Kansas State University Marching Band - The Songs of Kansas State University

The Songs of Kansas State University

Wildcat Victory is the official fight song of Kansas State University. It was originally written, verse and chorus, by music department student Harry Erickson in 1927, but over time became known to K-State fans with the chorus section on its own. The band presents Wildcat Victory in various forms throughout athletic events, from a short excerpt of the introduction to a full version, complete with singing.

Fight, you K-State Wildcats
For Alma Mater fight-fight-fight!
Glory in the combat
For the purple and the white.

Faithful to our colors
We will ever be,
Fighting ever fighting for a
Wildcat victory!

Go State!

The KSU Alma Mater was officially selected as the result of a campus-wide competition in 1888. The original work, composed by H.W. Jones ('88), was four stanzas long, including the chorus. Following a school name change, the song was altered by removing the letters KSAC (Kansas State Agricultural College), replacing them with KSU. The length of the piece was also shortened to two stanzas.

I know a spot that I love full well,
'Tis not in forest nor yet in dell;
Ever it holds me with magic spell,
I think of thee, Alma Mater.

KSU, we'll carry thy banner high.
KSU, long, long may thy colors fly.
Loyal to thee, thy children will swell the cry.
Hail, hail, hail, Alma Mater.

Wildcat March: In October, 1928, John Philip Sousa was to make an appearance at K-State. A petition, signed by most of the student body, was presented to Sousa on October 10, requesting that he compose a Kansas State Agricultural College march. The piano arrangement of Kansas Wildcat March arrived at the Music Department in the spring of 1931 and is now an integral part of the pre-game show at every football game and is normally one of the selections you will hear the "Pride" playing in each of the parades they march in each year.

The Wabash Cannonball (arranged by Joel Leach) may be known as a second fight song to the K-State contingent. Composed in 1933 as a folk ballad saluting the nation's rail-riding hobos, Wabash Cannonball was first performed for an athletic event at K-State on December 16, 1968. Wabash was the only selection in the band's repertoire that evening for a home basketball game at Ahearn Fieldhouse. Just three nights prior, arsonists had set fire to Nichols Hall, at that time the home of the Music Department, destroying all of the departments assets, including the sheet music. The band director at that time, Phil Hewett, just happened to have taken this one piece home from the library that very night to do some work on the arrangement, thus making it the only selection to survive the fire. Since then, the Wabash Cannonball has come to represent the survival of the underdog in the hearts and minds of all true K-State fans, and has earned a secure place in the KSUMB's history and traditions.