You can read an authoritative encapsulation of the “hotly debated” history of Gator Growl and homecoming at the University of Florida by University Historian Carl Van Ness, “More Than 100 Years of ‘Welcome Home’: Homecoming traditions have come and gone (Synchronized swimmers? Bring your weight in firewood?), but since 1916, Gator spirit has always won the day.”Ĭarl Van Ness is an awesome guy and has been so helpful to my research. ![]() That’s when the homecoming pep rally was held at the football stadium known as Florida Field, and there were marching bands and cheerleaders and baton twirlers and student comedy skits that poked fun at campus life and state politics, but most important of all, fireworks. While UF had homecoming traditions as far back as 1916, the title of Gator Growl was coined and adopted in 1932. “Gator Growl” was, and always will be, the annual college football pep rally at the University of Florida. A few years later on a radio show, he was asked, “What’s the biggest crowd you did comedy for?” What was Gator Growl? In 2002, he was the feature act ahead of now-disgraced headliner Bill Cosby. What’s it like to do stand-up comedy in front of 70,000 people? In its heyday, Gator Growl crowds could range from 50,000 to 60,000 to as many as 72,000 or 75,000 people. ![]() ![]() Yes, and here’s what happened at “Gator Growl”: It was the annual homecoming pep rally that took place on the Friday night before the Saturday afternoon pep rally. Let me get this straight – the University of Florida once had a tradition where stand-up comedians would do their act in front of up to 75,000 people in the football stadium?
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