A: Enough to fill a pickup basketball team—which would no doubt please former president Barack Obama, who gave a post-presidency speech at Foellinger Auditorium, in 2018. Two presidents visited the
A: The iconic cheer, in which one side of the Memorial Stadium crowd yells “I-L-L” and the other responds “I-N-I,” has been a mainstay of Illini football games since the
A: As far as I can tell, it was 1919. The theme was “Victory Homecoming”—a commemoration of the United States’ victory in World War I—and the event was a return
A: Believe it or not, that sycamore is the oldest tree on campus. When the University opened in 1868, it consisted of nothing more than the original building, 10 marshy
A: Edward F. Lindberg, 1909 ENG. At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm—the fifth modern games, since their start in 1896—Lindberg was part of the world record-setting 4 x 400
A: Only if he’d been re-animated! Gregory, the University’s first regent, or president (1867–1880), died in 1898, while the house at 804 W. Green wasn’t built until 1920. However, it
The 1988 Def Leppard show was a big one—16,606—and lead singer Joe Elliott announced from the stage that it had broken Elvis Presley’s all-time attendance record. Only—dramatic pause!—it hadn’t. Whether
A: According to our records, at of March 2024 the oldest alumni are Mabel Craf, ’30 ED (109), of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; followed by Otto Klein, ’37 ACES (108), of
A: You betcha—and from way back, too. During the University’s early years—we’re talking 19th century, here—suffrage was one of the most popular debate topics between the women’s and men’s student
A: Get out your toboggans, friends! And your down vests and long underwear and hand warmers and all that other cold weather razzamatazz. Or, better yet, just stay inside beside
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