleyan.

Homecoming Weekend itinerary in the Trinity Tripod, November 1940.

On November 12, 1938, the first “homecoming day” was celebrated on Trinity campus, as alumni and guests visited to watch the Blue and Gold play Amherst. Directly after the game, a tea dance, a cocktail party, and six separate formal dances were each hosted by a different fraternity. In following years, the homecoming dance became more popular, and the entire weekend following the football game would be filled with formals, hops, cocktail parties and smokers, from the fraternity houses to the local Hartford clubs and bars. Well-known jazz musicians and their bands were hired to perform, such as Bunny Berigan in 1940. Prior to the college’s co-ed days, the Homecoming dances were an opportunity for Trinity men to invite women to campus, which was one of the main appeals of the weekend. In a 1940 issue of The Trinity Tripod, a joke letter to an imaginary sweetheart was published, displaying the campus-wide obsession with finding a date to dance with.

Attempts were made to ramp up Homecoming celebrations to more spectacular heights in 1941, when plans for a “monster parade” were proposed, including a float contest and a “snake dance,” although there is no evidence that this plan was ever approved. ¹⁾ Nevertheless, in following years Trinity’s fraternities took responsibility for showing the campus and its visitors a good time. There was, however, a Fall Dance on November 14, held at the Harford Club and serenaded by renowned saxophonist and clarinetist Hal McIntyre and his band. In 1942, buffets were served at each house, and the dances were decidedly “informal.” The absence of live orchestras was credited to “conditions brought about by the war”; ²⁾ the party hosts made do with their collection of Big Band records. At this time, fraternities were mandated to close their doors by midnight, so an after-party was planned to take place at The Heublein Hotel in Hartford to carry on the festivities.

Homecoming football program, 1965. Photo credit: Trinity College Archives

In 1946, the college’s 125th anniversary coincided with a Trinity-Hobart football game on October 19. The celebrations for this “Founder’s Weekend” were sponsored by the Alumni Association and attracted many former Trinity men to campus. Several events were planned around the game, including a carillon concert, a ceremony in honor of Bishop Brownell, a buffet supper, and a celebration in the Chemistry Auditorium. This homecoming-like weekend in October replaced the traditional November homecoming for that year due to the greater event of the college’s quasquicentennial. Around this time, the annual Soph Hop, a tradition that had already been in place since 1907, became integrated with Homecoming Weekend to become the Homecoming Dance. Rallies featuring a marching band and cheerleaders have also been a feature of Homecoming Weekend since the 1950s. The rally, typically followed by some combination of a parade and a bonfire, was often the event that kicked off the subsequent festivities of the weekend. Trinity’s own male cheerleaders were central performers in the rally and parade, but female cheerleaders from other schools were sometimes invited to help provide “pep.” Throughout the 1950s, the Soph Hop and Homecoming traditions continued to coincide with the heavily anticipated football matches against Trinity’s biggest rivals, usually taking place on the Saturday afternoon following the Friday night dance. Because of the influx of alumni, the weekend also became prime time to dedicate memorial buildings and facilities. Such was the case on the Saturday of Homecoming Weekend 1966, when the Jessee Memorial Football Field was dedicated to beloved former coach Dan Jessee before a Trinity-Amherst game commenced.

Another tradition of Homecoming Weekend has been the giving of awards to alumni, organized by the Alumni Association. The Achievement in Life Award, given annually to “an alumnus who distinguishes himself through a recent or current activity, either in his profession or beyond the call of his normal duties” was first awarded during Homecoming Weekend in 1964 to Lucius J. Kellam, class of 1935, for his work on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Complex. Other commemorative ceremonies celebrated on Homecoming Weekend over the years have included the tenth anniversary of coeducation in 1979 and the 100th anniversary of the college’s engineering department in 1997.

Homecoming Weekend 2007 included celebrations associated with the Trinity Chapel’s 75th anniversary. Couples that were married in the Chapel attended a ceremony for the renewal of their vows, and a Service of Thanksgiving and Celebration was led by two Trinity alumni, the Rt. Rev. Andrew D. Smith '65 and the Rev. Dr. Lloyd A. Lewis, Jr. '69.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought about the first Virtual Homecoming in the college’s history, held October 1-5, 2020. Among the weekend’s events were several educational webinars hosted by Trinity’s Virtual Long Walk, livestreamed religious services, class and society reunions held on Zoom, and an installment of the Barbieri Endowment Dante Symposium, with distinguished guest speakers Carl Phillips, Cornel West, Sherman Irby, and Dennis Looney discussing African-American interpretations of the Commedia.

Since 2023, Homecoming and Family Weekends have been combined into one October Fall Weekend featuring historic college events. The Bicentennial Fall Weekend combined Homecoming celebrations with Family Weekend class visits and tours, along with several nights of JOY!, a dazzling spectacle of music, dance, and circus performed by a mélange of local artists, students, and faculty. On the Saturday of Fall Weekend 2025, the inauguration of President Daniel G. Lugo took place; alumni, family members, and students were able to attend the event and welcome Trinity’s 23rd president to campus with a vibrant display of school pride. Inauguration Weekend celebrations also included two academic symposia and a chapel organ performance, each exploring the importance of human creativity. Since its inception, Homecoming (now Fall) Weekend has served to bring all members of the Trinity community together in celebration of their shared connection to the college.