The Victors

"The Victors" is the fight song of the University of Michigan (UM). It was composed by UM student Louis Elbel in 1898 following the last-minute football victory over the University of Chicago that clinched a league championship. John Philip Sousa is quoted as saying The Victors is "the greatest college fight song ever written." First performed in public in 1899, "The Victors" did not catch on right away, and did not become Michigan's official fight song until many years later. At the time, the song "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" was considered to be the school song.

An abbreviated version of the fight song, based on the final refrain, is played after the football team either scores or makes a big defensive play, such as an interception. Its full lyrics span several verses that run over two minutes long. The melody of the fight song is very similar to the trio section from "The Spirit of Liberty March", published seven months earlier by Tin Pan Alley composer George "Rosey" Rosenberg. This song is often referred to as "Hail to the Victors," which is not correct.

The phrase "champions of the West" is often misunderstood, and is in reality a reference to Michigan's membership in the Western Conference, later renamed the Big Ten. Accordingly, after Michigan temporarily withdrew from the Western Conference in 1907, a new Michigan fight song "Varsity" was written in 1911 because the line "champions of the West" was no longer appropriate. Both songs were highly popular, and with Michigan's reentry to the Western Conference in 1917, followed by an undefeated football season in 1918, the lyrics to The Victors became apt once again.

The lyrics are unusual for a fight song, in that the typical fight song exhorts its team to play well and win, whereas "The Victors" is sung in celebration of a win after the fact.

The University's Flint branch campus selected "The Victors" as their sports nickname in an unofficial student vote.