Upcoming Event: Football versus Friday Night Showcase on April 17, 2026 at 6:30 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
Football
vs. Friday Night Showcase
Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Fianl Scrimmage
1/8/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
December 2, 2000
Boca Raton News
It was about 1:30 on a warm Saturday afternoon at the Tom Oxley Field when history was made. Students, cheerleaders, football players and fans cheered vintage convertibles that circled the playing field to take the homecoming king and queen and the court on their celebratory lap. FAU's first halftime homecoming festivities to take place during the football season reached their climax.
Friday night, we lit the traditional bonfire that will be built annually by the freshman football players. As momentum was interrupted by power outages that blackened the lights, I remarked to the one hundred or so fans who gathered, "Our numbers may be small, but I can hear the cheerleaders cheering in the darkness, and, I can see a football field off to my left. It is surrounded by a track that is filled with students, alumni, players, and fans. Band members fill the stage with their musical instruments, and, the breeze carries their traditional fight songs and alma mater through the air. Cheerleaders and the dance team perform in the spotlights that are mounted on the light poles at the track's perimeter. Let's remember this night and draw strength from my experiences from the universities of Miami and Louisville where those teams were met for their first homecoming pep rallies with no more than a dozen students, a handful of fans, several off duty cops, and a lone tuba player."
In years gone by, these homecoming festivities would have been immortalized only by written word and the folk lore of those attending. But on this Saturday, professional videographers recorded, amateur photographers shot, and, writers took notes so that Homecoming 2000 will be remembered not only in the minds of those present but by those who take the time to visit the archives.
The day's event was finalized with a not-so memorable second half play by our athletes. As hard as we all might try to have made our first homecoming at football a dazzling gala, it was in fact our best attempt at emulating the likes of the Florida Gators or Florida State Seminoles. Though we didn't come even close, our celebration was probably more important than any of theirs except perhaps that occasion long ago when they celebrated their own first homecomings.
Just as our football team will be better year by year, so will our students, alumni, and our fans. Together, we'll get better year after year. And it will never be perfect, but it will be fun. That's what counts. Remember, fulfillment is the journey and not necessarily the destination.
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