http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Chalk,_Jayhawk
HistoryThe cult chant was first adopted by the university's science club in 1886. Chemistry professor E.H.S. Bailey and his colleagues were returning by train to Lawrence after a conference. During their travel, they discussed a need of a rousing yell. They came up with "Rah, Rah, Jayhawk, Go KU"[1], repeated three times, which later became "Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU".
By 1889, "Rock Chalk"—a transposition of chalk rock, a type of limestone, that exists in Kansas, but only in the Cretaceous-age bedrocks of central and western parts of the state (more than 150 miles west of Lawrence) and on Mount Oread, where the University is located, which is similar to the coccolith-bearing chalk of the white cliffs of Dover—later replaced the two "rahs." Those responsible for the change are unknown, with Bailey himself crediting the geology department[2], and others an English professor.[3]
U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt called it the greatest college chant he had ever heard. Kansas troops have used it in the Philippine-American War in 1899, the Boxer Rebellion, and World War II.[4] In the 1911 Border War football game, over 1,000 fans gathered in downtown Lawrence to listen to a "broadcast" of the game by telegraph and participated in cheers including the Rock Chalk.[5]
In the 1920 Summer Olympics, Albert I of Belgium asked for a typical American college yell, and gathered athletes replied with the chant.[4]
[edit] UsageIt is best known as being loudly chanted at basketball games at Allen Fieldhouse and football games at University of Kansas Memorial Stadium. During pregame, the refrain of "Rock chalk... Jay-Hawk... KU," is repeated twice slowly, and then three times quickly. It is usually preceded by the Kansas alma mater "Crimson and the Blue", and followed by the fight song, "I'm a Jayhawk". Since the early 1980s, Kansas fans have been known to do the slow repetition of "Rock chalk... Jay-Hawk... KU" when the Jayhawks are believed to be safely ahead, and victory is guaranteed.
Also mentioned in Strange Music, a Kansas City-based record company, in the songs "Game On" by Krizz Kaliko, and Tech N9ne's "Keep it One Hunit".[citation needed]
Over the past few years, it has become common for a "woo!" yell to be added between the slow repetitions of the chant. This "woo!" has recently come under criticism as not being part of the original chant. Opponents also believe that the "woo!" lessens the uniqueness of the Rock Chalk chant, which is supposed to be a haunting, eerie sound, unlike any other school's cheer.[6]
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