When the Huskies take to Brigham Field on Saturday, NIU will be participating in its 104th homecoming game.

Along the way, there have been more than a few trivial occurrences according to Mike Korcek, the former NIU Sports Information Director Emeritus. The NIU graduate spent more than 30 years in the NIU Sports Information Department before leaving the university in 2006.

Korcek is considered an authority on NIU homecoming due to his work on the 2005 NIU football media guide. For that year’s media guide, Korcek put together a cumulative history of NIU Homecoming.

Putting together a feature on a subject never before broached by the university required a large amount of original research.

“I had to go into our old records and the regional history center to get the information,” Korcek said. “With Glen Gildemeister, the university archivist at the time, we looked at all the records and we came up with a cumulative list of games.”

What really inspired Korcek to look into the history of homecoming in DeKalb, though, was a misconception held by NIU’s neighbor to the south.

Korcek found that on Oct. 10, 1903, NIU played its first homecoming contest against members of an alumni team made up of former Huskies. Prior to the game, no other school in the state had played a homecoming game.

Seven years after the 1903 contest, the University of Illinois organized its first homecoming game and would later claim it to be the first ever in the state of Illinois. Upon looking into that false distinction, Korcek received a rather perplexing answer from the Illini.

“I contacted a gentleman down in Champaign, and he told me that I shouldn’t count the alumni games between 1903 and 1913,” Korcek said. “Why, though? Those games were the essence of homecoming. People were coming back to their school to celebrate for the weekend.”

The Huskies first game against an intercollegiate football opponent came in 1914 when they faced off against Wheaton College. Since that date there have only been four years where there wasn’t a homecoming game (1917-1919 and 1924).

While putting together the feature, Korcek came across quite a few individual games worthy of mention; at least a few of which were of the heart-wrenching variety. In 1974, the Huskies took on the Redbirds of Illinois State for state bragging rights. In this instance, Korcek didn’t have to research the game to recall the events.

“NIU was going for the winning touchdown and the NIU quarterback threw an interception returned for a touchdown and we lost 24-14,” Korcek said. “I can remember most of the homecoming games in my time and that one was definitely a downer.”

While some games stick to memory from the heartache they created, others crop to mind due to the immense joy that came from them. October 1990, for example, marked a year the Huskies took down an NCAA record in one of the most exciting games Korcek has ever witnessed.

“The craziest, wildest, most psychedelic game in the history of NIU homecoming happened when we beat Fresno State in 1990,” Korcek said. “Fresno was ranked 24th in the country at the time. The wildest part though was the fact that we beat them 73-18. And at the time those 73 points where the most scored against an AP Top 25 Team.”

Seven years prior to that game during NIU’s first and only MAC Championship season, the Huskies overcame a 20-point halftime deficit to take down Bowling Green State 24-23. After the game, Korcek saw a celebration he won’t ever forget.

“There were bleachers where the Yordon Center is now, and the kids hopped the fence between them and the field and tore down the goalpost,” Korcek said. “And I’m not advocating destroying university property but it was fun to see the celebration.”

After researching the history of NIU homecoming, Korcek believed he had found some history he believed should be recognized.

“This is our 104th homecoming game,” Korcek said. “That certainly is a heck of a tradition to have for any school if you ask me.”