Buckeye Battle Cry, composed by vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 performer and songwriter Frank Crumit

Frank Crumit

Frank Crumit was an American singer, composer. radio entertainer and vaudeville star. He shared his radio programs with his wife, Julia Sanderson, and the two were sometimes called "the ideal couple of the air."...

, is one of two fight songs of the Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State Buckeyes

The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of The Ohio State University, named after the state tree, the Buckeye. The Buckeyes participate in the NCAA's Division I in all sports and the Big Ten Conference in most sports...

. Every football

Ohio State Buckeyes football

The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...

 game in Ohio Stadium

Ohio Stadium

Ohio Stadium is the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is located on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The stadium was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on March 22, 1974...

 begins with Ramp entrance by The Ohio State University Marching Band

The Ohio State University Marching Band

The Ohio State University Marching Band performs at Ohio State football games and other events during the fall quarter...

, performed to Buckeye Battle Cry. The tradition of Script Ohio ends with the singing of one chorus of the fight song by band members. The song is also played after every Buckeye score.

Planning for the construction of Ohio Stadium

Ohio Stadium

Ohio Stadium is the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is located on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The stadium was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on March 22, 1974...

 resulted in a contest in 1919 to create new school fight songs. Frank Crumit, an alumnus of Ohio University

Ohio University

Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...

but a Buckeye fan, wrote Buckeye Battle Cry and submitted it to the contest.

Some older versions of the lyrics show not COME ON OHIO!, but rather O-HI-O. While some fans opt to sing the latter (complete with arm motions), the former is much more common. The Ohio State University Marching Band sings "Come On Ohio" in their rendition.

Lyrics

In old Ohio (Columbus) there's a team

That's known throughout the land

Eleven warriors brave and bold

Whose fame will ever stand

And when the ball goes over,

Our cheers will reach the sky

Ohio Field will hear again

The Buckeye Battle Cry!

Chorus:

Drive, drive on down the field

Men of the Scarlet and Gray

Don't let them through that line

We've got to win this game today

COME ON OHIO!

Smash through to victory

We cheer you as you go

Our honor defend

So we'll (We will) fight to the end

for O-HI-O!

Second Verse

Crumit penned a second verse which was apparently lost until Nick Metrowsky recovered it from a 1924 recording:

We'll scatter to the east and west

When college days are done,

And memories will cling around

The dreams of everyone;

We'll play the game of living,

With head and shoulders high!

And where in wear the spirit of

The Buckeye Battle Cry!

Sources

• OSU Fight Songs
• Songs of Ohio State University