Flashback
50 years ago
A special Homecoming
Chancellor Clifford C. Furnas and Homecoming queen Linda Bensen at Rotary Field.
With its parades, parties and pep rallies, Homecoming has been a popular UB tradition since 1934. This annual autumn event draws the campus and community together by providing an opportunity for alumni to renew old friendships and promoting interest in the UB football team.
Half a century ago, the 1959 UB Homecoming celebration was combined with festivities surrounding the 25th anniversary of Norton Union, the university’s first student union. Activities included a men’s fashion show, selection of the Homecoming queen and a luncheon honoring former members of the 1934 UB football team.
A large crowd gathered at Rotary Field on Oct. 24, 1959, as the UB football team battled Western Reserve. Half-time highlights featured the crowning of Linda Benson as Homecoming queen by Chancellor Clifford C. Furnas. Benson received a silver bowl as a memento; she and her court were then driven around the field, escorted by an ROTC honor guard.
UB won the game by a score of 22-2, and later that evening, students and alumni mingled during the Homecoming dance at Kleinhans Music Hall. Tickets cost just $3 per couple, and those in attendance danced the night away to the strains of the Potsdam Varsity Orchestra, a group that promised “plenty of that good, danceable music.” (Elvis, perhaps?)
Photographs and memorabilia recalling past UB Homecoming celebrations currently are on view in the display case in the lobby of Capen Hall, North Campus. To learn more about other campus traditions, visit the University Archives exhibit “Student Life at UB.”
—Kathleen Quinlivan, University Libraries
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