At halftime of the September 26, 1931 Rutgers-Providence game, a new song was unveiled that continues today as the Rutgers fight song. The September 28, 1931 Daily Home News reported, “Betweeen halves Rutgers new football song, ‘The Bells Must Ring,’ was sung for the first time at a football game. The song is unique in that it combines both music and cheering in a single composition. It is the work of William E. Sandford and Dick Hadden, both Rutgers students, who were awarded first prize for it in competition conducted last year.”
92 Years Ago Today In Rutgers Football History
- Thread starter Source
- Start date
I have always loved "The Bells Must Ring," especially for the "RU Rah Rah" cheer midway through. It is especially effective at the RAC or on the road at football games and, especially, bowl games. The only thing I've ever seen/heard remotely like it is the "Hoo rah, Hoo rah, Army Rah!" that the cadets do at Army games.
Keep the history coming at us, Source. I always appreciate your posts.
Keep the history coming at us, Source. I always appreciate your posts.
Thank you ecojew. Glad you enjoyed it.
According to an April 10, 1973 Targum, “(Head coach Foster) Sanford was a colorful, personable individual who combined his personality with a keen football sense. And it was Sanford who first made ‘Upstream Red Team,’ a campus slogan and transformed small Rutgers College into one of the most feared juggernauts in the nation.” “The Bells Must Ring” is the school’s fight song that contains the lines that are chanted by all Rutgers fans during games: “R-U, Rah, Rah… R-U Rah Rah… Whoo-Rah, Whoo-rah, Rutgers Rah. Up Stream Red Team, Red Team Upstream… Rah, Rah… Rutgers Rah.”
2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the last coaching year of Foster "Sandy" Sanford who got more out of his teams with far less assets than any coach in Rutgers history. And he completed that year with a 7-1-1 finish.
Besides "Upstream Rutgers," he was also fond of another expression, "Say a prayer and take a chance."
According to an April 10, 1973 Targum, “(Head coach Foster) Sanford was a colorful, personable individual who combined his personality with a keen football sense. And it was Sanford who first made ‘Upstream Red Team,’ a campus slogan and transformed small Rutgers College into one of the most feared juggernauts in the nation.” “The Bells Must Ring” is the school’s fight song that contains the lines that are chanted by all Rutgers fans during games: “R-U, Rah, Rah… R-U Rah Rah… Whoo-Rah, Whoo-rah, Rutgers Rah. Up Stream Red Team, Red Team Upstream… Rah, Rah… Rutgers Rah.”
2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the last coaching year of Foster "Sandy" Sanford who got more out of his teams with far less assets than any coach in Rutgers history. And he completed that year with a 7-1-1 finish.
Besides "Upstream Rutgers," he was also fond of another expression, "Say a prayer and take a chance."
Last edited:
One can only imagine what he could have accomplished if he had an indoor practice facility.
He formed his teams from only the Rutgers student body that perhaps numbered about 700 students during his era. No football scholarships. No athletic director or department. And he took no salary.... zero... nada.
What kind of NIL deals did the players have? Did they have a presence on social media?
A little after Sanford, as it was post WWII, but the part of Records Hall that is now physical plant space was just that. A huge field house that was indoor training space and was also used for other athletics activities.
That spacious Records Hall is now gone. I don't know the plans, but there's just a field next to what remains of the rest of Records Hall.
By the way, we all remember the brick structure that was the building. But that covered up its true shape. At the end of WWII, the building was an airplane hangar destined to go from Trenton to Russia in a lend-lease agreement. With the war over, that wasn't going to happen. So the building left Trenton and went up the road to Rutgers who was glad to put up the building for use as a field house, a pre-Brower Commons, a post office, a classroom, a testing center, etc. etc. etc.
I have a football shaped Rutgers music box. You wind it up and it plays "Loyal Sons". It was made in the late 1940s. If you go to the following site, you will see the Cornell and Penn State versions of the music box.
That's very cool. Couple of people I know would love to have one of those. The Rutgers one, that is.