“Rock Chalk, Jayhawk” — The Best College Sports Chant
April 15, 2009 by admin
Filed under basketball, the latest
“Rock Chalk, Jayhawk” or the “Rock Chalk” chant is an University of Kansas tradition. Typically chanted at basketball games at Allen Fieldhouse or Jayhawk football games at Memorial Stadium. The lyrics have a Gregorian chant feel to them as “Rock Chalk — Jay-Hawk — KU,” is repeated twice slowly, and then, three times quickly.
President Theodore Roosevelt called it the “greatest college chant he had ever heard.” Kansas troops even used the chant in World War II. Coke Zero featured “Rock Chalk, Jayhawk” in a TV commercial during the March Madness, NCAA basketball tournament run in 2009.
Per the KU website:
“KU’s world famous Rock Chalk Chant evolved from a cheer that a chemistry professor, E.H.S. Bailey, created for the KU science club in 1886. Bailey’s version was “Rah, Rah, Jayhawk, KU” repeated three times. The rahs were later replaced by “Rock Chalk,” a transposition of chalk rock, the name for the limestone outcropping found on Mount Oread, site of the Lawrence campus.”
Since the early 1900s, KU fans have used the “Rock Chalk” chant when the Jayhawks are safely ahead of their opponent, guaranteeing a victory. Given the Jayhawks’ successful tradition on the basketball court — including a 2008 Men’s NCAA basketball championship — fans have had plenty of opportunities to practice the chant.
ENJOY THIS VIDEO — The “Rock Chalk, Jayhawk” chant before a basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.
ENJOY THIS VIDEO — Coke Zero TV commerical
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