Looking for a football revival, Meredith Willson, Iowa’s favorite Music Man, wrote The Iowa Fight Song (1950) upon request from SUI. He premiered the song on his NBC radio show, The Big Show, on December 31, 1950 with a 47-piece orchestra and sixteen singers. The song was introduced on campus on February 12, 1951 at the Iowa-Indiana basketball game. Meredith Willson guest-conducted the Hawkeye Marching Band at several Rose Bowl appearances (1957, 1959, and 1982).
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