Cheers and spirit keep tradition alive
Alma Mater, Rock Chalk chant bring crowds together at games
By Chris Borniger
Special to the Kansan
Generations of KU students — past and present — are bound together by at least one thing: the cheers, chants and traditions surrounding KU sports.
Singing the Alma Mater, the Rock Chalk Chant and waving the wheat all are examples of a tradition that football coach Terry Allen said is paramount at the University of Kansas.
"It's something people can believe in and have believed in over the years," he said. "I know the tradition is really special here."
Tim Bateman, Lawrence sophomore, said he enjoyed participating in sports traditions because it enhanced the experience of a sporting event.
"It brings everybody together," he said. "Everybody is doing something at the games. It kind of feels like one big cheer."
Bateman said that waving the wheat was his favorite traditional fan activity.
"The energy just depends on whether or not we're winning," he said.
The spirit of these chants and songs can
be even influential to a game's outcome, said spirit squad coach Ty Washington.
"They play a major role," he said. "They need to be instilled in people watching the games, so if the score gets close, we try to get the crowd to rally behind the team. I think it helps a lot of people feel pride in their team, too."
In November 1919, an issue of the
Mount Oread magazine included an article about the support for annual celebrations and a movement to instill a sense of tradition at the University to make homecoming more significant for alumni. Since then,homecoming has been the source of several traditions.
The Baby Jay mascot, for example, arrived during halftime of the 1971 homecoming game. Workers hauled a massive
egg to the 50-yard line, and Baby Jay "hatched" soon after. Baby Jay played another part in homecoming history in 1978 when the costume was stolen and returned just in time for homecoming festivities.
Other homecoming traditions have come and gone. Alfred Hill, the University's first homecoming organizer,
intended for Kansas to play Missouri or Nebraska every year. Activities such as Hobo Day, bonfires and a nightshirt parade died out in the 1950s. A Rock Chalk Cairn, a mound of stones built as a memorial, was constructed in 1919 next to what is now Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall. It was damaged, vandalized and relocated before its destruction in 1957.
Washington said traditions were a vital part of the homecoming game.
"Homecoming kind of runs itself," he said. "The energy is always up. We just try to keep them going."
The University's most famous traditions also are some of the oldest. Chemistry professor E. H. S. Bailey wrote the first Rock Chalk Chant version in 1886, but his Rah Rah Jayhawk soon became Rock Chalk Jayhawk, referring to the abundant chalk limestone in Lawrence. President Theodore Roosevelt reportedly
called it the greatest college cheer he had ever heard. When the Belgian king requested a typical college yell at the Olympic games in 1920, American athletes chose to perform the Rock Chalk Chant.
Crimson and the Blue, written in 1891 by professor George Barlow Penny, became an institution at sporting events shortly after Penny taught the song to the University glee club. The melody is based on Cornell University's school song, Far Above Cayuga's Waters, and an English folk song, Annie Lyle.
The school colors were not crimson and blue at first. Before 1891, the sports uniform colors were maize and sky blue. They were changed to crimson and blue to honor the school colors of John McCook, a Harvard graduate who paid for the University's first football field, and Frank Strong, a Yale graduate and KU chancellor.
KU TRADITIONS
Waving of the wheat: characterized by swaying side to side and waving the hands in the air to symbolize the wheat fields blowing in the wind.
Rock Chalk Chant: written by chemistry professor E. H. S. Bailey more than 100 years ago. President Theodore Roosevelt called it the greatest college cheer he had ever heard.
- Crimson and the Blue: school song written by professor George Barlow Penny in 1891 and based on Cornell University's
school song and an English folk song.
school song and an English rok song.
Baby Jay: "hatched" at the 1971 homecoming game.
School colors: originally maize and sky blue but became crimson and blue to honor Yale and Harvard alumni who were influential in the University's early years.
Rock Chalk Cairn: built in 1919 near what is now Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall; relocated and vandalized before it was destroyed in 1957.
8 Homecoming
The Hill
Friday, October 23, 1998