How FSU Made The War Chant A Tradition

It's an FSU home game at night in Tallahassee.  Florida has 3rd and 15.  The whistle in the Marching Chiefs rings out through the crowd and the Marching Chiefs begin to blare the most recognizable song to an FSU fan/student: the war chant. 

The war chant seems natural to anyone who attends an FSU game, but there was a time when FSU did not have it's distinctive tradition.

It was 1986 and the Seminoles were playing Auburn in Tallahassee.  The Marching Chiefs played the War Chant back then, which was the opening notes of the Dvorak "New World Symphony," but some students decided to continue singing the melody of the notes after the band stopped playing while moving their arms in a "tomahawk" motion.  FSU football games would never be the same.

FSU War Chant in Pop Culture

-In the 1993 film Robin Hood: Men in Tights, a scene towards the end of the film features actors doing the war chant.

-Rapper Nelly featured the war chant as background music for his 2003 song "Shake Ya Tailfeather."

Source: Wikipedia-Florida State University