Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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his hometown of Holyoke, Mass. The song was copyrighted that same year in a piano version, complete with lyrics that would be tweaked. In fact, according to the Notre Dame Band's website, the Shea brothers would credit the Fighting Irish band direc- tor from 1923-42, Joseph Casasanta, for the success of the Victory March. (Casasanta also went on to compose the Alma Mater, Notre Dame Our Mother and several other famous Notre Dame football songs.) A different account says the debut occurred in 1909, when it was played at Washington's Birthday exercises at Notre Dame on Feb. 22. A third says it was first performed at Notre Dame on Easter Sunday, 1909, in the rotunda of the Administration Build- ing, as part of the Easter concert. However, as Kasper wrote, it was seldom played after '09 — and not heard at an athletic event until 10 years later. Rev. Michael Shea was neither surprised nor dismayed. A gifted musician who would study music in Rome and serve as an organist at New York's St. Patrick Cathedral, Shea in later years contended that the tune was "very amateurish," and was surprised by its popularity. Then again, Henry Ford's first two Rev. Michael Shea (right) wrote the music for Notre Dame's famous "Victory March" in the early 1900s. He and his brother, John (left), both graduated from Notre Dame and wrote the lyrics together. PHOTOS COURTESY NOTRE DAME ARCHIVES What tho' the odds be great or small Old Notre Dame will win over all, While her loyal sons are marching Onward to victory. automobile companies went bank- rupt, Dr. Seuss' first children's book was rejected by 23 publishers and the Coca-Cola Company sold only 400 Cokes during its first year of operation. What was "amateurish" in the 1900s was honored in 1969 — college football's centennial — as "the great- est of all fight songs." Today, it is part of the nation's fabric, not unlike Bing Crosby's "White Christmas," or Kate Smith's rendition of "God Bless America." Rally sons of Notre Dame Sing her glory and sound her fame, Raise her Gold and Blue And cheer with voices true: Rah rah for Notre Dame We will fight in ev-ry game, Strong of Heart and true to her name We will ne'er forgot her And will cheer her ever Loyal to Notre Dame (Chorus) Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame Wake up the echoes cheering her name, Send a volley cheer on high, Shake down the thunder from the sky. www.BLUEANDGOLD.com a new composition called "The Fight- ing Team" to then-Notre Dame presi- dent Rev. Matthew Walsh … but the Notre Dame Victory March would never be supplanted. Rev. Michael Shea eventually sent feated Michigan for the first time in nine tries, and, as result, it was hailed in some circles as "Champions of the West" — Michigan's long-held title that is worded in its own immensely popular fight song, The Victors: "Hail, hail to Michigan the champions of the West!" While many Irish followers cite the In 1909, Notre Dame finally de- A FITTING END 1913 victory at Army as the game that put the school on the map, the 11-3 conquest of Michigan in '09 was a breakthrough that signaled the rise of Notre Dame as a potential new power to be reckoned with in the Midwest. It seemed apropos that in the same year that Shea's "Notre Dame Victory March" was first played publicly on the campus, the school achieved its initial watershed victory in football. For the USC game in 1935, Rev. Michael Shea, who by that time was residing in New York, was invited back to receive an honorary Notre Dame monogram "in appreciation of what this stirring composition means to Alma Mater and her sons." Rev. Shea died on Aug. 19, 1940, in New York at age 55. Two years earlier, he had requested burial in the cemetery plot at Notre Dame, which was reserved for members of the Congregation of Holy Cross. On its arrival in South Bend, his casket was draped in a Notre Dame mono- gram blanket, and flags on the cam- pus were at half-staff until after the funeral. In the eulogy, Rev. Henry F. Ham- mer stated: "A short while now and the warmth will give place to the cool, fresh winds of late September. … Thunderous crowds will gather in great stadia throughout the nation to attend the intercollegiate football contests. Bands will play and pen- nants wave, and through the radio will come the triumphant strains of a long familiar tune. "You will pause and listen and say, 'It is the Victory March.' May it re- mind you then to pray for the soul of his whence the inspiration of that glorious music came. May it ever re- mind you for your edification how well he lived his Christian life and so marched on to eternal victory." ✦ PRESEASON 2012 21