What started out as just a football game and a formal dance has developed into an entire fun-filled week here at ODU. From 1938-1940, homecoming consisted of just a dance and football game. Then, in 1955, the homecoming queen contest started. In 1956, a bonfire and “hot dog trot,” or sock hop (an informal dance), were added.

In 1968, ODU celebrated its first homecoming weekend. The weekend started off with Friday’s afternoon classes being canceled. The bonfire kickstarted the weekend and the formal dance followed. Then the homecoming basketball game took place. In 1969, the homecoming parade started. In 1970, homecoming king was added to homecoming court. For a period of time, ODU had a tradition of raising money for a local food drive through homecoming. In 1990, admission was $3 or three cans of food. The homecoming king and queen votes were tallied through cans of donated food. This was a nice way for students to give back to their local community. Although can donations are no longer acceptable for admission, there is still an annual Monarchs Give Back food drive.

Since 2010, students commemorate the start of homecoming week by dying the Lion fountain blue.

Another big tradition is the annual concert. Big artists like Twenty One Pilots, Waka Flaka Flame, Jeremih, 3Oh!3, and Ke$ha have taken the stage to celebrate homecoming week with ODU.

One of the most notable homecoming parades was in 1970, when ODU lost approximately 4.4 million in funding. The theme was originally “A Time for Love” but changed to “Save ODU.” The homecoming committee rallied together to make signs and floats that would attract local television and newspaper coverage. Students also created “Save ODU” t-shirts to wear in protest.