Half a century ago, Baylor Homecoming celebrations included barricade kissing, snake dancing and “Hawny Frog” skits, trading elaborate floats for simple wagons and buggies. Today, much like 1909, the bonfire still burns bright, a pep rally flings green and gold afar, the parade bridges downtown Waco and campus and, of course, the football game is a staple. Decades of Baylor Homecoming shine brightly in their similarities, with some crown jewels fading into the archives.
Browsing: Homecoming 2025
Win or lose, each organization’s float represents hours of hard work, creativity and collaboration on the part of Greek life members. As they carve their annual path around campus on homecoming, those who have put in the work express feelings of fulfillment and familial pride.
Every fall, Baylor Homecoming begins in the heart of campus, where the glow of the Eternal Flame stretches across Fountain Mall. The Ten at Ten: A Mass Meeting Experience marks the start of the weekend as a moment when the Baylor Family gathers to celebrate tradition, renew community and reflect on the university’s motto: “Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana, Pro Mundo” — “For the Church, for Texas, for the World.”
Generation after generation, Baylor students continue to return to the campus their parents called home. For these families, homecoming is more than just a campus tradition; it is a celebration of a legacy.
Like Lalani and the women who came before her, Clemons sees homecoming not just as a weekend of celebration, but as a living, evolving tradition that showcases pride and binds Baylor women and the Waco community.
“One of the early leaders of the Dr Pepper Museum was a Baylor alumnus,” Summar-Smith said. “He was a Dr Pepper drinker for many years, Wilton Lanning. So I think Waco has a lot of identity in Dr Pepper and a lot of identity in Baylor, and so they’re just a natural partnership.”
As Baylor prepares for Homecoming and Pigskin Revue returns to Waco Hall, Greg Rogers’ artistry will once again take center stage — quietly, from behind the scenes.
For many Baylor alumni, homecoming is more than just a fun weekend — it’s a return to the community, traditions and people who formed their college years. And for some, it’s also a cure for something familiar to most post-grads — the fear of missing out.
Before this year’s group set its sights on another postseason run, there was a stretch that changed everything. The 2017 and 2018 teams turned belief into banners, capturing back-to-back Big 12 titles and setting the standard that today’s Bears continue to chase.
Over two decades, Baylor women’s basketball has turned championships into careers. From Sophia Young-Malcolm to Brittney Griner and NaLyssa Smith, generations of Bears continue to define greatness beyond Waco and into the WNBA.
Midway High School product Caden Powell was born less than four months after Baylor hired Scott Drew. Now, he’ll be Drew’s first scholarship Wacoan.
Football is a staple of Baylor’s Homecoming — the oldest such tradition in the nation. Throughout the longstanding institution, there have been numerous memorable moments that magnify the occasion.
The festival will run from 4-10 p.m. on Saturday at Indian Spring Park. This year’s event will debut a bright, multicolored “alebrije” theme, said Julie Cervantes, Parade Director for Dia de los Muertos and Director of Strategic Development at Creative Waco. Cervantes said she expects attendees to go all out with the theme through their costumes and parade floats this year.
In the midst of the homecoming festivities, the Nu Zeta chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and the National Pan-Hellenic Council are bringing a stroll-off to campus on Friday from 7-9 p.m. at the Bill Daniel Student Center.
Terry Terracino rang in her 70th anniversary of being Baylor Homecoming Queen by riding in a glimmering black Corvette in the 2024 homecoming parade. Her daughter, Gretchen McCormack, and granddaughter, Dr. Arden Roeder, stood gleefully watching as they, too, celebrated their legacies at Baylor.
Baylor has an overall homecoming record of 50-44-4. Those four ties may be the most interesting — or the worst — homecoming games in green and gold history.
“It brings both Baylor’s campus and the Waco community together to celebrate our shared history,” Chiles said. “The alumni of the past are allowed to come watch an hour and a half long parade that showcases the best of Baylor and Waco.”
In just a few days, Baylor’s 116th celebration of homecoming will commence, ringing in all the craziness and excitement that comes with it every year. Events like Pigskin Revue, the parade and the football game are long-awaited and long prepared for, with students putting in the work toward these events for months prior.
Homecoming is a celebration — a time to gather, get to know one another, share ideas and memories and have fun. Ultimately, I always knew that homecoming was an opportunity, but I never knew it as a blessing until COVID-19.
Slapped on the side of Brooks Residential College, the words, “To you I hand the torch,” are for many, the extent of knowledge on Samuel Palmer Brooks’ Immortal Message. But Homecoming is a better time than any to remember the story behind those words: they’re a message of hopefulness and responsibility, even when the times around us are full of uncertainty, struggle and death.
From Pigskin to the pep rally and finally the game, here is the complete guide to this year’s homecoming events, which a few extras thrown in.
Nine years after Title IX was enacted, the NCAA welcomed women’s sports, including volleyball. While facilities and resources were scarce at Baylor, the Bears’ drive to play collegiate volleyball remained strong. That first team in the NCAA paved the way for the national powerhouse.