Illinois Athletics

August 15, 2024

Illini Helmets courtesy Illinois Athletics

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Exactly 100 years after Red Grange's historic performance in the Memorial Stadium Dedication Game against Michigan on Oct. 18, 1924, the University of Illinois will host its Memorial Stadium Rededication the evening of Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. One day later, Illinois will face off against that same opponent, Michigan, for the Memorial Stadium Rededication Game on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Illinois' rededication ceremony will be free and open to the public inside Grange Grove at 4 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 18. The ceremony will feature a program that honors the many uses of Memorial Stadium over the last century and an unveiling of new historic features around the stadium.

A 100th-anniversary gala will be hosted inside the Colonnades Club inside Memorial Stadium at 5:30 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 18. The event will feature some of the greatest players to wear the Illinois uniform sharing stories and reliving memories of the past 100 years. Invitations to purchase tickets will be sent to I FUND members and VIPs.

Illinois will wear 1920s-themed throwback uniforms against Michigan on Saturday, which include hand-painted helmets to look like the leather-style helmets worn during the early years of football at Memorial Stadium. The Illini uniforms will pay tribute to the same design worn during the 1924 Illinois-Michigan game, including a blue base and vertical stripes down the middle of the jersey.

A pregame ceremony will feature a special game ball presentation that involves generations of Illinois football alumni, and festivities will continue throughout the contest. The Marching Illini will perform a special halftime performance, and fans can expect a special Spirit of the Illini presentation during the trademark 3-in-1.

Historical videos and in-stadium displays will be used all season long at Memorial Stadium, while the Illini will wear each of its three other throwback helmets once during select home games across the 2024 season. Those helmet designs have already been announced: a four-star design worn from 1962-68 during Dick Butkus' time at Illinois, at the 1964 Rose Bowl, and by the 1963 Big Ten-winning Illini team; the arched Illini design worn from 1971-87 that was used during the 1984 Rose Bowl; and an underlined Illinois design worn from 1989-2012, during which the Illini won two Big Ten titles and played at the 2002 Sugar Bowl and 2008 Rose Bowl.