{"id":123651,"date":"2021-10-28T11:36:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T15:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=123651"},"modified":"2025-06-18T11:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T15:17:12","slug":"a-look-back-on-50-years-of-ucf-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/a-look-back-on-50-years-of-ucf-homecoming\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Back on 50 Years of UCF Homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"

As UCF celebrates its 50th anniversary of Homecoming, we\u2019re welcoming back the return of the traditional Spirit Splash and reminiscing about some of the most memorable moments spanning the last five decades.<\/p>\n

Read more about 2021 Homecoming Week Events<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

History of Homecoming<\/h2>\n

UCF\u2019s first Homecoming was held in 1971, three years after the first classes were held at Florida Technological University<\/a> (FTU). Since football didn\u2019t start at UCF until 1979, Homecoming originally coincided with basketball season, which was the university\u2019s first varsity sport.<\/p>\n

The Knights won their inaugural Homecoming game, 101-75, on Feb. 13, 1971, over Florida Institute of Technology, which took place at Oviedo High School\u2019s gymnasium.<\/p>\n

The year 1980 saw two Homecomings for the first time: one during basketball season and the first for football, which has just put together a team the year before. Four decades later, we hosted Homecoming week in the fall<\/a> and again in the spring \u2014 which for the first time included Spring Splash \u2014 as we accommodated for the uncertainty that the COVID-19 pandemic introduced to our daily lives.<\/p>\n