Homecoming is a tradition, not only at Porterville High School but in high schools across the nation. Just like anything, Homecoming has evolved over the years, but the core idea that alumni return back to their alma mater for a football game and celebration remains the same. Here at PHS, we have celebrated homecoming for decades, but did you realize that it has only been in the last twenty years that we had a Homecoming King and Queen? Traditionally, schools only had Homecoming Queens.

Homecoming is most often held in September or October and revolves around a home football game so that alumni and former students can join in cheering for their alma mater with current students and the rest of the community. Traditionally, homecoming celebrations include a homecoming court, parade, tailgate, pep rally, alumni reunions, and homecoming dance. Our school used to have a Homecoming Parade at the stadium, before Rankin Stadium was built, with each class decorating a themed float and each of the homecoming candidates riding in fancy cars, as well as the previous year’s queen (and king once applicable) riding into the stadium in the Rally Wagon. Once Rankin Stadium was built vehicles were no longer allowed to drive on the track and so the parade floats were discontinued. For a few years, the King and Queen Candidates would ride into the stadium in golf carts they decorated with the week’s theme, but that eventually faded away too. Still, our students can always look forward to a fun-filled week of dress-up days and activities, an over-the-top awesome rally, and a black light dance. Here at The Orange & Green, we have been looking through the archives of old El Granito yearbooks, and old issues of The Orange & Green and have selected some pictures of Homecoming celebrations and Royalty from our school’s history.