| FTBL Story on origins of 'Rammer Jammer' cheer spurs reader debate

A recent story about the origins of the Rammer Jammer cheer stirred lots of debate among readers.

In my Odd Travels feature last week about "Bodda Getta" and "Rammer Jammer," I quoted a story from The Tuscaloosa News saying University of Alabama cheerleaders made up the "Rammer Jammer" cheer in the early 1980s, probably in 1982.

Several Alabama graduates wrote to say they remember the chant as far back as the 1960s. However, they recall only two lines of the chant then, so from what I could determine, students at that time were shouting something along the lines of "Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, Give 'em hell Alabama!"
But it wasn't until the early 1980s that the full chant came into being.

Here are some emails I received on the topic:

Bill Keller
, Class of 1967, wrote: "We said the 'Rammer Jammer' cheer in the 1960s at Alabama, but it was only this part: 'Rammer Jammer, Yellowhammer, give 'em hell, Alabama.' It was said deliberately and slowly. Sometimes, we said it several times in succession – as led by the cheerleaders. We didn't have the 'We're gonna beat the hell out of you' part. And I think the cheer goes back much further. And back then, 'Roll Tide' was never a short cheer or a greeting. It was a long, drawn-out cheer at kickoffs or after a successful drive."

Charlie Fleming
received his law degree from Alabama in 1979 and is a district judge for Geneva County and former vice president for UA National Alumni Association. He wrote: "I seem to remember that it was Bama vs. Ole Miss, in Jackson in either 1980 or 82, that I first heard a catchy cheer with the words and cadence of our Rammer Jammer cheer."

Steve May
of Hoover wrote: "I was in the Million Dollar Band when we played Ole Miss in Jackson, in 1981 I think. This was a surprisingly tense and high scoring affair eventually won by 'Bama 45-28, or something close to it. During the game the Ole Miss band started playing the familiar tune with their students yelling, 'Hey Bama, we're going to beat the hell out of you' and they followed it with their Hoddy Toddy cheer. We all thought it was pretty cool, and by the end of the game most of us in the MDB were already playing it back at them. The next week the cheerleaders met with our director Dr. Ferguson, and it was decided our Rammer Jammer cheer would replace their Hoddy Toddy part. The Rammer Jammer cheer had always been a crowd favorite at 'Bama. I don't know when exactly it originated, but it was long before 1981. Dr. Ferguson wrote the music charts for the band to play and a classic was born. It was known for years around the MDB as the 'Ole Miss cheer.' And when I was in band we played it before, during and after the games several times."

Mike Raney
wrote that he recalls hearing the Rammer Jammer chant in 1978: "There was no music, it just said 'Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer, give 'em hell Alabama.' Really wasn't much of a cheer and the students didn't get into it. We all just looked at each other the first time they did it and said 'Alabammer?' This may be why we are called Bammers, but I don't know that. The second part with the music followed by 'Hey Auburn' (or whoever) came following the 1980 Ole Miss game in Jackson, Miss. (not MSU in 1982). Alabama won 59-35 and was up on them BIG. Throughout the game, (Ole Miss) kept playing it – minus the Rammer Jammer part, of course. It wasn't followed by anything, just 'Hey Bama! Hey Bama! Hey Bama! We're gonna beat the hell out of you!' When they played it in the fourth quarter when the game was not in doubt, we all just yelled 'Look at the scoreboard,' and everyone on the Alabama side was pointing at the scoreboard. We – my fraternity brothers and myself – were laughing about that cheer on the way home. The following week, before the game, the band started playing it, and the cheerleaders had tagged it with the Rammer Jammer part of it. Kind of seemed silly at the time, taunting Vandy, but we went with it. Within a couple of years, we were playing it constantly throughout the game, and other fanbases REALLY started hating us. Back then, we didn't call it the Rammer Jammer - it didn't really have a name. Some of us that were in Jackson that day called it the Ole Miss cheer."

Jennifer Grundy Hollett
wrote: "I was in the Million Dollar Band from 1981 to 1984. I learned the cheer at band camp during the summer of 1981, so I know it predates 1982. Also, it was referred to as the Ole Miss cheer my entire tenure. Back in the day, Doc Ferguson (the Million Dollar Band director) loved to filch cheers from our rivals! He did it on the spot at LSU, running from section to section telling us what to play and then rolling out one of LSU's musical cheers as a taunt when we beat them in Baton Rouge."

Deborah Fike Crooke
, who graduated from the College of Nursing in 1983, wrote: "I remember some of the controversy about the cheer even then, that some said it was poor sportsmanship. I don't quite see it that way because football is a game! There was a BIG push to quash it in 1982 and '83, but the push to get rid of it just never really got any traction. We started saying the cheer before kickoff and I always felt like it was to intimidate the other team and influence their belief in what they could or couldn't do against the Tide. It was the students' contribution to the psych-out factor of the game.

"'Bama students and fans respect our competitors....Sportsmanship is giving your all, expecting them to give their all, have our cheers and taunts, but be clean and want everyone to walk away healthy and whole. Do we want to win? Absolutely! Do we relish a win? To the max! The cheer was definitely already being used while I was there. Seems I remember someone trying to stop it when I was there and trying to invoke that Coach Bryant thought it was bad sportsmanship, but I think the effort fell to the wayside because Coach Bryant – to my knowledge –never came out and said it was something he didn't like. I believe if he had, it would not have survived."





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