Question: In what year did the University of Florida hold its first homecoming?
Answer: 1916. That October, about 200 alumni came back to Gainesville to cheer on the Gators against Alabama’s Crimson Tide. The UF Alumni Association organized that first homecoming. The celebration’s famous pep rally came later. Florida Blue Key members were looking for a new name for the event in 1931. When they got stuck, one frustrated member suggested letting a “gator growl,” and the name stuck. Gator Growl’s first year in the stadium was 1932.
