Who Was Sadie Hawkins and Why Does She Have a Dance Named After Her?

Sadie Hawkins’ Day, which evolved into an American folk-holiday, doesn’t originate from a dance at all, but rather from a fictional race. Much like the Great Pumpkin, Sadie is a pop-culture phenomenon spawned from what we old folks used to call the Funnies.

Sadie was the product of cartoonist Al Capp’s fertile imagination. She was a character in his popular cartoon “Lil’ Abner” set in the hillbilly town of Dogpatch. The strip began its wildly successful 40-year run in 1934.

The way Al tells it, Sadie was the daughter of Hekzebiah Hawkins, one of the town’s first settlers, who had the dubious distinction of being the “homeliest gal in all them hills.”

The poor lass waited not-so-patiently 15 years for a suitor to show up at her door but not a single prospective husband arrived to court her. With each passing year, Sadie became more and more despondent, as did her father who did not relish the idea of supporting a spinster daughter for the rest of her days.

So, figuring he had nothing to lose, he called all the unmarried men of Dogpatch together and declared it Sadie Hawkins Day. In a reversal of Atalanta’s race in ancient Greek…