1936

August
A report in the University of Iowa News Bulletin informed alumni that old Iowa Field, abandoned as a football gridiron in 1929, “now becomes a part of the open campus along the river front.” Home of Iowa track meets until 1935, the site was last used by the 1936 baseball team.

October 17
Nearly 40,000 spectators watched the stalemate of Iowa’s 25th Homecoming game, this one versus Illinois. Final score: 0-0.

While the action on the field yielded a disappointing result, much of the activity surrounding the game added to the Homecoming festivities. Many of the fans wore badges “to catch more of the spirit and to contribute to the success of the Iowa Homecoming celebrations.”

On October 17, 1936, Iowa and Illinois battled for an entire game without either side managing to score.

A notice in the alumni newsletter advised graduates that “Professor R.A. Kuever of the College of Pharmacy, who originated the idea of selling badges for Homecoming in 1924, is in charge of their sale and will mail badges postpaid for ten cents apiece to anyone sending him a request for them.”

Though the game itself was scoreless, alumni who returned for Homecoming must have noticed that Iowa’s band members were wearing new uniforms: “scarlet coats, caps with black chin straps, black trousers with trimmings of gold braid—the latest thing in band uniforms this fall….”

Homecomers in 1936 also saw a 40-piece drum and bugle corps arrayed in Scottish uniforms. Organized by the commandant of the military department, the purpose of the group was “to co-operate with the band in entertaining Homecomers at the game.”

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