"Bear Down" is the official motto of the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

 (U of A), located in Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

. It is the inspiration for "Bear Down, Arizona!," the unofficial fight song

Fight song

A fight song is primarily an American and Canadian sports term, referring to a song associated with a team. In both professional and amateur sports, fight songs are a popular way for fans to cheer for their team...

 of the school's Arizona Wildcats

Arizona Wildcats

-Athletic program:The University of Arizona participates in the NCAA's Division I-A in the Pacific-12 Conference Arizona participates in the conference's South Division, along with Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, and Utah...

. The official fight song is "Fight! Wildcats! Fight!

Fight! Wildcats! Fight!

"Fight! Wildcats! Fight!" is the official fight song of the University of Arizona. While "Bear Down, Arizona!" is easily the most recognizable fight song attributed to the University it was written 23 years after "Fight!" and is more accurately described as the official motto of the...

" written by Douglas Holsclaw.

History

The battle cry was created in 1926 by a popular student athlete, John "Button" Salmon. Salmon was the student body president, as well as the starting quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 for the Wildcat football team and the catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

 for the Wildcat baseball team, and member of Sigma Nu

Sigma Nu

Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...

 fraternity.

The day after the first game of the 1926 football season, Salmon and two others were involved in an automobile accident, in which their vehicle flipped over in a ravine. Although Salmon's friends were not injured, Salmon suffered a severe spinal cord injury. In the aftermath of the accident, football coach Pop McKale

Pop McKale

James Fred "Pop" McKale was an American football and baseball player, coach of football, basketball, baseball, and track, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the University of Arizona from 1914 to 1930, compiling a record of 81–32–6...

 visited him in the hospital every day. During McKale's last visit, Salmon's last message to his teammates was, "Closer...come closer...Tell them…no closer... tell the team to bear down." John Salmon died on October 18, 1926. Following Salmon's funeral, McKale reportedy told the team what he had said in a Las Cruces, N.M., locker room before a football game against the Aggies of New Mexico State

New Mexico State University

New Mexico State University at Las Cruces , is a major land-grant university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States...

, and U of A won a hard-fought victory, 7-0.

The following year, the University of Arizona student body decided that "Bear Down" would be the new slogan for all Wildcat athletic teams. That year, the Chain Gang, a junior honorary organization at the UA, held a dance in the newly-constructed university gymnasium to raise funds to paint the slogan on the roof of the building at coordinates 32.231129°N 110.950115°W. The words are still featured on the roof of the gymnasium, now known as Bear Down Gym

Bear Down Gym

Bear Down Gym, originally known as Men's Gymnasium, is a 300 seat multi-purpose arena in Tucson, Arizona. It opened in 1926. It was home to the University of Arizona Wildcats basketball team. It was replaced when the McKale Center opened in 1973...

. In 1939, the Arizona state legislature

Arizona Legislature

The Arizona Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. There are 60 Representatives and 30 Senators...

 issued a decree that "Bear Down" would be the exclusive property of The University of Arizona.

Fight song

The song "Bear Down, Arizona!" was written by Jack K. Lee, the university's future band director, in 1952. As related by Lee himself in later years, Lee was only one of several applicants for the position of Director of Bands at the U of A. During his visit to the university for his job interview, he was given a tour of the campus and was told the story of the Bear Down slogan. As his flight home to Michigan left from the Tucson airport, it banked over the university campus, and Lee saw the slogan painted on the roof of the university gymnasium. He was struck by inspiration, took an airsickness bag from the seat pocket of the plane and wrote, in pencil, the lyrics to "Bear Down, Arizona." Shortly thereafter, Lee was offered the band director job, and his song was performed by the U of A band for the first time publicly in September 1952 during a pep rally in downtown Tucson. A replica of the original manuscript, created by Lee on a paper sack, is displayed in the Alumni Heritage Lounge on the main floor of the Student Union Memorial Center on the university campus.

Lyrics

Verse:

Arizona, Bear Down!

Let's Cheer for Arizona,

Let's Raise our Voices High!

Let's Cheer for Arizona,

That Bear Down Battle Cry!

Let's Cheer our Team to Victory,

Let's Cheer our Team to Fame,

Let's Cheer for Arizona,

For Spirit Wins the Game!

Chorus:

Bear Down, Arizona!

Bear Down, Red and Blue!

Bear Down, Arizona!

Hit 'Em Hard Let 'Em Know Who's Who!

Bear Down, Arizona!

Bear Down, Red and Blue!

Go, Go, Wildcats Go!

Arizona, Bear Down!

Although the following coda is not actually a part of the song, the band (along with the crowd) sometimes chants it immediately after they have played "Bear Down". Part of the chant originates in a 1988 rap song about the Arizona basketball team, written by Harvey Mason, Jr.

Harvey Mason, Jr.

Harvey Mason, Jr. is a songwriter, record producer and movie producer. He has written and produced songs for some of the biggest legends in the music industry including Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Whitney Houston, and Luther Vandross as well as today’s superstars like Britney Spears, Jordin...

A-R-I-Z-O-N-A!

A-R-I-Z-O-N-A!

A-R-I-Z-O-N-A!

Go A-R-I-Z-O-N-A!

W-I-L-D Cats! (Say what?)

W-I-L-D Wildcats! (That's right!)

W-I-L-D Cats!

Go wild about those Cats!

The verse of the song is rarely sung. At most athletic events, the chorus is sung twice, followed by the chant.

Students will often replace the lyrics, "Hit 'em hard, let 'em know who's who", with "Kick the shit out of ASU

Arizona State University

Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...

!", whether or not an Arizona athletic team is playing against the school's bitter in-state rivals, the Arizona State Sun Devils.