11/5/2026 4:32:00 PM | Football, Traditions
Alice Curtis, 96, will attend her 78th consecutive Baylor Homecoming game
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Growing up in the South Texas town of Gonzales, Alice Marett would stand on the sidelines watching all the boys play football in "our side yard," which served as the neighborhood playground.
"I was five years younger than my brother," Alice said, "and they told me that if I'd keep my mouth shut, I could run on to the field to get the balls when they didn't want to. So, I learned all the rules of football. And that was fun for me, a little ol' girl."
That's where she developed her love of football, a passion that has brought her to the last 77 Baylor Homecoming games, a streak that dates back to 1948 and the old Waco Municipal Stadium (or Muny Stadium, as it was known) in downtown Waco.
When the Baylor Bears (5-3, 3-2) host the Iowa State Cyclones (4-4, 2-3) at 11 a.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium, 96-year-old Alice Marett Curtis will attend her 78th consecutive Baylor Homecoming game.
"I'm so excited," said Curtis, who graduated from Baylor in 1952 with a double major in speech and education. "And I want us to win. We've sat through so many losses. Oh, bless us!"
"I've been going since '48. I'll let you count 'em. I've not missed a one."
That includes her very first Homecoming game on Oct. 23, 1948, when the freshman co-ed watched the Bears defeat Texas A&M, 20-14, from the wooden bleachers at old Muny Stadium.
"We'd walk to the stadium from campus," she said. "Some of the service guys that were back from the war had cars, but most of us did not, in the beginning. Some people had cars later."
Curtis was also there for the first Homecoming game at the brand-new Baylor Stadium on Oct. 28, 1950, with the Bears once again getting the best of the Aggies, 27-20, in the Brazos River Battle. In fact, Baylor has a record of 44-32-1 in the Homecoming games she has attended.
"That first (stadium) was old, but we loved the next one. We thought it was great," she said of Baylor Stadium, which was renamed Floyd Casey Stadium in 1989. "When it was further out, we would get rides or something to get there. One of my roommates was from Waco, so that was fun. Those were happy, happy days."
Other than a girl who was five years older than her, Curtis recalled that "nobody from our little town of Gonzales" ever went to Baylor.
"But I always wanted to go to Baylor," she said. "Ask me why? I don't know. I know there were a lot of preachers that came to our little church that had gone to Baylor. I'm not sure, but maybe that was in my mind. And my parents were so sweet. They made it work."
Class valedictorian at her high school, Alice also earned a $75 scholarship that went toward her education.
After graduating from Baylor in '52, Alice taught for three years in San Antonio and then moved to Fort Worth. "And I've been here ever since," retiring just two years ago after 52 years as a realtor.
Fort Worth was where Alice met her husband of 56 years, Paul Curtis.
"My friend wanted to go to Travis Avenue (Baptist Church), but I wanted to go to the one that was closer to TCU, University Baptist Church," Alice said. "I went there on a Sunday night, and I'll never forget, the pastor's wife took me into Training Union.
"We always had Training Union Sunday night before the service. Mrs. Harris took me in there, and there were two fellas in that single adult department. That was all, no girls. She looked at one of the boys and said, 'Paul, you've been wanting girls in Training Union. Well, here's one.' And we got married in June."
Paul became her companion for all those frequent trips to Waco for the Baylor football games until he passed away in 2013 at the age of 84.
Even with her husband's passing, Alice said it "never even entered my mind" to not continue going to the Baylor Homecoming games.
"That was just part of me," she said.
Holding on to her two football season tickets, Alice said she invites someone to drive her down from her home in Fort Worth. "They drive, and I furnish the chairs and all the food they can eat. I've been doing that for several years," she said.
Even in 2020, when Baylor didn't have a Homecoming game because of the fan limitations related to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, Alice and a couple of her friends were "determined to have Homecoming."
"The three of us met in Hillsboro," she said. "I couldn't even tell you the name of the restaurant, but we decorated a little table at this restaurant, and we celebrated. We did our own thing. And that was fun."
For this one, Alice will be joined by a lot of extended family with Baylor ties, including "my great niece and her husband, who met at Baylor as cheerleaders."
"We're all close, so I can claim all of them," she said. While her own children, Bob and Paula, both graduated from Texas A&M, Alice said, "I've forgiven them . . . for the most part."
During the second quarter of Saturday's game, Alice will be recognized on the McLane Stadium video board in celebration of her 78th consecutive Baylor Homecoming game.
Asked if she had a favorite memory from one of the previous 77 Homecoming games, Alice said, "Not one, I guess. I always liked it when we were able to win."
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Growing up in the South Texas town of Gonzales, Alice Marett would stand on the sidelines watching all the boys play football in "our side yard," which served as the neighborhood playground.
"I was five years younger than my brother," Alice said, "and they told me that if I'd keep my mouth shut, I could run on to the field to get the balls when they didn't want to. So, I learned all the rules of football. And that was fun for me, a little ol' girl."
That's where she developed her love of football, a passion that has brought her to the last 77 Baylor Homecoming games, a streak that dates back to 1948 and the old Waco Municipal Stadium (or Muny Stadium, as it was known) in downtown Waco.
When the Baylor Bears (5-3, 3-2) host the Iowa State Cyclones (4-4, 2-3) at 11 a.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium, 96-year-old Alice Marett Curtis will attend her 78th consecutive Baylor Homecoming game.
"I'm so excited," said Curtis, who graduated from Baylor in 1952 with a double major in speech and education. "And I want us to win. We've sat through so many losses. Oh, bless us!"
"I've been going since '48. I'll let you count 'em. I've not missed a one."
That includes her very first Homecoming game on Oct. 23, 1948, when the freshman co-ed watched the Bears defeat Texas A&M, 20-14, from the wooden bleachers at old Muny Stadium.
"We'd walk to the stadium from campus," she said. "Some of the service guys that were back from the war had cars, but most of us did not, in the beginning. Some people had cars later."
Curtis was also there for the first Homecoming game at the brand-new Baylor Stadium on Oct. 28, 1950, with the Bears once again getting the best of the Aggies, 27-20, in the Brazos River Battle. In fact, Baylor has a record of 44-32-1 in the Homecoming games she has attended.
"That first (stadium) was old, but we loved the next one. We thought it was great," she said of Baylor Stadium, which was renamed Floyd Casey Stadium in 1989. "When it was further out, we would get rides or something to get there. One of my roommates was from Waco, so that was fun. Those were happy, happy days."
Other than a girl who was five years older than her, Curtis recalled that "nobody from our little town of Gonzales" ever went to Baylor.
"But I always wanted to go to Baylor," she said. "Ask me why? I don't know. I know there were a lot of preachers that came to our little church that had gone to Baylor. I'm not sure, but maybe that was in my mind. And my parents were so sweet. They made it work."
Class valedictorian at her high school, Alice also earned a $75 scholarship that went toward her education.
After graduating from Baylor in '52, Alice taught for three years in San Antonio and then moved to Fort Worth. "And I've been here ever since," retiring just two years ago after 52 years as a realtor.
Fort Worth was where Alice met her husband of 56 years, Paul Curtis.
"My friend wanted to go to Travis Avenue (Baptist Church), but I wanted to go to the one that was closer to TCU, University Baptist Church," Alice said. "I went there on a Sunday night, and I'll never forget, the pastor's wife took me into Training Union.
"We always had Training Union Sunday night before the service. Mrs. Harris took me in there, and there were two fellas in that single adult department. That was all, no girls. She looked at one of the boys and said, 'Paul, you've been wanting girls in Training Union. Well, here's one.' And we got married in June."
Paul became her companion for all those frequent trips to Waco for the Baylor football games until he passed away in 2013 at the age of 84.
Even with her husband's passing, Alice said it "never even entered my mind" to not continue going to the Baylor Homecoming games.
"That was just part of me," she said.
Holding on to her two football season tickets, Alice said she invites someone to drive her down from her home in Fort Worth. "They drive, and I furnish the chairs and all the food they can eat. I've been doing that for several years," she said.
Even in 2020, when Baylor didn't have a Homecoming game because of the fan limitations related to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, Alice and a couple of her friends were "determined to have Homecoming."
"The three of us met in Hillsboro," she said. "I couldn't even tell you the name of the restaurant, but we decorated a little table at this restaurant, and we celebrated. We did our own thing. And that was fun."
For this one, Alice will be joined by a lot of extended family with Baylor ties, including "my great niece and her husband, who met at Baylor as cheerleaders."
"We're all close, so I can claim all of them," she said. While her own children, Bob and Paula, both graduated from Texas A&M, Alice said, "I've forgiven them . . . for the most part."
During the second quarter of Saturday's game, Alice will be recognized on the McLane Stadium video board in celebration of her 78th consecutive Baylor Homecoming game.
Asked if she had a favorite memory from one of the previous 77 Homecoming games, Alice said, "Not one, I guess. I always liked it when we were able to win."
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