From These Roots

Homecoming is a long-standing tradition at North Greenville and other schools across the nation. It is a time when alumni return to Tigerville to celebrate North Greenville’s existence and perseverance. Whether they were a Moonshiner, Black Widow, Mountie, Crusader, or Trailblazer, North Greenville alumni have celebrated Homecoming with the current students, staff, and faculty for over 100 years.

North Greenville’s first known Homecoming celebration took place on November 28, 1924. The day kicked off with a football game between the North Greenville Baptist Academy Moonshiners and Holly Springs. The Moonshiners completely trounced Holly Springs with a final score of 101-0. The evening ended with an alumni banquet where current students gave an opening program and several alumni gave brief addresses.

Despite the success of the first Homecoming, the next known celebration was not held until 1951. The North Greenville Junior College Black Widow’s football team played against the Asheville-Biltmore team and won 7-6. This was also the year where the first North Greenville Homecoming Queen, Barbara Ann Hollis, was elected by the football players.

Once football left North Greenville after the 1952-1953 season, the Homecoming celebrations once again became irregular and ceased altogether until 1969. Men’s Basketball replaced football as the Homecoming sport and that year’s team defeated Brewton-Parker with a score of 81-76. Sherryl Johnson was crowned the Homecoming Queen and a queen has been crowned every year since. The majority of Homecoming celebrations were held early in the spring semester until the late 1980s.

When football returned to North Greenville in 1988, it once again became the Homecoming sport and the Homecoming celebrations were moved back to the fall semester. The North Greenville College Mounties football team won their first Homecoming game by a score of 70-15. The 1992 Homecoming game had a unique storyline when half of the football team shaved their heads in a “sign of unity”. Their unity demonstration worked and they won the game 47-10.

Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, one of the Homecoming traditions was the “Pig Kissing”. The Pig Kissing was a fundraiser where 8-10 faculty/staff members would have a plastic piggy bank or other container representing them in one of the public areas on campus like the dining hall. People would add money to the bank of the person they wanted to kiss a pig. The person with the most money put in their piggy bank would then have to kiss a pig at Homecoming.

During the 2000 Homecoming weekend, a “Survive Homecoming” game was played on campus. The game was modeled after the new, at the time, TV show “Survivor”. Twenty-six student contestants representing fourteen different campus organizations participated in Survivor games and camped out in tents in order to try and win $200 for their organizations. The contestants were not allowed to talk to outside people and had to cook their own food on charcoal grills. One of the challenges included who could eat the most sardines and another involved balancing on blocks of wood while keeping a hand on a wooden cross.

In addition to football games and Homecoming queens, the North Greenville Homecoming celebrations also once included parades. Various clubs and groups on campus would decorate floats for the parades and the Homecoming court would often ride on the backs of convertibles. Some years, antique cars and horses would even join the parades. The Alumni Association also holds events for the alumni who have returned to campus. Each year, reunions are held and alumni awards are presented. In recent years, a Homecoming dance has been added to the Homecoming weekend celebrations.

Homecoming returns to North Greenville this weekend. We hope to see all of you there!