Dianne
and I will be heading this weekend from Austin for AC Homecoming in
Sherman. Some of you Roos may also be familiar with that trip from south
Texas to north Grayson County. It’s quite a hike, and pit stops are
always recommended. Where should you to take a break? I’ve got the
perfect suggestion.
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers in Waco, TX.
Raising Cane’s is located just west of I35 in Waco, on South 8th
Street. It lies just west of the campus of Baylor University. You’ll
likely run into a few Baylor Bears as you order some grub.
Wait, why in the world would I suggest a fast food place in Waco for a pit stop? Read on.
School cheers and fight songs come and go. Some wither on the vine,
but others stand the test of time. Songs like “On, Wisconsin.” Like
many other schools, Austin College has been borrowing the fight song
“On, Wisconsin” for decades.
AC has other cheers and fight
songs, however, that have long since died out. One of them comes from
the year 1899, when Baylor and AC were two of only five schools
(alongside UT, A&M, and TCU) playing football in the state of Texas.
The lyrics went like this:
“Rah, Rah, Rah! Ki Yu! Ki Yah!” “Austin College – Sis! Boom! Bah!” “Hullabaloo! Hooray! Hooray!” “A.C., A.C., F.B.A.” “Who are we? Who are we?” “We’re the boys of old A.C.”
The fight songs of Texas & Texas A&M have a long history. The
Aggie War Hymn was written in 1918 by J.V. “Pinky” Wilson while on tour
in France during World War I. The Eyes of Texas is even older, dating
back to the 40 acres in 1903. From Jim Nicar’s site “UT History Corner” about the adoption of the famous UT song:
“Before [Lewis] Johnson read the last line, he knew [John] Sinclair had
produced something for the University that would last long after their
time as students had passed.”
TCU fans have been yelling “Riff
Ram Bah Zoo” for over a century; the TCU Fight Song will soon celebrate a
centennial anniversary as well. “That Good Old Baylor Line” dates back
to 1906 in Waco. While Baylor’s actual fight song “Old Fite!” is not
quite as old, it’s still beloved.
But all of these songs are the
ones that survived. Like AC, there are many at each school which have
been archived to history. And there’s one in particular at Baylor in
which Roo fans might be interested. Thomas Ortiz (h/t Chancho) let me know about this tune after Halley Wallingford Ortiz recently stumbled upon the song.
The Baylor Bears were SWC champions in the year 1924. The Bears
defeated A&M at home, and beat the Longhorns in the first ever game
at DKR Texas Memorial Stadium. Arkansas and SMU also failed to top that
team from Waco. Baylor headed to Houston on Thanksgiving Day for a
season ending matchup against John Heisman’s Rice Owls. With a win,
Baylor would be SWC champions; the Bears came out on top.
Amazing, that same year little Austin College of the TIAA defeated
Baylor in Waco and beat Rice in Houston. AC Coach Pete Cawthon declared
the Roos the “unofficial champions of the Southwest Conference” at
season’s end, and Austin College found they had trouble scheduling dates
with SWC schools for 1925. Of course! A win over a TIAA school
carried less weight, yet a win over the Roos would be extremely
difficult to come by. The 7-3 AC upset of Baylor in 1924 occurred at
the Cotton Palace, just a few blocks south from the Raising Cane’s
restaurant I suggested earlier. But that game is not the reason to
visit Raising Cane’s.
Will Payne was determined to write a fight
song. Payne, a 1908 Baylor grad, had returned to Waco in the early
1920s as a Director of Music & Voice. He was also a sponsor of the
Baylor Glee club. According to the Baylor Men’s Choir site, Payne “led
the comeback of the men with the golden voices.” Payne wanted to write a
tune for his alma mater that acknowledged all of Baylor’s primary
competitors, yet filled Bear fans with pride. By 1925, he was done.
His song was titled “The Baylor Bears”. The lyrics he wrote went like
this:
“You have heard of the Texas Longhorn” “You have heard of the Kangaroo” “You have heard of the Owls and wild Mustangs” “You have heard of the Aggies too” “But listen while I tell you” “What gives that bunch a scare” “It’s the gleam of the Green and Gold, Yea Team!” “They all fear the Baylor Bear”
Yes, Roo fans. There was a time back in 1925 when little Austin
College was so respected by the SWC champion Baylor Bears that they got
top billing. Ahead of Rice, SMU, and Texas A&M. Given that
Baylor’s defeat of UT at DKR occurred a mere two weeks after the AC
upset of Baylor in Waco, we can probably assume that the Roos might have
even received top honors over the Horns.
However………”Longhorn” just doesn’t rhyme with “too.”
The Aggies returned to Waco for a Baylor Homecoming in 1926. At a
pregame pep rally on campus, Payne led both students and alumni in a
rousing rendition of “The Baylor Bears.” Thousands of Baylor faithful
on campus enthusiastically belted out “you have heard of the Kangaroo.”
Baylor beat Texas A&M in 1926 at the Cotton Place, the site of AC’s
7-3 upset of Baylor back in 1924.
“The Baylor Bears” is rarely
sung today. Like many other college tunes, it has been shelved and is
collecting dust in boxes around the state. Having read those verses
though, maybe we should encourage our friends in Waco to bring it back.
See the comments for sheet music of “The Baylor Bears.”
The
Raising Cane’s restaurant near Baylor loves their Bears. The restaurant
is a museum of memorabilia dedicated to Baylor athletics. Their
website makes it clear:
“When you live in Waco, you live Baylor
sports . . . day and night. As a major sponsor of Baylor Athletics, we
nicknamed our Waco Raising Cane’s Restaurant ‘The Bear’s Den.’”
So, why should a Roo stop by Raising Cane’s near the campus of Baylor in
Waco? Because the Kangaroo song is there. It’s framed on the wall
alongside other Baylor Bear memorabilia. Tip your cap to the lyrics as
you make your way to the counter for your chicken fingers order, and
salute those old Roos who struck fear in the hearts of SWC schools from
Austin, College Station, Houston, Dallas, and yes……Waco.
Thank
you Thomas and Halley for the hat tip about the song. Sorry West, TX.
Your Czech Stop may be famous, but on Friday Dianne and I feel like
getting some chicken fingers in Waco on our way to Sherman.
