OK, I must be naive or something... while I was cleaning the family room, I had the Army-Navy game on. Both team played hard, and like usual Navy won. At the end, both academies sing their alma maters. The melody of the West Point alma mater is the same as Valpo. So how in the world did that happen? Who copied who? - I would guess Valpo was copier with pride.
Per Valpo magazine a few years back the Valpo alma mater song came from an old German hymn. The lyrics were written by the second Lutheran president of Valpo, Oskar Kreinheder. So my guess is that West Point used the same old German hymn.
Speaking of which.
At the Davidson FB game, the FB team, came over to the stands and sang the Valpo fight song -- loudly and with great spirit. Not the alma mater, granted. But I'd love to see Valpo teams that attract decent followings both at the ARC/Brown Field (SB Field and Bauer too?) --- AND ON THE ROAD -- conclude every game with something like that. It is so inspiring. That little bit of emotion can bond a team, a school and its fans so much closer.
We've been wondering what is happening with the declining following/attendance at games. Could be that we need our teams to "encourage" a little more school spirit. It doesn't have to be on national television like Army-Navy, but small, academically oriented colleges like Valpo can generate an intense love of the school -- we just need to find the trigger.