The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1538921
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025 ■ 37 every home game and select postseason and away games. Among the songs performed by State's bands are three spirit songs that were cre- ated by students and staff members. Alma Mater: In the early 1920s, State College had no official alma mater, to the embarrassment of students Alvin Morris Fountain and Bonnie Frank Norris, who vowed to create one. After more than two years of tinkering, they gave Norris' musical composition and Fountain's five-stanza lyrics to the school as a gift of the Class of 1925. The song was shortened to one stanza in 1941 to make it easier to sing at foot- ball games. In 2022, the board of trustees approved changing Fountain's original opening line — "Where the Winds of Di- xie softly blow, o'er the field of Caroline" — after a faculty-led objection to the ref- erence to the Southern states. "State College Keeps Fighting Along": NC State's official fight song was penned by Hardy M. Ray during his time as a student, after two years of mili- tary service in World War I. The Raleigh native set his song to the familiar U.S. Army Artillery tune written by Edmund L. Gruber called the "Caisson Song" or "As the Caissons Go Rolling Along." Ray continued his military service after NC State and after he earned a bachelor's degree at Northwestern. He became an instructor of public speak- ing and, later, the radio station director at WPTF-AM as well as other stations across the South. Ray served multiple tours during World War II as an educator. Fittingly, the man who set his alma mater's fight song to an old Army tune was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with his son. "Red & White Song": Often con- fused as the school's official fight song, this interactive ditty with the catchy brass intro was composed by the direc- tor of the NC State music department, J. Perry Watson, in 1961. It's notable for the often-misquoted line "Come over the hill Caroline/Devils and Deacs stand in line," as fans switch the first line to something a little more PG-13. It is a standard at all NC State events, not just football games. Former Traditions Through the years, Wolfpack football has had to say goodbye to several well- loved traditions. Fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha once had a firetruck that was used to deliver NC State cheerleaders and young fans onto the field. It was parked on the sideline and became one of the best field-level seats in college football, even appearing on the cover of a 1975 edition of Southern Living magazine. Nothing was sadder, however, than when long-needed progress ended one of Carter-Finley Stadium's most be- loved traditions: the cheap seats on a grassy bank at the south end of the sta- dium. For only a few dollars, young fans could buy season-long access to the bank, where activities included falling down the steep slope or sliding down it intentionally on a flattened pizza box. Students who didn't get a seat at the weekly ticket distribution for home games were often relegated to the grassy bank, which tailgaters sometimes found difficult to navigate without clumsily falling down the hill with alcohol-fueled speed. In 2001, the grassy bank was regraded to enclose the South End Zone with more than 5,000 permanent chairback seats and to build the five-story Murphy Football Center that opened in 2003. It was all part of nearly $200 million in athletic facility enhancements, paving the way for new traditions to be built on top of old ones. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. A firetruck owned by the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity brought cheerleaders and young fans onto the field in the 1970s. It appeared on the cover of Southern Living magazine in 1975 but was later retired. PHOTO COURTESY ANGELA SMITH CRUMPLER