FOOTBALL GAMEDAY MAGAZINE - of College Football Games

history of the msu fight song
Yellmaster Francis Irving Lankey, a civil engineering major at Michigan
Agricultural College, composed the school’s Fight Song in the spring of
1915. His friend Arthur L. Sayles, also a MAC student, wrote most of the
words to the Fight Song. The football team’s back-to-back road wins
over national powers Michigan and Wisconsin in 1913 inspired Lankey to
compose the MAC Fight Song because he felt those two schools had great
fight songs. “Lank”, as his friends called him, was a very popular and
talented piano player.
Following graduation, he worked for the highway department and
later became an instructor for the Army Air Corps. In a volunteer air
demonstration in 1919, he crashed while attempting to land. Months after
his untimely death, a girlfriend published his song.
Members of the football team sold 770 copies of the song for 50 cents
at the 1919 Homecoming pep assembly. When it sold out in less than
30 minutes, everyone knew the Fight Song was a winner. In 1920, the
Military Band played the MAC Fight Song at home football games. With
slight variations to the original words, like changing Aggie to Spartan and
MAC to MSU, it has been played ever since.
MSU Fight Song
On the banks of the Red Cedar,
There’s a school that’s known to all;
Its specialty is winning,
And those Spartans play good ball;
Spartan teams are never beaten,
All through the game they’ll fight;
Fight for the only colors,
Green and White.
Go right through for MSU,
Watch the points keep growing.
Spartan teams are bound to win,
They’re fighting with a vim.
Rah! Rah! Rah!
See their team is weakening,
We’re going to win this game.
Fight! Fight! Rah! Team, Fight!
Victory for MSU.
(Original Lyrics)
On the banks of the Red Cedar,
There’s a school that’s known to all;
Its specialty is farming,
And those farmers play football;
Aggie teams are never beaten,
All through the game they’ll fight;
Fight for the only colors,
Green and White.
Smash right through that line of blue,
Watch the points keep growing.
Aggie teams are bound to win,
They’re fighting with a vim.
Rah! Rah! Rah!
See their team is weakening,
We’re going to win this game.
Fight! Fight! Rah! Team Fight!
Victory for MAC.
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