Hanover College Football: A Legacy of Tradition and Spirit
Hanover College, a premier liberal arts and sciences institution, boasts a rich history interwoven with traditions that bind students, alumni, and faculty together. Among these, the football program and its associated traditions hold a special place, fostering a sense of community and pride that resonates throughout the campus.
Homecoming: A Celebration of Past and Present
Homecoming at Hanover College is more than just a game; it's a vibrant celebration that bridges generations of Panthers. The first Homecoming was held Oct. 24, 1925, when the College’s alumni population totaled 1,335. Hanover now boasts more than 13,000 alumni worldwide. The annual event provides an opportunity for alumni to return to campus, reconnect with old classmates, and relive cherished memories. As Faith Gomez ’23 exclaimed, “This year, seeing all the alumni come back really warms my heart. Since we are seniors, now we get to see all the people that we grew up with and hang out.” Alex Lesiw ’24 agreed, adding, “We see all the guys who we grew up with the past couple of years who have graduated.”
While the football game is a central attraction, the spirit of Homecoming extends far beyond the gridiron. The crowning of the Homecoming queen, a tradition that began in 1934 with Marilyn McNagle, adds a touch of pageantry to the festivities. The post-game celebration is also a firmly established tradition. Despite that 1925 loss to Earlham, students and attending alumni enjoyed a dance in the gymnasium that October evening. When asked about her favorite part of Homecoming, Gomez shrieked “The game … and the celebration later tonight. I am very much looking forward to it.
Marcia Stewart Breckenridge ’67 noted, “Reconnecting with people I had not seen in 30, 40 years and just walking on the campus. It is where my husband and I met.”
Homecoming is a testament to the enduring spirit of Hanover College. The event encapsulates the essence of the Hanover experience.
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The Hanover College Fight Song
The Hanover College Concert Band closes each of its concerts with a rousing performance of the Hanover College Fight Song, “Hanover-We’re for You.” In 2018, students in the Concert Band completely restored a large bass drum that was used in the band in the 1940’s. The “Big Bass Drum,” as it is popularly known, is rolled out near the close of each concert for the performance of the Fight Song, paying tribute to all band members, past and present.
Traditions Beyond the Field
Hanover's traditions extend far beyond the football field, shaping the student experience in unique and meaningful ways:
- The August Experience: During the week before classes begin dedicated to the orientation of the incoming first-year class, all first year students, faculty, and staff are invited to hike the biology trail and enter Hanover College in the same fashion as the first students of the College did in the 1800s.
- Fall Convocation: An all-campus convocation held during the first week of classes in the fall. The senior class members, in their caps and gowns for the first time, and the incoming first year class march into the ceremony through a two sided line of faculty.
- Christmas at Hanover: Each year near the end of the Fall term the Hanover College Music Department presents a special “Christmas at Hanover” concert. Featured on the program are the Hanover College Chamber Singers and Ringers and a combined instrumental ensemble. The program always closes with a delightful sing-a-long of traditional carols.
- Senior Recognition Convocation: An all-campus convocation held during Winter Term designated to recognized senior students who have received academic and leadership honors and awards. In addition, other outstanding students are also recognized.
- Senior Night Out: The Thursday night prior to graduation, immediately following commencement rehearsal, graduating seniors are invited to attend a night on the town in historic Madison. Transportation, door prizes, and an opportunity to enjoy the final evenings at Hanover College before graduation are provided.
- Faculty Receiving Line: At the end of the commencement ceremony each year, faculty members form a two-sided receiving line through which the graduates pass.
- Vegas Night: Vegas Night is the premiere student event and is open to students and their guests. The event is held the first weekend of May, both inside and outside the Brown Campus Center. The students select a theme each year and plan decorations and attire based on the theme.
- The Point: A large rock at The Point overlooking the Ohio River.
- Painting the Spirit Rock: Campus organizations take turns painting the spirit rock in front of the Horner Center with positive artwork or messages that can promote an event or simply show pride in their alma mater.
- Wiffleball Tournament: Students claim that Spring Term is the best time on campus because of Wiffleball. The three week long tournament, sponsored by the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha, is a time for students to have a blast on campus while raising money for charity.
- Late Night Breakfast: On the Sunday Night before finals week, students from across campus come together in Campus Center Dining Room for a special breakfast served by their faculty, staff, and administrators. As students stay up well into the night for studying and hanging out, local establishments are open to meet the students’ needs. Numerous trips are taken yearly to Hinkle’s, a local restaurant well known for their burgers, cheesy fries, and milk shakes.
- The Run: The end of recruitment for fraternities/sororities is marked by The Run.
- Sorority Ceremonies: When a sorority member is lavaliered, pinned, or engaged a ceremony is held.
- Alma Mater: In 1956, Meredith Willson (writer of award-winning musicals “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and “The Music Man”) visited Hanover and, inspired by the “jewel-box” campus, wrote a melody for a new alma mater. Mrs. Katharine Parker, wife of then-president Albert G.
Academic Excellence and a Sense of Place
Hanover College's commitment to academic excellence is evident in its diverse curriculum and emphasis on critical thinking. History majors, for example, delve into the past through various courses, including:
- An examination of the history of modern society, emphasizing that of Western Europe and North America, but also attending to the West’s relationship with the rest of the world.
- Examines the shaping of modern politics and society in East Asia under the influence of Western ideology and as a response to Western imperialism. Topics include the Opium War, the Meiji Restoration and colonialism in both Korea and Vietnam. Also explores the rise of nationalist movements and the search for civil society in modern East Asia.
- An introduction to the ways historians understand and interpret the past, focusing on selected topics in American history. Students will examine American oratory and oral history as they develop their own oral communication skills. Partially satisfies the HS CCR.
- An introductory comparative and thematic global study of non-Western and Western cultures beginning with the birth of civilization in various locations around the globe following the agricultural revolution of the Neolithic Age (ca. 10,000 B.C.E.) and extending to the beginning of the early modern era (ca. 1500 C.E.).
- An examination of the history of the rise of modern societies across the globe as these societies functioned in isolation and in association with one another.
- This course offers basic insight into the political, social, economic, and cultural history of the continent of Africa from Antiquity to the present, with particular emphases upon human origins, the Agricultural Revolution, the slave trade, mineral revolution, colonization by European powers, and Africa’s emergence upon the world stage in the 20th and 21st centuries. Partially satisfies the HS CCR. Satisfies the W1 ACE. Satisfies the CP ACE.
- By studying European and American history in a global context and encouraging innovative comparative approaches, the three-course “core” sequence is designed to provide students with a broad geographical, cultural and historical context for evaluating and interpreting historical problems and to give a solid foundation for more advanced work not only in history, but also in other disciplines.
- This class examines history as a genre of writing. Students will select, examine and critique examples of written history to ascertain what constitutes good style in historical writing and will write historical essays with an eye towards developing a sense of style.
- This course will survey the theoretical bases and historical and cultural contexts that have accompanied the evolution of thinking about human rights from the sixteenth century to the present day. Partially satisfies HS CCR.
- A study of immigration and internal migration (from prehistory to the present) within what is now the United States, examining how different waves of newcomers have interacted with the existing population and how immigration and ethnicity have shaped the American Identity. Offered alternate years.
- A study of the photographs that are a part of ordinary Americans’ everyday lives (from daguerreotypes to selfies), putting those photos in the context of changing technology and national history. Offered alternate Spring Terms.
- A survey of America’s heartland from the time of European contact to the present, examining the history of European exploration of the region, European and Native American relations, immigration and settlement, territorial organization and statehood, economic development, and the creation and meaning of Midwestern regional identity. Offered alternate years.
- A course that uses biography, Abraham Lincoln’s own words, and popular culture to examine the 16th president in historical context - as a product of the cultural and intellectual currents of 19th century American - and in America’s collective memory, as an image and continuing symbol of national values and ideals. Offered alternate Spring Terms.
- A survey of American women’s experiences from the colonial era to the present, giving special attention to the “public sphere” (including politics, the workplace, and the law).
- A survey of the American military history through the conclusion of the Philippines conquest, studying the military campaigns conducted by the Americans during this period. In addition to studying strategy, tactics, and weapons, issues such as the social composition of the armed forces, the influence of new technologies on warfare, the tension between “professional” and “citizen” soldiers, popular attitudes toward war and the military, and the effects of war on American society will be explored. Offered alternate years.
- A survey of the American military from 1903 to the present, studying the military campaigns conducted by the Americans during this period. In addition to studying strategy, tactics, and weapons, issues such as the social composition of the armed forces, the influence of new technologies on warfare, the tension between “professional” and “citizen” soldiers, popular attitudes toward war and the military, and the effects of war on American society will be explored. Offered alternate years.
- An examination of selected topics in American Indian history, exploring the experience of American Indian peoples in various parts of North American, such as the eastern woodlands or western plains. Issues addressed will include the culture of selected American Indian peoples before contact with Europeans, and their subsequent interactions with European and American settlers. Content may vary. May be repeated for credit with the permission of the instructor. Studies in American Cult.
- An examination of selected topics in the cultural history of the United States, exploring the ways popular culture, material culture, and everyday life have both reflected and influenced American society. Content may vary. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor.
- This course is an exercise in cultural history that examines the early development of the Anglo-American horror story. It will explore how these horror stories reflected the cultural transitions from Romanticism, to Victorianism, to Modernism. The course will also look at the evolution of the horror film in the 1920s and 1930s, tracing the influence of German expressionistic masterpieces on the classic Universal “monster” movies of Depression-era America.
- A survey of Russian history from the earliest times to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Offered alternate years.
- A study of the events, developments, and personalities that led to the disintegration of tsarist Russia and the beginnings of a new society which has produced tremendous upheaval, millenarianism, intense hostility, and incredible brutality. Offered alternate years.
- An examination of the economic, social, political, and intellectual history of England during the reigns of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs. Offered alternate years.
- An examination of selected problems in the history of early modern Europe. Content may vary. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor. Offered alternate years during Spring Term.
- This course examines the economic, social, political, and cultural history of Great Britain in the “Long 18th Century” - the period following the culmination of the Glorious Revolution (1688) and the end of the end of the Napoleonic Wars (c. 1815). Emphasis will be on the interpretation of primary source documents and will be guided by recent secondary source readings.
- This course examines the economic, social, political, and cultural history of Great Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria, roughly 1837 to 1901. Some attention will, of course, be paid the decades immediately before, and to the long-lasting effects of, the history of this period. Emphasis will be on the interpretation of primary source documents and will be guided by recent secondary source readings.
- A survey of Greek history from the Aegean Bronze Age to the age of Alexander. Identical to Classics 251. Offered every third year.
- A survey of Roman history from the founding of the city to the fall of the Roman Empire. Identical to Classics 252. Offered alternate years.
- Mass-entertainment by means of blood-sports, in the arena and the circus, was a prominent feature of Roman culture. This course will examine the social, religious, economic and political significance of the Roman games from a historical standpoint, including archaeological remains, artistic renderings and literary sources both pagan and Christian. Discussion will also touch on modern parallels and big-budget Hollywood films. All sources in English translation. Identical to Cla 253. Offered alternate years during Spring Term.
- Students will examine not only the goals and justifications behind the papacy’s and the Crusaders’ attempt to retake Palestine between 1095 and 1291 and the Byzantine, Jewish, and Muslim responses to these efforts, but will also consider later crusades from the 14th through the 16th centuries. Offered in alternate years.
- An examination of the creation and historical development of modern gender identities in a Trans-Atlantic context (Europe and America).
- This course will explore the Vikings and their culture from historical and archaeological, as well as literary, perspectives. Partially satisfies the HS CCR. Satisfies the W2 ACE.
- A survey of events and developments throughout the world from the end of the Second World War to the present. Offered alternate years.
- An examination of selected topics and themes in world history. Content may vary. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor. Offered alternate years.
- An introduction to the history of China from ancient times through the modern era.
- An introduction to the history of Japan from the beginning of Japanese civilization through the modern era.
- This course examines the major developments in the formation of modern science from the 17th century to the present. It focuses on science as human creative endeavor and examines episodes of scientific discovery, debate, and controversy to generate consideration and discussion of such issues as the nature of scientific discovery and the relationship of scientific theories to their social and cultural contexts. Offered alternate years.
- An examination of the evolution and development of medical practices from ancient times through the modern era. The course will focus on medicine as a social and cultural response to disease by comparing and contrasting the medical systems of different cultures at different times.
- An exploration of the disciplines of history and genealogy through in-depth research. Students work together to prepare a client’s genealogy, and they do individual research on an American family of their own choosing. Following genealogical sources backward in time, we consider the arguments historians have made about the eras our families experienced. Offered alternate years.
- An in-depth examination of the ideological underpinnings, implementation and legacy of the Nazi effort to exterminate every Jew in Europe. Offered alternate years.
- A discussion-oriented seminar exploring the history of Western Europe from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries through the lenses of political, military, economic, social, legal, religious, and intellectual history. Offered in alternate years.
- The first half of the semester is devoted to an examination of the complex period of early modern history beginning in the 14th century when Europe was emerging from the Middle Ages as Renaissance humanists, focusing upon an educational agenda focused upon the liberal arts, looked back to the glory of Classical Greece and Rome for their intellectual inspiration. The scrutiny of the northern humanists, in turn, had an important consequence when the unity of the Catholic faith and the political-ecclesiastical domination of the Catholic Church throughout western Europe were first challenged and then shattered, and a multitude of new “Protestant” religious sects, led first by Martin Luther, arose and developed into formal, confessionalized religious sects. Offered in alternate years.
- An examination of selected topics in the intellectual history of the United States, exploring the ways ideas have helped shape the meaning of the American experience. Content may vary. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor. Offered alternate years.
- The chronological survey of the European settlement of North America and the development of English colonies with special emphasis on the political, social, economic, and cultural developments. Offered alternate years.
- The chronological survey of the American Revolution, the War of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, the establishment of the new government, and the presidencies of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. Offered alternate years.
- history that witnessed national expansion and economic development, the rise of mass political parties and a celebration of democratic culture, movements for social reform, dispossession of Native Americans, slavery, sectional crises, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Offered alternate years.
- The chronological survey of the period when the United States simultaneously became an urban industrial nation and a world power. Offered alternate years.
- The chronological survey of the history of the United States from the onset of the Cold War through its termination, and the profound social changes which marked the nation during those years. Offered alternate years.
These courses encourage students to delve into the past, analyze primary sources, and develop their own interpretations of historical events.
A Transformative College Experience
Hanover College strives to provide a transformative college experience for its students. With a guarantee of completing a degree in four years or tuition covered for a fifth year, Hanover prioritizes student success. The college also emphasizes affordability, with 100% of students receiving some form of financial aid.
Read also: Hanover College: Funding Your Education
As Melissa Schenkel Smith ’17, who returned to Hanover from Fort Collins, Colo, said, “Campus is beautiful in the fall… It is really fun to be back on campus." Adam Vaught ’03, who attended Homecoming with his wife, Holly Rowland Vaught ’05, and their young sons, added, “Homecoming is awesome.”
Recent Accolades and Events
Hanover College continues to garner recognition for its academic excellence and vibrant campus life:
- Hanover was named among The Princeton Review’s best colleges for 2026. September 8, 2025
- The Indiana Supreme Court held oral arguments at Hanover Sept. 30. September 5, 2025
- The Third-annual DPT commencement celebrated Class of 2025. August 25, 2025
- Hanover hosted the Southeastern Indiana Regional College Fair Sept. 16. August 22, 2025
- The Traveling Final Four fan experience visited Hanover’s campus Oct. 18. September 23, 2025
- Authoritarianism and citizenship were the focus of Pergher’s keynote address. September 20, 2025
Read also: The Hanover College Logo Through the Years
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