Adrian College fight song 'Hail Adrian' secures top spot in NCAA Division III contest
ADRIAN — Adrian College’s fight song, “Hail Adrian,” was once again voted as the top fight song in all of NCAA Division III based upon a bracket-style tournament recently conducted by D3Playbook, an online source of news and information for Division III colleges, athletic directors, administrators and coaches.
The bracketed tournament featured a total of 32 colleges teams — one being Adrian College — that were pitted head-to-head in a voting poll on who had the best fight song. Adrian College was crowned the champions of the challenge in the 2021 fight song contest and has reclaimed the spot at the top for 2023.
“Hail Adrian” this year defeated Christopher Newport University by a 60.5-39.5 margin with nearly 1,100 votes tallied, a news release from Adrian College said.
"We in the Bulldog Marching Band are honored and thrilled to have our fight song named best in Division III," Adrian College director of bands, Ryan Cupp, said in the release. “We are extremely proud of our song and the energy and spirit it provides on gamedays and every day. A college's fight song is a major part of the whole collegiate experience.”
Adrian College’s current fight song came to be in 1988 when Darin McNabb, Class of 1989, asked if he could write a new fight song for the college.
“He was given the green light, and the new song was a hit and was played for the next couple of seasons before getting shelved,” Adrian College said.
In 2007, McNabb heard the Bulldogs were creating a new marching band and asked band director Marty Marks if he could rework his old fight song and create an updated version they could play. The idea was taken before Adrian College President Jeffrey Docking and he gave McNabb the go-ahead to update the song. A couple of months later and the marching band was playing “Hail Adrian.”
“Hail Adrian” continues to be played throughout Docking Stadium at home football games, after every NCAA men’s hockey goal and throughout the campus community, Adrian College said in the release.
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The words “heroes,” “champions” and “victory” were included in the lyrics of the fight song, McNabb described, to “convey the concepts of excellence, pride and success,” concepts that he said Adrian College strives to instill in its graduates.
“I am so proud to know that my music will help create that great atmosphere found only at collegiate athletic events for many years to come,” McNabb said.
The lyrics to “Hail Adrian” are as follows:
Hail, hail to Adrian —
The home of the Black and the Gold!
Cheer, cheer for Adrian —
Lift high your voices, proud and bold,
“Go, Dawgs, Go!”
Fight, fight for Adrian —
And champions again we will be!
Our heroes will score,
and the crowd will roar,
“Another Bulldog victory!”
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian College fight song 'Hail Adrian' secures top spot in NCAA contest
