In 1912, the IU football team was 2-4, and administrators and campus leaders complained about the lack of support in the stands for the home team.
“I don’t know what is the matter with the student body of the University this fall,” a man by the name of “Up High” Smith told the Indiana Daily Student in 1912 after a 13-7 loss to the University of Illinois the week before. “This is the eighth fall that I have been here, and I believe that the spirit this year is the worst it’s ever been.”
The night before the Hoosiers took on the Northwestern University Wildcats, a gathering of students sang a new song.
The song that would become IU’s fight song was written by then-band director Russell P. Harker, using the melody of a song called “The Viking March” for a team struggling for a win and support of its fans.
Later that night, students led by the IU band paraded from the gymnasium through campus to Dunn Meadow for the traditional pre-game bonfire and pep talk from then-IU President William Lowe Bryan and team coaches.
“I want to say for the alumni that we are all for the team and the captain, but you students are not,” one-time IU track Coach Joe Knox Barclay said to students, according to the IDS. “You are a bunch of quitters.”
The game’s final score was 20-7, a loss for IU.
During the last century, the IU fight song has become a staple at many IU sporting events, IU Marching Hundred director ?David Woodley said.
“It’s the one song that pretty much everyone in the stands knows,” ?Woodley said.
The song that’s taught to all incoming freshmen who attend the Welcome Week staple, Traditions and Spirit of IU, has remained essentially the same throughout the years, although the “IU” tag at the end of the song was added 30 to 40 years ago.
Though Woodley, who has been the Marching Hundred director since 1993, cannot count the number of times he’s played the song, he said it’s never hard to keep it fresh.
“It’s one of those automatic songs that means something good has happened,” Woodley said.
The song is typically played to celebrate touchdowns during a football game and during the most exciting points of basketball games.
Woodley said the most memorable time he ever played the song was in 2007, when IU beat Purdue for the first time in six years during the Old Oaken Bucket game.
“It’s neat to have a strong tradition of one song, no matter what kind of fan you are,” Woodley said.
