Rocket Pride

Welcome, alumni and friends! Do you remember your UT fight song? Or the words to "Fair Toledo?" Brush up on the lyrics to "U of Toledo" and the Alma Mater below.

If you are interested in wearing your Rocket Pride, visit the UT alumni ring page HERE and order your ring today or visit our UT bookstore page HERE for official logo gear!

Welcome to Rocket Pride!

The UT Fight Song

"U of Toledo" was written in 1932 by Dave Connelly, UT athletic director and baseball coach through much of the 1930s and 1940s. Connelly also coached football, track and boxing. He joined the UT staff as a professor in 1926, where he remained until his death in 1955. Connelly loved to sing, but had never studied music. Apparently, previous fight songs were no longer in use, so he wrote the words for "U of Toledo" and sang the melody to a family friend, Bernie Jones. Jones played it on the piano and put it to music. The tune remained largely unchanged until 1975, when UT Associate Professor of Music David Jex arranged the current version.

"U of Toledo"

U of Toledo, we’ll fight for you (fight, fight, fight)
U of Toledo, love that gold and blue (let’s go blue)
Men of the Varsity, the enemy must yield
We’ll fight just like our ancestors
And march right down the field
T-O-L-E-D-O... TOLEDO!


The UT Alma Mater
 
"Fair Toledo" was selected from eight entries which were submitted in the UT Alma Mater Song Contest, sponsored jointly by the Student Senate and the Alumni Association in 1959. The competition was held to replace "Golden and Blue," set to "Amici," a tune used by various universities.

While driving to work, Gilbert Mohr heard Jim Uebelhart announce the contest on the radio in January of that year. An amateur songwriter, Mohr began humming different tunes, and later with his wife, Jean Strout, wrote the lyrics. Their Alma Mater entry won the contest and the couple received a $100 government bond. "Fair Toledo" debuted at halftime of the Marshall-Toledo basketball game on March 2, 1959.

"Fair Toledo"

In tower shadows voices now raising,
To alma mater Golden and Blue,
Fair Toledo praise to thee,
Portal of learning ever be,
Hallowed halls we shall revere,
Vow to keep thy memory dear.