As Colorado State celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first homecoming, a piece of history lost for 89 years has made its return to the campus just in time for the 2014 homecoming.





On Nov. 14, 1925, the Colorado Aggies faced the University of Colorado in the fourth traditional homecoming game in school history. Since the first homecoming celebration of 1914, football games for the annual event had been scrimmages between alumni and the varsity players, but in 1922 it was changed to be the traditional intercollegiate game we have always known.







The 1925 homecoming theme was about Hawai’i since the Aggies football team would leave for a whirlwind trip to Honolulu just after the regular season. A Dec. 12 game with the University of Hawai’i football team had been scheduled prior to the start of the 1925 season and excitement ran high about the Aggies traveling by boat to play football. That Hawaiian theme was marred by snow; a lot of it covered Colorado Field and crews worked frantically to clear the playing surface before the big game.







As fans, alumni and undergraduates celebrated homecoming with parades, bonfires and free movies in the Fort Collins movie houses, the football preparations at Colorado Field were for a tough game against CU’s coach Myron Witham and the Silver and Gold. The Aggies were undefeated to this point in the season and heading to the 1925 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship. CU could upset the Aggies and jeopardize their championship hopes.







On the field the Aggies handed CU a decisive 12-0 defeat as the crowd of about 8,000 cheered in the cold wind of Colorado Field. The two schools had begun a rivalry with one another in 1912 and with the championship on the line, homecoming and a celebrated trip to play in Hawai’i; there was a lot to lose in 1925 and the CU fans knew that.



After the game CU fans and Aggies fans got into a bit of a scuffle at the north gates of Colorado Field as they all tried to exit at once. In the scuffle it is believed that CU fans took from a flag pole one of the school flags. No different than a flag with the Rams logo on it that flies from the east stands of Hughes Stadium; this was likely the only school flag at the game.



Nothing was really said about losing a flag since the Aggies won the game and the 1925 championship. However, CU fans felt they had really put one over on their rivals in Fort Collins and wrote on the flag “Captured Nov. 14, 1925 at Fort Collins, Colo.” The flag was displayed for several years showing that a piece of the Aggies’ campus had been captured and in the hands of a CU fan.



Flash forward to Oct. 6, 2014, when 1976 CSU graduate Jim Crawford contacted his alma mater to tell them he had the 1925 Homecoming flag and wanted to return it to the school. Crawford stated that the flag had ended up in his grandmother, Crete Howe’s belongings, who was not even in Colorado in 1925, but may have known one or more of the culprits that stole the Aggie flag.







Crawford had believed the flag once belonged to his cousin, Jim Hartman, who played for the Aggies in the 1930s, but since the flag dated to 1925, it did not make sense. However, another cousin, John Kiteley likely knew the person who took the flag. It ended up in his grandmother’s collection through Kiteley’s mother, Alice.



This 89-year-old piece of CSU history had been sitting in a drawer since Ms. Howe’s death more than 40 years ago and Crawford decided after visiting the CSU Hall of Fame in Moby Arena it was time to return it to the campus.



The flag will arrive back on the CSU campus for the first time in 89 years when it is to be presented to those attending the distinguished alumni awards dinner on Thursday night, Oct. 16. It has arrived in time for the 100th anniversary celebration of homecoming and will be proudly displayed on the CSU campus once again.