Lt.
Francis Irving LANKEY was born1,2
on 16 Jun 1894 in West Bay City, Bay, Michigan, USA. He died3 on 1 May 1919 in , , , France. He was
buried3 in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Bay
City, Bay, Michigan, USA.
Francis
was counted in a census1 in 1900 in
West Bay City, Bay, Michigan, USA.
After the turn of the
century, with the development of intra-school rivalries in football, schools
found that they needed something beyond the available musical repertory for
their partisans to sing and rally around. Out of this came a surge of
original & d
istinctive school Fight Songs, most notably the Univeristy of
Michigan's and Notre Dame's.
Here at Michigan State
College the Fighting Aggies (later to be rechristened The Spartans) settled
upon a song written by Bay City engineering student Francis Irving Lankey,
class of 1916. Mr. Lankey had the designation of Yellmaster, equivalent to
today's head cheerleader.
The words today are pretty
much as they were when he wrote them in 1914 or 1915 with the exception of
the changes growing out of the school's change in status from a College to a
University (from M.A.C. to M.S.U.).
While the words are Mr.
Lankey's the bulk of the melody appears to have been lifted from a hymn from
the early part of this century "Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus"
(words by George Duffield & music by Adam Geibel). An image from the 1938
Cokesbury Worship Hymnal appears to the right showing the musical score. Over
the years various band members and directors have "enhanced" the
tune to give us the big musical event that you hear at every Spartan home
game.
Following the United States'
entry into World War One Mr. Lankey entered the military and was killed in
battle in France in 1918. A memorial to all of the fallen M.A.C. students
from that war is found west of Williams Hall about 20 feet off the Beal
Entrance Drive.
Here are the words to the song:
On the banks of the Red Cedar
Is a school that's known to
all;
Its specialty is winning,
And those Spartans play good
ball;
Spartan teams are never
beaten,
All through the games they
fight;
Fight for the only colors,
Green and White.
Go right thru' for MSU,
Watch the points keep
growing.
Spartan teams are bound to
win,
They're fighting with a vim.
RAH! RAH! RAH!
See their team is weakening,
We're going to win this game.
Fight! Fight! Rah! Team,
Fight!
Victory for MSU.
Lankey tragically died in a
plane crash in World War I and is memorialized on a plaque on campus.
|
1Compiled by The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1900 United States Federal Census
(Compiled by: Family History Library; FamilySearch; (http://familysearch.org)),
8 Jun 2012, Family History Library, 35 North West Temple Street, Salt Lake
City, UT 84150-3440. ""United States Census, 1900," index and
images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M91K-9D3 : accessed
8 June 2012), Irving F Lankey in household of Vittis W Lankey, West Bay city,
(south side), Bay, Michigan."
2Michigan Secretary of
State, Michigan Births, 1867-1902 (Compiled by: Family History Library;
FamilySearch; (http://familysearch.org)), 8 Jun 2012, Family History Library,
35 North West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3440.
""Michigan, Births, 1867-1902," index and images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NQZH-66T : accessed 8 June 2012),
Francis Lankey, 1894."
3Compiled by: Find A
Grave, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com/), 26 Aug 2012, Find A
Grave, PO Box 522107, Salt Lake City, UT 84152-2107. "Created by: Thomas
Jones
Record added:
Nov 12, 2011
Find A Grave
Memorial# 80294648."
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